While searching for an officially sanctioned place that would have the song cover “You Spin Me Right Round” by Dope , I went to their site. NSFW, it is noisy, and the song content is violent, there are also rather pornographic illustrations on some pages of the site. (I like one song by them, that my attention was drawn to.) On the menu bar, is an option: The Straight Dope. Curious, I clicked it. Seems the band leader is writing a “question and answer” column about (but NOT strictly limited to) the band titled “The Straight Dope with Edsel Dope”. Isn’t that an infringement?
Adding this direct quote from the page I linked. Seems to have been going on for a while. How was this missed?
It’s really a question of whether or not what is essentially a musician’s FAQ list can be confused with a weekly syndicated column that has been penned by the World’s Smartest Human Being since 1973.
Read at the link, the column, written for a magazine, is NOT strictly limited to the band.
IIRC you can’t copyright a common word or phrase.
eg, the tune to “Happy Birthday” can be copyrighted but the phrase “happy birthday” can’t be.
So it would depend if “The Straight Dope” is a phrase unique to Cecil or a common phrase used by the general public.
Such arguments are why lawyers exist.
Or there could be trademark issues and I could be completely wrong. I am not a lawyer.
IANAL either, but there is a registered trademark symbol in the section of banner at the top of the website reading “THE STRAIGHT DOPE” and “The Straight Dope is a registered trademark of Chicago Reader, Inc.” at the bottom of each page of Cecil’s columns (although the bottom of each message board page says ““The Straight Dope by Cecil Adams” is a registered trademark of Chicago Reader, Inc.” which isn’t quite the same thing.) That would make it trademark stuff, not copyright stuff.
Or that Edsel Dope person is actually Cecil Adams and he’s just doing a spin off column. Nice dreads Unca Cece.
I read the link. Here’s what has been asked so far:
The magazine’s official website doesn’t have the column; I’m guessing it’s been discontinued.
Best bet is to e-mail a Mod or Admin.
I’ll kick this upstairs. Thank you.