World-renowned karate master and Total Gym spokesman, Chuck Norris is suing Penguin publishing. The suit, filed in New York, alleges that Penguin committed trademark infringement, unjust enrichment and violated Mr. Norris’ privacy rights by publishing the book entitled, The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 facts about the World’s Greatest Human.

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Carlos Ray Norris (Chuck’s real name) claims, “The book’s title [will] mislead readers into thinking the facts [are] true.” The lawsuit alleges that, “Some of the ‘facts’ in the book are racist, lewd or portray Mr. Norris as engaged in illegal activities.”

These “facts” have developed quite a following over the last few years. People seem rather interested to know that Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table, because the only element he recognizes is the element of surprise. I myself was shocked to learn that “fighting Chuck Norris is what Meatloaf wouldn’t do for love.”

This is not the first time Chuck Norris has filed a lawsuit. According to sources, Mr. Norris, “Once sued Gillette because Chuck Norris is the best a man can get.” Apparently, Chuck is “also suing ‘Myspace’ for taking the name of what he calls everything around you.”

Penguin beware. Mr. Norris is known to be able to kill two stones with one bird.

For info on Trademarks and Infringements post your case to Toronto Lawyers, Vancouver Lawyers or a local Lawyer in your area.

Stepping a bit away from the already mentioned McWitchhunt (it’s when McDonalds sues anyone in the food business who has a name starting with Mc), lets take a closer look at such things as slogans and short phrases, and the legal stuff concerning this things.

Slogan is one of the most important instruments in marketing. It is wrong to think that the main battlefield of marketing companies is the advertising, commercials or big boards, actually these people fight for our brains. When you come into a shop and see 20 types of toothpaste you will definitely choose the one you know. You won’t spent time on reading the packages and comparing the products. So the one that you buy will be the one with the most memorable advertising or slogan, the one that is in your brain.

If we take some standard rules on slogan generation used in marketing. The slogan must be short and memorable. It must be easy to read and understand. The phrase must have a generally positive meaning, so lot’s of existing phrases are just not suitable for creating a positive advertising. What has positive meaning for you can have negative meaning for someone else.

The legal side of the slogan and short phrase is not so complicated; it is the intellectual property that has some significance. First of all they are considered “de minimis,” or too small to qualify for copyright. However, if the phrase is used in connection with a product or service, you may be able to protect it and most important federally register it under trademark law. Trademark lawyer and lawyers can assist in the details of a trademark.  After this, the rights you acquire under trademark law would allow you only to stop others from using it on competing services or products. Just like the Mc in food business, that was mentioned above. Nevertheless there were few cases when the movie companies have stopped the use of phrases like “Me Tarzan, You Jane,” or “E.T. Phone Home” on merchandise. So basically you can’t register a slogan or a short phrase unless it is used in conjunction with a product or service

Probably the best slogan in the world is Nikes’ famous Just Do It. It was invented in 1988 by Dan Wieden the co-founder of the Wieden+Kennedy advertising agency. Apart from the fact that it is genius, it is still used as the slogan for Nike. Lots of artists played on the slogan and a Dutch pop singer Kim-Lian even released an album with such name, still no one was sued. Maybe it is because the slogan is so associated with Nike, that it will be impossible to use it with any other product. In case of intellectual property it is better to spent more money on creating a strong memorable and unique brand, than spend money on protecting a decent slogan from being copied by competitor companies.