A group of comedians, including Jay Leno, just settled a lawsuit with "author and comedy teacher" Judy Brown who quoted some of their humor without authorization in books like Joke Soup and The Funny Pages. "I thought it was important to make it clear that jokes are protected like any other art form," Leno said.
The Los Angeles Times has the details here.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Don’t Repeat That Joke – It May Be Copyrighted!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
It makes one almost glad that Bob Hope, George Burns, Milton Berle and Henny Youngman aren't still around to see this happen. If it hadn't been free to develop through the process of one comedian adapting another's material and making it their own, Vaudeville might never have become what is now known as the fascist state of Stand-Up Comedy.
Jokes are a protected art form? Did someone tell that to Robin Williams, Dane Cook or Denis Leary, three of the worst serial joke thiefs of all time?
Post a Comment