The prankster group Yes Men
have a constitutional right to use the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's name and logo in a parody site, the group argues in court papers filed this week.
The satirists are asking the federal
district court in the District of Columbia to dismiss the trademark infringement lawsuit filed last October
by the Chamber of Commerce.
"The court should recognize the Chamber's lawsuit for what it is -- an attempt to use intellectual property and related law to punish a political parody that the
Chamber found humorless, and which cast unwanted light on its controversial position on climate change," the Yes Men argue in a motion filed on their behalf by the digital rights group Electronic
Frontier Foundation.
The Chamber sued one week after the Yes Men held a fake press conference announcing that the business association had reversed course on a proposed climate change bill and
now supports environmental legislation. The Yes Men also created a parody site that closely resembles the real site's media center page.
The stunt briefly fooled some real news outlets, including
Reuters, which reported that the Chamber of Commerce had changed its position on environmental laws.
The Chamber alleged that the Yes Men's lampoon infringed on trademark in a way that caused
confusion. But the group argues that some amount of confusion is an integral part of parodies. "The Yes Men's parody does have a superficial degree of plausibility, but such is the hallmark of
satire," they argue in court papers.
EFF attorney Matt Zimmerman adds: "Parody is about creating some kind of instant hesitation." He says that putting up "a giant 'this is a parody' sign" would
undermine the force of the send-up.
The Chamber of Commerce also alleged in its lawsuit that Yes Men carried out the stunt for commercial gain because they used it to promote the film "The Yes
Men Fix The World." But the satirists respond that the parody was still noncommercial speech, which is entitled to more constitutional protection than commercial speech.