----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 1:16
PM
Dear Mr. O'Malley:
The National Association for Stock Car Auto
Racing Inc. (NASCAR) has just become aware of the above-referenced web
page. Your unauthorized use of the NASCAR trademarks and trade dress of
the official website NASCAR.com, as well as the appropriation of content from
NASCAR.com violates numerous federal laws. In addition, the content of
the article contained on the page is libelous and may subject you to legal
action by Jeff Gordon and others. Your use of NASCAR's intellectual property
further misleads the public that the content of this article is true and
featured on NASCAR's official site.
NASCAR expects that this page will be removed
IMMEDIATELY or we will be forced to take appropriate legal action.
Please contact me by email at
kleetzow@nascar.com or
otherwise in writing to confirm that you have ceased all use of the NASCAR
marks or by telephone at (704) 348-9622 should you have any
questions.
CONFIDENTIAL
Karen B. Leetzow
Intellectual Property Counsel
NASCAR, Inc.
One First Union Center
301 South College Street
Suite 3900
Charlotte, NC 28202
(704) 348-9622
(704) 348-9697 (fax)
kleetzow@nascar.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Kevin O'Malley"
To: "Leetzow, Karen"
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 5:29 PM
Subject: Re: http://meepzorp.com/nascar/gordon/
it's a parody. you know it. i know it. nobody but a complete
moron (are YOU a complete moron, Karen? obviously not.) could possibly mistake
it for nascar material, and you know that as well. the use is a fair use under
federal law, the site is well known for parody and contains other works of
parody as well. in addition, we are prepared to point out numerous other
examples of nascar parodies on the net as well as in print. the content is not
libelous, as it is OBVIOUSLY satirical and gordon is a public figure.
my unsolicited advice to you is to let sleeping dogs lie.
commencement of legal action against myself or my site may result in the work
being removed FROM THAT SITE only, but most certainly will compel many
thousands of anti-corporate and/or pro-constitution netizens to repost the
material on free public servers where there is no clear responsible party
to sue, and offshore sites not subject to your overreaching attempts to quash
it, and quite possibly embroiling you in an impossible game of 'whack the
mole' as the material ultimately is seen in many more locations by many more
people than will ever see it on my small site.
have you discussed this with your superiors? have you any idea
how much money mattel inc. spends unsuccessfully every year attempting to
quash barbie parodies and that there are now many thousands more barbie parodies
than when they commenced their don quixote-like 'mission' to prevent individuals
from enjoying their rights of free expression? perhaps you and your superiors
should inquire as to those figures before you engage in any precipitous action.
perhaps you and your superiors should also be apprised that i am about as free
of assets as any one individual can be. blood from a stone and all of that.
surely you are familiar with the concept.
in any event, please cite the specific federal laws which you
claim are being violated, and why you beleive this work is not a fair use as
provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US
Copyright Law.