Parents of dead GI sue anti-war shirt maker

[unhappycamper]

Parents of dead GI sue anti-war shirt maker
By Paul Davenport - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Apr 24, 2008 11:58:06 EDT

PHOENIX — The parents of a Tennessee soldier killed in Iraq are suing an Arizona online merchant who included their son’s name on anti-war shirts that list names of troops killed in the war.

The lawsuit filed by Robin and Michael Read of Greeneville, Tenn., accuses Dan Frazier of Flagstaff of intentionally inflicting emotional harm by including Spc. Brandon Michael Read’s name on casualty lists printed on “Bush lied — They died” T-shirts without permission and by ignoring a demand to remove their son’s name.

The suit seeks $10 million in compensatory and punitive damages. It also asks that Frazier be permanently barred from using Brandon Read’s name.

Frazier’s free-speech rights ended when he used Brandon Read’s name for profit and any reasonable person would consider Frazier’s actions outrageous, said the lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Tennessee.

Read, a 21-year-old member of the Army Reserve, was killed by a roadside bomb while serving in Iraq on Sept. 6, 2004.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/ap_antiwar_shirt_042408/

[Larkspur]

1. Don't our taxpayer dollars make the Iraq War and our soldiers' names public property?

Will be interesting to see what happens with this case.

[rpannier]

3. I think they'll be hard pressed to win

It's a matter of public record, so I think the guy who made the shirts is protected.

[thunder rising]

5. Yeah, this has already been tested. Anybody else have a problem with people continuing to enlist?

[rakeeb]

7. you would think so, and yet all of our tax dollars going to the

prison system leaves us with prisoners who enjoy more tax-funded protection of their privacy than any citizen on the outside...and they're not even getting shot at.
The military will announce how many people enlisted with a GED as opposed to a HS diploma, but it is patently illegal to try to determine through anonymous polling what percentage of inmates finished high school just to see if education can be a factor in deterring crime.

[Ganja Ninja]

2. Do they have a copyright on the list of the war dead? n/t

[Ms. Toad]

6. The list is factual.

Facts aren't protected by copyright.

A particular creative arrangement of the list might be protected - like using the names with different colored fonts to create an image, for example.

The son might have a right of persona/publicity claim (in many states you cannot use someone's name, likeness, or identifiable personal characteristics for commercial gain without their consent), but those are generally personal and likely cannot be asserted by his parents.

[rox63]

4. If the family objects, I think they should remove that particular name

There are more than enough other names to fill up a t-shirt. And plenty of other families who would have no problem with their loved-one's name being used to help end the war.