New BHT Banner Needed….like….now.

Posted byChaplainmikePosted inSite news/Tech

boarshead2003.jpgWhat was it Shakespeare said about disposing of all the lawyers?

I just got a handful of major legalese from the Boar’s Head Brand Corporation, makers of fine meats and owners of a registered trademark they believe is in the BHT’s banner. So, according to the barrister sending me the mail, the banner goes or I get sued.

I suppose the fact that the Boar’s Head Brand takes a pig that God made and one of William Shakespeare’s drinking establishments to make their copyrighted brand doesn’t earn those of us who like it any permission to use it in a non-hostile manner? I didn’t think so. Gotta defend the brand.

So to whoever reported the BHT in violation of copyright laws, I salute you. Really. In every way I can.

And to those of you who read the BHT and have some skill with banner creation, we’re in need of a new banner over there. Submissions are appreciated. Don’t assume we’ll use it.

19 thoughts on “New BHT Banner Needed….like….now.”

  1. I doubt that anyone actually reported you to them. In reality, they likely have lawyers who are paid to “protect” their brand. A google search for Boar’s Head, puts your site around 5th on the list. In all likelihood, the lawyers are sending these notes to everyone in the google search results that uses a picture of a boar on their page.

    You know, I actually buy their meat at the deli. I’m going to stop. I’ll save a few bucks, since their meat is a little more pricey anyways.

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  3. I have a mounted boars head in my basement. I’d be happy, perhaps even honored, to take some pics and send them to you. You would be welcome to photoshop to your hearts content.

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  5. Seems to me you could just take a photo of a boar’s head, use Photoshop to create a faux woodcut photo illustration out of it, put it in a square digital “sign” (not a round one), use an Old English font for the name, and tell “Boar’s Head Brand” to take a hike. “The Boar’s Head Tavern” is not competing with or infringing on “Boar’s Head Brand” products or image. No one can confuse them; they are in totally different commercial arenas. Call their bluff.

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  6. (P.S. I fished the “old” BHT banner out of Google’s helpful cache — BoarsHead2.jpg was 742 x 218, and I see I stupidly missed by 2px on that one I linked above. Doh!)

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  9. The U.S. of A is not the only country with ridiculous laws and law suits. Canada is following fast on itรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs heels. (Did I say รขโ‚ฌล“followingรขโ‚ฌย?) So you canรขโ‚ฌโ„ขt claim franchise to this type of stupidity. I looked in the dictionary for direction, but did not find much help. A boar is simply an adult un castrated (like the UN Cola) male pig. I couldnรขโ‚ฌโ„ขt find what a castrated equivalent is called, other than รขโ‚ฌล“pigรขโ‚ฌย. Nevertheless, to conform to these ingenious rights, you could change the name to Boorรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs Head Tavern, and feature a head shot of the franchise owner with sour grapes in his mouth in place of the boarรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs head. Or perhaps to level the gender playing field, you could change it to Sowรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs Head Tavern, a place where bored men congregate.

    Anyway, these รขโ‚ฌล“cease and desistรขโ‚ฌย warnings are nothing more than troublesome jokes. Take for instance the รขโ‚ฌล“cease and desistรขโ‚ฌย warnings on copyrighted so called Christian materials. For instance, the Four Spiritual Laws tract put out by Campus Crusade states something like the following (I hope I am paraphrasing correctly), รขโ‚ฌล“In order to protect the purity of the text we do not permit the unauthorized duplication of this material.รขโ‚ฌย Really?
    Or the permission given by the Simonites on the transparencies used on the overheads for coarses (Please excuse the alternative spelling) used in the churches that have been public domain for decades and even centuries. รขโ‚ฌล“Used by permission of Maximillian XXXVIII etc.รขโ‚ฌย Check those used in your churches. There are plenty of examples.

    Or mega dollar lawsuits against churches by so called christians such as the G——s for infringement of their copyrights. (By the way, to those who claim that the KGB oh, I mean KJV is not copyrighted, please note, this is true in all countries but in bonny England.)

    Or the extra legal warnings on evangelical materials such as, รขโ‚ฌล“It is illegal, unethical, immoral etc. to…รขโ‚ฌย. The gal in charge of the Canadian copyright laws, when I questioned her, thought it rather amusing that Christians (?) would use these arguments. She stated that the issue is simply a legal or illegal one.
    Enough of this rant.

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  16. If you go in the pun direction, you could go in several directions. One idea that just came to me is this. A lecturer droning, clearly boring much of his audience, while in the back a group of excited people whispering with glee, etc.

    Not being either an artist nor a computer geek, I can’t help any more than that.

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  18. Michael, how about a Razorback in a Armani suit. No, the guy who is representing Boar’s Head might take that TOO personally. How about a skunk in wingtips, instead.
    I’ll let you know of any other further appropos flashs of creativity as they happen.

    A Dublin lawyer died in poverty, and many people donated to a fund for his funeral. The Lord Chief Justice of Orbury was asked to donate a shilling. “Only a shilling?” said the Justice, “Only a shilling to bury an attorney? Here’s a guinea; go and bury twenty more of them.”

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  19. Well, I didn’t report you.

    How stupid. Hard to believe how corporations think – if anything I’d think BHT would be a positive association.

    As to new suggestions, where did the Thinklings meet?

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