The Business of Writing > Laws about Writing
Emerson Sues NBC
Debbie Matthews:
We're always taking about using/not using products in our books. Seems Emerson is suing NBC for the use of their garbage disposal in a show. The young super heroine stuck her hand down it.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20061005/en_tv_eo/20169;_ylt=AqJzWkaAlDQ.KunX.3eg0rRxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-
Bob Mueller:
--- Quote from: Debbie Matthews on October 05, 2006, 08:13:10 AM ---We're always taking about using/not using products in our books. Seems Emerson is suing NBC for the use of their garbage disposal in a show. The young super heroine stuck her hand down it.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20061005/en_tv_eo/20169;_ylt=AqJzWkaAlDQ.KunX.3eg0rRxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-
--- End quote ---
On the one hand (oh - pardon THAT pun), I understand what Emerson is doing. At the very basic level, all they're doing is protecting their intellectual property.
But when you start examining their claim, it falls apart.
--- Quote ---The lawsuit further stated that the scene "casts the disposer in an unsavory light, irreparably tarnishing the product" by suggesting that the appliance "will cause debilitating and severe injuries, including the loss of fingers, in the event consumers were to accidentally insert their hand into one."
--- End quote ---
I'm willing to be that their appliance will indeed cause "debilitating and severe injuries, including the loss of fingers" if you were to accidentally or deliberately stick your fingers into it. So all NBC did was to show their product working properly, although it's being misused.
Would Chrysler have a claim if they didn't like the way a PT Cruiser was (mis)used in a show? What about Glock?
And aside from anything else, I wonder how many of the 14-odd million viewers even cared what brand disposer it was? :D
CarolG.:
:o ick ick ick!
I live in constant terror that I'm going to accidentally stick my hand into the disposal while it's on. That's probably my grandmother's fault -- when I was a kid she always made me stand back two feet before she'd turn on the disposal, like it wasn't going to jump out of the sink and grab my hand or something. Of course it would cause debilitating and severe injuries. (Wouldn't it? ???)
I think that Emerson should consider bringing back the models that wouldn't start up unless you put the cover on and lined up the magnets...
Kathleen Taylor:
No matter what Emerson says, a machine that can chop carrots into bits will also injure a hand- bones may be tougher than carrots, but skin isn't.
I saw the show (which I love, btw), and I didn't notice the brand at all.
Kathi
Ingrid:
I was about to say: how do viewers know what disposal it is? Was there a close-up of the brand name? Maybe Emerson have caused their own problem by announcing to the world that it is their disposal that chewed off a hand in a movie.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version