Fisticuffs between Fox News Channel and Al Franken have taken on a life of their own, sparking op-eds, analyses, gossip and, in the case of the Authors Guild, concern.
Essentially, the cable news network and the comedian set off a bomb this week, then stepped back to await the fallout.
On Monday, Fox filed an 8-inch-thick complaint against Mr. Franken in a Manhattan court for trademark infringement of its “Fair and Balanced” slogan, calling him a “parasite.” Mr. Franken has titled his unreleased book “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.”
Mr. Franken, responded with a statement Tuesday, claiming he had trademarked the word “funny” and thanking Fox News for all the publicity.
Indeed, the unpublished satire remains the most-requested book at online retailer Amazon.com, though it is ranked only 18th at Barnes & Noble.
Both sides have called a truce, at least temporarily.
“Fox News does not comment on pending litigation,” a spokesman said yesterday.
“Mr. Franken is out of the country but will offer more comments when he returns next week,” said Jean Ann Rose of Dutton Books.
One observer believes the hubbub is simply a byproduct of Fox’s success.
“Fox has vanquished its foes in the ratings. Yet they thrive on conflict, on ideological battles. So they have fostered a conflict, an evil Professor Moriarty — and it’s upped media buzz,” Matthew Felling of the Center for Media and Public Affairs said yesterday.
The books spares no punches. Mr. Franken calls Ann Coulter “the reigning diva of the hysterical right. Or rather, the hysterical diva of the reigning right.” He criticizes “the most right-wing administration in memory, and to the right-wing media hacks who do its bidding,” according to a few small excerpts released by Dutton.
The comedian has a particularly acrimonious relationship with Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. The two quibbled publicly at the White House Correspondents Dinner in May, and again at a televised Los Angeles bookseller’s convention in June. Mr. O’Reilly eventually called Mr. Franken “vicious” and “blinded by ideology,” then told him to “shut up.”
Some insiders believe this set the stage for some real hardball.
The skirmish has been dissected on broadcast rivals CNN, MSNBC and other networks. Scores of newspapers, journals and wire services joined in, including the New York Times, Forbes and Slate — which compared it to the copyright tussle over the catchphrase “let’s roll,” which came into the vernacular following September 11.
“You report, we’ll sue,” said the New York Daily News.
Minnesota satirist Garrison Keillor praised Mr. Franken and suggested the Fox crowd was the sort who urinate in swimming pools, according to the Star Tribune.
Meanwhile, the 8,000-member Authors Guild plans to submit a list of books that used trademarked phrases or brand names in their titles to the New Cork court.
The guild calls Fox’s suit “deplorable” and a “bizarre interpretation of the trademark law,” and has called upon its members to help assemble the list.
“The case is unavoidably political, pitting a liberal author against a conservative network,” the guild told its membership yesterday, but said it won’t take sides.
“We care that trademark law is being used as a blunt instrument in an attempt to silence an author’s expression,” said the guild’s president, Nick Taylor.
At its Web site (www.authorsguild.org), the group told its members “most troubling is that a news organization, which should share our concern about free speech, is pressing the case.”
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