South Butt Responds To North Face As Only It Could

from the face-and-a-butt dept

Thu, Feb 4th 2010 9:11am — Mike Masnick

You gotta love snarky legal filings. We've already covered the ongoing saga between the clothing company behind The North Face and a teenager who started a parody line of clothing called The South Butt (short version, TNF got mad and despite lots of public outcry in favor of TSB, TNF's parent company sued). You already knew that the folks behind The South Butt wouldn't necessarily respond in a conventional manner. They had already set up a Facebook app to see if people could tell the difference between a face and a butt.

But reader Dez points us to the news that the South Butt folks have filed their response and it's well worth reading in its entirety:

The response is definitely snarky in tone. It talks up the "cherubic" teenager "Jimmy" behind the site (and includes a photo of him for good measure) who it compares to Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Newman mixed with "Skippy the Punk" and notes that despite being 19-years-old, he "looks 14" and "acts 12." It mocks the claim of "piracy" wondering what parody clothing has to do with "high crime on the high seas, perhaps the South Seas, as contrasted with its oft explored polar opposite." It goes on to deny or affirm the various claims made against The South Butt, and does so mockingly at times. But my favorite may be:

The "half ass" design portion of The South Butt logo is comprised of two stripes curved in a butt-like fashion upward from the left side of the "The South Butt" text, while the "half dome" design mark of the North Face is comprised of three thinner lines curved downward from the right side of the text "The North Face."

I'm not sure how the judge will take the filing, but it's definitely amusing. Either way, it still amazes me that The North Face thought that filing this lawsuit made any sense at all. Someone got bad advice.

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Filed Under: north face, south butt
Companies: north face, south butt

25 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2010 @ 10:01am

Hilarious
Reading that document made my day. Thanks.

If they allow cameras in this court case, I would pay to watch it.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2010 @ 10:04am

Best Filing Ever.
Here's hoping the rest of TSB's case proceeds in the same vein. And here's hoping they end up with a judge with a sense of humour.
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- Dark Helmet (profile), 4 Feb 2010 @ 10:11am
  
  Re: Best Filing Ever.
  How is this not a perfect case for Judge Helmet? I would rock those proceedings forthwith....
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Modplan (profile), 4 Feb 2010 @ 10:12am

I'd quite like to download without having to become a member of Scribd.
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- Rick, 4 Feb 2010 @ 10:25am
  
  Re:
  Agreed. You can try bugmenot.com for a login.
  http://www.bugmenot.com/view/scribd.com
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Arelas (profile), 4 Feb 2010 @ 10:26am

Duke Nukem Responds...
Your face, your ass...what's the difference?
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- Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2010 @ 10:46am
  
  Re: Duke Nukem Responds...
  Come get some!
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- brent (profile), 4 Feb 2010 @ 11:13am
  
  Re: Duke Nukem Responds...
  it's time to kick @$$ and chew bubblegum, and im all outta gum
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Jason Buberel (profile), 4 Feb 2010 @ 10:41am

That was enough to get me to buy a t-shirt
Reading through that document was enough to get me to plunk down $20 on one of their t-shirts.

http://www.shop.thesouthbutt.net/main.sc
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Paul Stout (profile), 4 Feb 2010 @ 10:42am

What's the world coming to?
My God, lawyers with a sense of humor, and not afraid to show it!!! Will wonders never cease!!

Seriously though, the commenter above who mentioned that 'a judge with a sense of humor' will certainly help is probably right, although one thing the civil court system really needs is more briefs like this one.

Personally, if I lived in Missouri, I'd write down the address of that kids legal team and run, not walk, to them if I ever needed legal advice or services. They're my kind of people and, as lawyers go, probably rarer than living dinosaurs...
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- Spaceman Spiff (profile), 10 Aug 2012 @ 9:16am
  
  Re: What's the world coming to?
  Lawyers with a sense of humor! Well, my bluegrass band's banjo player (who is really bad!) is also my lawyer (really good!), and to play with me (the mandolin player), he really needs a good sense of humor... :-)
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Jimr (profile), 4 Feb 2010 @ 10:47am

That was good and surprisingly well written. Judges are people too so with a bit of luck the judge will not hold the humors nature of the response against TSB. Just maybe the humors nature of the response will help enlighten the judge as to the absurdity of the case.
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Ih8Websense., 4 Feb 2010 @ 10:48am

Mirror?
Is there a mirror somewhere for those of us behind no-fun corporate firewalls that equate scribd with the seedy underbelly of the internets?
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DH's love child, 4 Feb 2010 @ 11:02am

IANAL, but.....
That shit was HILLARIOUS!!!
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Dave, 4 Feb 2010 @ 11:03am

truly excellent
Wow, that's the best legal filing ever. The picture of "Cherubic Jimmy" is a brilliant touch! If they get a humorless jerk judge, that could backfire.

I remember long ago when a group spliced the Gilligan's Island theme lyrics into Stairway to Heaven's music, and gave it a reggae feel, producing a work of sheer excellence.

Zeppelin sued, of course. Years later, I heard Robert Plant being interviewed. They asked him about Zeppelin parodies, and he reeled off several with glee, including that one and Hairway to Steven. So contrary to what I had thought, he does have a sense of humor. Having said that, I imagine that when his legal team sues and he makes money therefrom, he just probably shrugs and enjoys the cash.
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Jerry, 4 Feb 2010 @ 11:04am

Awesome
What a great response! Here's a video of the guy who wrote it:

http://www.kwmwlaw.com/index2.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=169

Not your typical lawyer
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FormerAC (profile), 4 Feb 2010 @ 11:19am

Best part
"deny plaintiff's prayer for monetary damages."
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2010 @ 12:11pm

Being in St. Louis, I need to go find this guy and tell him he's my hero. This was hilarious.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2010 @ 12:29pm

Case dismissed!!
What else is there to do?
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ImperialDogma (profile), 4 Feb 2010 @ 12:39pm

Wait! There is a difference between an ass and a face! My life just turned on its side! /s
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Wiscokid, 5 Feb 2010 @ 9:04am

Well, if you've already got the lawyers on retainer...
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robert, 10 Feb 2010 @ 10:45am

north face vs south butt
I always knew that there was something about north face that I did not like! Now I (after reading south butts reply to the lawsuit by north face) know what that something is; that they are obviously greedy, do not believe in the american way (that being capitalism and free speech), entreprenuership (sp), and have absoulutely NO SENSE OF HUMOR!... SOUTH BUTT I salute you and encourage you too keep up the good fight for all freedom loving americans, I bet that north face contributed to the obama campaign and still too this day believe he is the saviour. north face=====what a bunch of idiots and scardy cats, wussies etc etc etc blah blah blah and yada yada yada.
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Chas McLane, 11 Feb 2010 @ 11:36am

Norh Face self-destructive behavior
I've always respected North Face gear. Years ago I was caught in a downpour in a North Face VE-23 tent - we were literally floating on the water under the tent but remained dry. At the time, I told my wife "If Ted Kennedy had had this tent he would be President now". Nonetheless I will never again buy North Face gear. How much longer will CEOs allow lawyers to try to pump up their own importance/fees with this sort of corporate suicide?
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Paul Bosshold, 12 Feb 2010 @ 4:09pm

Who are these people?
The North Face claims that South Butt will confuse the consumer about the products they sell. Well not after filing such a stupid lawsuit. I think the difference will be made clear to the public.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Feb 2010 @ 5:51pm

I love to see corperations' abuse of copyright laws and strong arm tactics finally come back to bite them in the ass. Hopefully this trail returns the correct decision.
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