Portlandia: We Satirize Portland, But If You Satirize Us, We'll Go Legal On You [Updated]

from the put-a-bird-on-it,-dammit dept

Wed, Sep 14th 2011 11:51am — Mike Masnick

Make sure you see the update at the end...

A few months back, a friend of mine pointed me to some YouTube clips of the TV show Portlandia, the Fred Armisen/Carrie Brownstein show satirizing the city of Portland. The show is mildly amusing. However, it appears that someone involved in the show doesn't like it when anyone satirizes them. Ryan points us to the news that blogger/writer Jenny Lawson, a fan of the show, decided to use the create-your-own-products store Zazzle to make a parody of a Portlandia skit known as Put A Bird On It!. She created a tote bag, and put a dead dodo bird on it, with the phrase "Put a bird on it!" as well. She also linked to Portlandia, and figured that people would recognize that a dead dodo bird was clearly parodying the Portlandia episode. Apparently, the Portlandia people didn't get this and issued a takedown.

That's not where the story ends.

In response, Lawson decided to then mock the takedown itself, with this lovely design:

With it, she included the following text:

And... it took all of a day for Portlandia people to issue a takedown on that as well. This is both lame and idiotic.

It also turns out that Lawson is not one to give up easily, especially when being bullied in a ridiculous manner. She's now created three new designs -- one, two and three, testing just how far Portlandia lawyers want to go in this little dance. Designs below:

Put a herd on it, indeed. Honestly, it makes you wonder what the legal folks involved with Portlandia are thinking. I know it's made me not particularly interested in watching any more of the show.

Update: Looks like the Portlandia crew themselves didn't know this was happening. There's now an update on the post:

Holy crap, y�all. I just got an email from Fred Armisen (co-creater and co-star of Portlandia), telling me that he and Carrie have no clue why those bags were banned, and that they think they�re fabulous. Then he asked how they could help, and he and Carrie offered to sign some of the bags personally. Which explains exactly why I love Portlandia, social media, and birds. I considered making one saying �Carrie and Fred personally approve of the birds on this bag� (and then have them sign it, along with a notary public), but instead I just suggested that they sign one and auction it off to a charity that rescues birds from crack houses. And we�d call it The GET-A-BIRD-OUT-OF-THERE Auction. No word yet from Fred. It�s possible I may have frightened him.

Cool response to a bad situation that never should have happened in the first place...

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Filed Under: parody, portlandia, put a bird on it, satire, takedowns

42 Comments

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velox (profile), 14 Sep 2011 @ 11:12am

She picked the wrong "bird" symbol to put on her bag.
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Meek Barbarian (profile), 14 Sep 2011 @ 12:07pm

confused...
So, if they own all the birds ...
And the bird IS the word ...
do they own all the words?

I am pretty sure I just committed 41 counts of copyright, with all these word I just used. 43 if you count the numbers.
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HothMonster, 14 Sep 2011 @ 12:12pm

the description on this one is priceless, in context

http://www.zazzle.com/this_bag_is_based_on_the_true_story_of_my_life-149176623338046415
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Matthew (profile), 14 Sep 2011 @ 12:15pm

Dear Portlandia,
The Bloggess is funnier than your show. You should be thanking her for the exposure. Stop acting like the kind of uptight douchebags that your show so often mocks.
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HothMonster, 14 Sep 2011 @ 12:18pm

Re: Dear Portlandia,
apperntly the people who actually make the show like the bags. Check the update in the blogpost linked below. Its just some lawyers searching for some billable time.

http://thebloggess.com/2011/09/dear-portlandia-really/#comment-115802
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GeneralEmergency (profile), 14 Sep 2011 @ 12:21pm

Obligitory...
.

What did Portlandia just do to their public relations?

Why, they "Put a turd on it!".

.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2011 @ 12:24pm

There is another bird that I would add to one of the bags.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2011 @ 12:25pm

I wonder who was sending these takedown requests. My guess is it's someone in-house at IFC, but who knows.

Are the takedown requests posted anywhere?
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2011 @ 12:32pm

From the blog:

UPDATED: Holy crap, y�all. I just got an email from Fred Armisen (co-creater and co-star of Portlandia), telling me that he and Carrie have no clue why those bags were banned, and that they think they�re fabulous. Then he asked how they could help, and he and Carrie offered to sign some of bags personally. Which explains exactly why I love Portlandia, social media, and birds. I considered making one saying �Carrie and Fred personally approve of the birds on this bag� (and then have them sign it along with a notary public), but instead I just suggested that they sign one and auction it off to a charity that rescues birds from crack houses. And we�d call it The GET-A-BIRD-OUT-OF-THERE Auction. No word yet from Fred. It�s possible I may have frightened him.
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Dan, 14 Sep 2011 @ 12:37pm

It's too bad those designs are terrible!
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2011 @ 12:43pm

Ignorant as usual.
Your continued ignorance on IP is astonishing mikey. If someone creates content, and someone else blatantly rips off that content to make a buck, generally people have a problem with that, naturally. Satirizing a city, is completely different from satirizing something a business created.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2011 @ 12:47pm

Re: Ignorant as usual.
Intellectual property is a creature of law. It's not just whatever "people generally have a problem with."

People may have problems with lots of things that are perfectly legal.
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Cowardly Anon, 14 Sep 2011 @ 12:49pm

Re:
I feel she should make that one...more people might buy it. :)
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2011 @ 12:51pm

Re: Ignorant as usual.
you forgot /sarc
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2011 @ 12:51pm

Re: Ignorant as usual.
The title of your post is so apropos to your point of view.

Satire is satire, whether the target is a government, an individual, or a business.

Only someone ignorant of the law would think the target defines its own ability to be satirized.
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HothMonster, 14 Sep 2011 @ 12:53pm

Re: Ignorant as usual.
I have a problem with your opinion and attitude. Pay me, NOW.

But seriously you're right. This blogger took away the shows highly lucrative Zazzle market, that must be stopped. She even had the audacity to credit them, tell her many many followers how great the show is and have a sense of humor. What a bitch.
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Vincent Clement (profile), 14 Sep 2011 @ 12:54pm

Re: Ignorant as usual.
Are you saying that if a company 'creates' something, and it is a huge flop, no one can make fun of it? Where exactly is this 'one cannot satirize content created by a business' clause in the legislation?
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2011 @ 12:54pm

Re: Ignorant as usual.
"Satirizing a city, is completely different from satirizing something a business created."

[Citation Needed]

As always, you won't provide one, of course.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2011 @ 12:56pm

Re: Ignorant as usual.
I think I'm going to start selling a line of shirts that uses different sentences from the above comment since it's likely it was created by a business. That's just how I roll.
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RobShaver (profile), 14 Sep 2011 @ 12:59pm

YouTube is censoring comments ...
I tried to post a comment on YouTube under the video but it apparently was monitoring for the name "Jenny Lawson". I tried posting it but a captia came up that always failed. I tried six different captia images. I'm sure I got at least one correct. I then tried posting a test message there. That worked. I tried "Jenny Lawson" and, again, captia that never works.

Or maybe I'm just crazy and paranoid.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2011 @ 1:02pm

Meme
Here in Portland the "Put a bird on it" meme has existed for several years now, well before the show.

As mentioned above, Carrie and Fred are well aware of this and they are putting a stop to this.
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RobShaver (profile), 14 Sep 2011 @ 1:02pm

NEWS FLASH: This just in ...
from Jenny Lawson's blog:

"UPDATED: Holy crap, y�all. I just got an email from Fred Armisen (co-creater and co-star of Portlandia), telling me that he and Carrie have no clue why those bags were banned, and that they think they�re fabulous."

http://thebloggess.com/2011/09/dear-portlandia-really/
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Mr. Smarta**, 14 Sep 2011 @ 1:06pm

Send the lawyer's paperwork back
I would send a response to the lawyers with a few pages explaining the situation and my intentions. And at the very bottom of the last page, I'd write:

"Like the response? I put my butt on it before I sent it."
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Bill Silverstein (profile), 14 Sep 2011 @ 1:45pm

Re: Ignorant as usual.
Yes, you are completely correct. Satirizing a city is completely different from satirizing a business created by satire.
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jdub (profile), 14 Sep 2011 @ 2:09pm

Next show after it should be "Lawyers Gone Wild".
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Tristan, 14 Sep 2011 @ 2:21pm

Wow.
All the birds are belong to us.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2011 @ 2:28pm

The red bird the gets put on the card at 0:29 looks suspiciously like an old Twitter logo, so maybe the Portlandia lawyers should be expecting a takedown letter of their very own?
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2011 @ 3:13pm

Re: confused...
Guess I'm old enough to know your comment is hilarious...
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2011 @ 5:52pm

All of this because of birds?
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2011 @ 6:03pm

Re: confused...
The Trashmen - Surfin' Bird

Great music but we thieves can't hear it without breaking the law.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2011 @ 6:06pm

Re: Re: confused...
Paying for music everytime is like paying a prostitute everytime you have sex.
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Jay (profile), 14 Sep 2011 @ 7:30pm

Re: NEWS FLASH: This just in ...
So I guess everyone's heard now...

The bird is the word now.
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Anonymous Content, 14 Sep 2011 @ 8:46pm

Re: Ignorant as usual.
So in that case I guess everything's "blatantly ripped off" already, Anonie:

"Drop a mountain on it" - Larry Niven

"Put up or shut up" - common usage

"Put it in the pocket" - common usage

"Put your hands where I can see 'em!" - common usage

"Put a lid on it" - common usage - common usage

"Put a cork in it" - common usage

"Put it out to pasture" - common usage

"Put it where the moon don't shine" - common usage

btw, your continued arrogance appears to have been blatantly ripped off by about... 100,000,000 people throughout the history of man. Better get your lawdogs on that....
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Fearofmusic, 14 Sep 2011 @ 8:57pm

When looking at fair use, does American law make a distinction between parody and homage? Because it seems pretty clear, even from the product description, that the first bag wasn't a parody of what Portlandia was doing. The show was already implying that using bird silhouettes to decorate things was overdone and lazy; the dodo makes the same point. It is mocking the same target with the same slogan and a different image. Portlandia used satire; this seller used homage.
Note: I'm not defending the showrunners' choice to take legal action here, I'm just wondering if anyone knows: Is homage considered as "fair" as parody and satire, or does there have to be some criticism of the target to make it more "fair"?
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G Thompson (profile), 14 Sep 2011 @ 9:18pm

Re: Re: confused...
You cannot here what?

Could it be this word ;)
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G Thompson (profile), 14 Sep 2011 @ 9:22pm

I'm wondering whether Beyonc� want's to put a ring on the bird.

ba boom
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Valkor, 15 Sep 2011 @ 1:42am

Re: Ignorant as usual.
You're not helping by using vague, catch-all words and phrases like "IP", "rips off", and "content". You use one (1) sentence to make an argument and manage to combine fallacies of presumption, sweeping generalization, and irrelevant conclusion in it. Nice job.

Try again, and use an example of a creative work that is inspired by a cultural event or artifact, explained in the context of the specific type of law, i.e., trademark, copyright, patent, or trade secret, and how it is violated.
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The eejit (profile), 15 Sep 2011 @ 3:18am

Re:
No, because Jay-Z doesn't like words anymore.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2011 @ 11:18am

I am thinking that it is the "hommage to portlandia" that got them in trouble, not the bird.
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Jenny, Bloggess, 15 Sep 2011 @ 11:58am

Just a follow-up
Hi. It's me...the chick who wrote the original post. You guys are awesome and are cracking me up.

Just wanted to mention that I've heard from Fred several times to follow up about it personally. Fred and Carrie are fans of the bags, of small businesses and of independent writers, and they're following up to make sure that legal isn't so heavy-handed in the future, while still protecting their rights. Perfect solution, handled in an amazing way, which ended with more people than ever being exposed to their show. Social media for the win.
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Galashiels (profile), 15 Sep 2011 @ 6:52pm

Design of Business Products
I think the IP lawyers in this case went overboard. Clearly, she wasn't infringing on on anything. Are words, phrases, & memes now subject to copyright law?

Her business of selling products based on a catchphrase from a satirical show, seems perfectly fine. There are business websites that sell T-Shirts, with satirical commentary on them that have never been attacked by lawyers. Her business shouldn't have been any different.

Shame on Zazzle for pulling her products, & affecting her business, so quickly without proper investigation.
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Shannon, 9 Mar 2012 @ 12:32am

Cry me cry me cry me a river ,. . .
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