Judge Not Amused By South Butt's Amusing Legal Filing

from the not-a-judge-of-humor,-apparently dept

When we recently wrote about South Butt's response to the lawsuit from The North Face, I wondered how the judge would take it. While that post got a ton of traffic, and we heard from lots of people -- including many lawyers -- claiming that it was one of the "best" legal filings they had ever seen, you could see how a judge might be offended and think that it somehow mocked the judicial process. Indeed, while the judge doesn't appear pissed off about it, he also was not that pleased. Eric Goldman points us to the judge's refusal to dismiss the complaint, which also warns the lawyer to knock off the frivolity:

I remind counsel of their obligations under Rule 11 and that, with each filing, they certify to the Court that the motion is not being presented to harass, cause unnecessary delay or needlessly increase the cost of litigation and that the legal contentions are warranted by existing law or nonfrivolous arguments for extending, modifying, or reversing existing law or for establishing new law. Although this filing may not reach the level of frivolity, it approaches the line.

Too bad. The judicial system would be a lot more interesting if lawyers felt free to respond as The South Butt's lawyer did originally.

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