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Judge Okays Calvin Peeing
A United States District Court Judge has ruled that a decal picturing the comic strip character Calvin urinating on a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad is legal. Jesse Nietro, an ex-marine working at Camp Lejune had been disciplined for the anti-Islam decals he had displayed on his car.
The Associated press reports:
U.S. District Judge Malcolm J. Howard said in a ruling posted Wednesday that a Lejeune regulation targeting inflammatory speech on base was improperly applied to Nieto’s decals and not to pro-Islamic messages that may be just as incendiary. Howard concluded that the application of the rule violated Nieto’s free speech.
“While military officials are entitled to great deference in restricting speech to further the military’s needs, they may not do so in a manner that discriminates against a particular point of view,” Howard wrote in his decision.
Full Story: Fayetteville Observer
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How can it be legal? It’s copyright infringement.
I am not a lawyer but, the *creation* of the tag was illegal due to copyright infringement, but that was a crime by whoever made it. The use of the tag is not illegal, and protected by the first amendment.
Sounds like the objection here was to the “peeing on Muhammad” part, without any consideration of the copyright infringement part.
Those “Calvin peeing” stickers have been around for a while, with various targets (sports teams, car logos), or no targets. I don’t think any court has effectively cracked down on them for copyright infringement. Maybe since the cartoonist has rejected all legal licensing, his syndicate has seen no profit in policing illegal licensing?