• FiniteBanjo@feddit.online
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    3 days ago

    OH YEAH I totally forgot that The Onion acquired InfoWars after Alex Jones was forced to sell due to multiple legal proceedings including his divorce and a lawsuit from Sandy Hook shooting victims that he claimed were actors.

    • Cintari@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Apparently the actual sale of Infowars is still tied up in court. What they’re doing here is just creating their own Infowars despite that, consequences be damned. Alex Jones isn’t in any position to protect the trademark and The Onion is calling it parody.

      • mkwt@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        Alex Jones doesn’t own any IP any more. His bankruptcy estate owns the shares in the business that used to be his. So Alex Jones can’t sue for any infringement. In fact Alex Jones continued to illegally use the studio and the branding for months after he lost the rights to do so.

        In theory Jones’s bankruptcy estate’s liquidator / administrator could sue on behalf of the estate. But that guy was trying to award the auction to the Onion in the first place.

        The Onion tried to strike a short term lease deal, which hasn’t been approved yet. So they’re just going to make the lease payments to the plaintiffs directly for the time being.

        And they think they’re in a pretty legally defensible situation, because, hey, who’s going to sue them?

        • mkwt@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          By the way, the court ruled that the judgement can’t by discharged in bankruptcy. So Jones is coming out of bankruptcy, and he still owes the full amount (less whatever is collected from the Onion) personally. He doesn’t get a clean slate. Any future income of his can be garnished and assets seized down to some minimum. For the rest of his life.

    • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
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      3 days ago

      I thought there was another issue. I’m so glad, I fucking love it.

      Edit: I think this show is going to get followers like Colbert got followers because they thought it was real. There’s a hole to fill.