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Spike Lee Wins in Court AGAIN !
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Posted by: jones07

Appeals court refuses to stay Lee's lower court injunction against Spike T-V

New York-AP -- Spike T-V won't be coming soon to a television near you.

A New York appeals court says Viacom cannot change the name of its cable channel The National Network to Spike T-V until a fight over the name is decided at trial.

Movie director Spike Lee is challenging the name change. He says the change will associate him with what he calls the "demeaning, vapid and quasi-pornographic content of Spike T-V." He's hired Johnnie Cochran as his attorney.

Viacom insists it has a right to use "the common word `spike'" to rename its cable network.

Last week, Lee won an injunction against the name change. He called it an attempt to hijack his name, image and reputation.

A hearing is set for the first week in September.

Posted by: spud

This is unbelievable. I don't know what else to say.

Posted by: vertigo235

In his defense, the first time I saw the "Spike TV" thread a while back. The first thing I thought of was Spike Lee :D

But it's still a stupid lawsuit.

Posted by: jones07

Viacom Says Spike Lee Spat Cost TNN $16.8M in First Week

http://money.cnn.com/services/ticke...NLINE001076.htm

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Viacom Inc. (VIA) said it will lose $16.8 million in the first week after filmmaker Spike Lee's so-far successful bid to keep its TNN cable network from being renamed Spike TV.

Mr. Lee, who claimed the name change was a deliberate attempt to hijack his image and prestige, won a preliminary injunction in state Supreme Court last week barring TNN from calling itself Spike TV starting Monday. Lawyers for Viacom, the media giant that owns the CBS network, appealed.

In papers filed at the Appellate Division, Viacom said it stopped displaying the Spike TV logo on television screens at 12:01 a.m. EDT Monday, when the name change was to occur, because of the lower-court ruling by Justice Walter Tolub.

That created "confusion, expense and disruption" for cable operators and is likely to cause TNN "untold loss of advertising revenue likely to be in the range of hundreds of millions of dollars."

"We have already obtained commitments from advertisers for 2003 and 2004 in excess of $100 million specifically predicated on use of the 'Spike TV' name," court papers say. "Should we be unable to use the name, the commitments would be in severe jeopardy."

Clara Kim, TNN's vice president for business and legal affairs, said in court papers the $500,000 bond the court ordered Mr. Lee to post to pay Viacom's expenses in case the company wins "was grossly inadequate." Ms. Kim said Tuesday the network's "estimated losses for the first week of the injunction alone are in excess of $16.8 million."

Viacom, which bought TNN in 2000, also owns the Showtime movie channel, MTV, VH1, UPN and book publisher Simon & Schuster. It announced in April it would change TNN's name to Spike TV to try to attract more men to an audience that is already about two-thirds male.

The channel, which changed its name two years ago from The Nashville Network to The National Network, shows reruns of "The A-Team," "Baywatch" and "Miami Vice" and sports entertainment such as professional wrestling, "American Gladiators," "Car and Driver Television" and "Trucks!"

TNN will soon begin carrying an animated series featuring Pamela Anderson as the voice of Stan Lee's "Stripperella," an undercover agent who is also a stripper.

Mr. Lee complained TNN's name change would associate him with the "demeaning, vapid and quasi-pornographic content of Spike TV."

Viacom's lawyers say Spike is a common name that doesn't necessarily prompt thoughts of the 46-year-old film director. They said he is known as Spike Lee, not simply Spike, and noted "spike" is a common and frequently used word with many meanings.

Mr. Lee, whose given name is Shelton Jackson Lee, has been nominated twice for Academy Awards, for "4 Little Girls" and "Do the Right Thing." His other films include "Malcolm X," "Summer of Sam" and "Jungle Fever."

Posted by: jones07

http://www.thenewtnn.com/

On TNN web site, The Name Spike-TV is gone along with its logo. Both was all over their web site 2 weeks ago. This has to be costing TNN a lot of lost time an money.

Posted by: Haps

I'm kind of glad to see him winning. Not because I agree with his lawsuit. But just because I think Spike TV is a retarded name for a channel.

Posted by: Kablemodem

They should call it Lee TV. When Spike sues again, their defense will be that Lee refers to Pamela Anderson Lee, someone who acutally appears in the channel's programming.

Posted by: doom1701

While this ticks me off to no end, I'm not surprised by this ruling. It was basically an appeal of the injunction. The injunction just means that the original judge felt there was enough evidence to warrant looking into the issue further. For a second judge to then say "No, there's not enough evidence for this to be looked at" would result in a judicial pissing match.

Hopefully, though, Mr. Lee gets his butt whipped in court soon.

Posted by: disco

quote:
Originally posted by doom1701
Hopefully, though, Mr. Lee gets his butt whipped in court soon.

And be forced to pay the $16.8M+ to Viacom! %&*#ing Spike Lee....

Posted by: Volk

This is ridiculous.

Posted by: speedy4022

I think this lawsuit shows the sad state our courts are in. the fact these frivolous lawsuits even get heard in court is shameful.:o

Posted by: Kablemodem

It's not a frivolous suit, but he is an an egotistical a-hole for bringing it. In the long run TNN wins out because a lot more people now know of the programming switch than otherwise would have.

Posted by: JimSpence

Let's see, we have WE for Women's Entertainment, so why not ME for Men's Entertainment?

Oops, that won't work. Bill Gates would sue because of Windows Me. :) And, why would a men's network want to be associated with a flawed operating system?

Edit to add: Would Spike Lee sue if a volley ball channel decided to call itself The Spike Channel?

Posted by: Rigelian

quote:
Originally posted by JimSpence

Edit to add: Would Spike Lee sue if a volley ball channel decided to call itself The Spike Channel?

That's a good question. I guess it depends on whether someone would think that the volley ball channel was named because of the involvement of Spike Lee.

Posted by: Fleegle

quote:
Originally posted by Rigelian
That's a good question. I guess it depends on whether someone would think that the volley ball channel was named because of the involvement of Spike Lee.

See, that's the problem with this lawsuit. Spike Lee is engaging in pure, unadulterayed hubris in thinking that, out of ALL the "Spike's" in the world, that people would associate him with this network. Like many have said, his name never enev came to my mind when the name was announced.

What bext, is Spike Jonze and James Marsters going to sue Viacom when Lee loses?

Posted by: Rigelian

Well it's hard to say that is the problem with this lawsuit. No one has described the evidence that Spike Lee offered in support of his TRO motion. I suspect that it consists a little bit more than Lee's unsubstantiated state. For all we know Lee introduced marketing reports and surveys establishing that a high percentage in an identified market was pressumed the channel is associated with him.

Posted by: njtaz

This is ridiculous, to believe this lawsuit has made it this far. Hopefully in the long run Viacom wins and Spike Lee is forced to pay damages for all lost revenue.

Yes the name SPIKE TV is not the best, but that is besides the point. When you say the word SPIKE i'm not thinking Spike Lee.

Posted by: doom1701

quote:
Originally posted by disco904
And be forced to pay the $16.8M+ to Viacom! %&*#ing Spike Lee....

Actually, in order to get the motion through, Lee had to post a $50 million bond which will be used to pay for Viacom's losses in the event that the trial finds that Spike TV can be used.

I just wanna know where Lee is going to get that kind of dough.

Posted by: Squeak

I think you guys are missing something here -- it is not just about the name being 'Spike' and he being Spike Lee.

One of the major points for the trial is the fact that one of the executives for TNN mentioned in a press article that they were utilizing the name Spike TV as a way to leverage Spike Lee's reputation. And if that is true -- Spike Lee is at least warranted due process to see if he is entitled to compensation.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/spikelee6.html
Section 22

Posted by: smak

That's what Lee's lawsuit says, about the executive mentioning spike lee. But did it ever really happen?

That's the difference in the case, i think there is a case if the executive says, we're going to name our network after spike lee because of his name recognition.

Also, i think it was $500,000 not 50 million.

The only saving grace in this whole mess is that Lee won't get any money if he wins.

-smak-

Posted by: doom1701

quote:
Originally posted by smak
Also, i think it was $500,000 not 50 million.
-smak-

You are correct--I guess I was just expecting Lee to have to actually cover TNN's losses, which 500k won't even come close to doing.

As for "The Smoking Gun" article (I'd quote, but it's a graphic), I loved #23. Lee has to have the largest ego on the planet to file a statement like that.

Posted by: MirclMax

quote:
Originally posted by JimSpence
Let's see, we have WE for Women's Entertainment, so why not ME for Men's Entertainment?

Well Jim, I don't think Viacom would opt to use "ME" due to the fact that Maxim is launching its similar channel soon called the Maxim Entertainment Network (MEN).

Posted by: MatrixOutsider

I can't stand that little weasel with his bad, NYU film school caliber movies.

Posted by: JimSpence

Anyone know when Maxim channel launches?

Posted by: allan

Frankly, I don't give a flying fig about Spike Lee, but I think SpikeTV is a stupid name!

Posted by: jones07

To have this many people hating him He must be doing something right.

I have no opinion on Mr Lee as a Person one way or the other. I do love three of his films. Three of them I can watch over an over again.

1) Malcolm X ===> Great movie. Mr Lee and Denzel Washington was
robbed at the Oscars

2a) She's Got to Have It ===> Great small film.

2b) 4 Little Girls ===> Great Documentary. So Powerful I can't watch all at once

3)School Daze ===> Nice movie for its time. But it Did not age well.

4) 25th Hour ===> if you are looking for a good movie to rent over the July 4th weekend. Some love an Some hate it

Say what you what about Spike Lee the man. But Spike Lee the Film makers is one of a kind.

Posted by: Tsiehta

TNN should change their name to "Not Spike Lee TV"