Is a "Kiss Me I'm Irish" t-shirt a defense against a sexual assault charge?
Is an "I'm With Stupid" t-shirt libel?
Followup: What if the person to the right is, in fact, stupid? Does it then hinge on the interpretation of "with"?
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A couple of questions for the lawyers:
Tags: copyright, fashion, firstperson
7 Responses:
A search of the literature has revealed a general concurrence between attorney and lay opinion on the matter before us.
I'm concerned that they think "KISS ME, I’M WASTED” sends a subliminal message as well as, you know, the obvious.
The witness is directed to explain the meaning of their comment in detail for the benefit of the Court and those members of the jury who also lack any semblance of what the witness is talking about.
it's probably worth mentioning that we've had the San Jose PD thrown at us (multiple times!) a the silly anime convention I help run in the area. Their big complaint was that for a few years was that the "vaguely 4chan" contingent was running around with "FREE HUGS" shirts/signs/etc.
The year after that, we had to have everybody on staff watch for those signs, as the SJPD was threatening to arrest the kids on "Soliciting Prostitution" charges.
But.... IANAL. who knows. It just because we cop threatens stupid stuff like that doesn't mean he actually has the capability to do it . We still had to take the threat seriously though, This has ended up being a recurring (but mild) problem, in a variety of areas. But the "free hugs" variant is still the worst.
{{ The xian-protextors we seem to attract every every year are probably a significant factor here. I know part of their "message" is that all animation is pornography (they haven't encountered hentai yet...) so kids hugging and being silly probably IS off-the-charts offensive. meh. }}
A friend who had a little bookstore in downtown San Jose used to get regularly hassled by one SJ cop for the vintage nudie postcards she carried. He couldn't do anything, and the other cops she talked to tended to sigh and roll their eyes when she brought him up. (Dinah Sanders, Inkspot Books)
That is… god help us.
I never did actually pass the bar, and as your attorney, I recommend that you ignore me.
No. Nobody believes that expressions printed on clothing are binding contracts. Even if someone did, contract law requires various things to happen prior to the execution. So possibly (I'm stretching here), buying someone a drink could work. I seriously doubt any judge would uphold that, unless you live in Alabama.
"I'm with stupid" doesn't work for two reasons: the person was freely associating with the supposed tortier, and more importantly, wearing a garment does not indicate malicious intent towards one person (although I can make up a situation where that might apply, this seems to be a general question).
It works less well if they are actually stupid. Because then, it is true, and truth is an absolute defense in the US. Although I have no idea what the legal definition of 'stupid' is. Mayhap there is case law somewhere. Someone who didn't go back to tech work would have to answer that one with their Westlaw searches and their leather chairs.