"it's value was diminished"

What value? If no one ever heard of it there is no value.

--Previous Message--
: South Park is certainly no stranger to insane copyright lawsuits.
: Some time ago, they survived a suit over having character
: Butters parody Brownmark Films' " What What (In The Butt)
: " music video. In that case, South Park relied on a strong
: Fair Use claim over what was clearly a nod to the original
: video.
:
: But now we learn of a new copyright lawsuit over the inclusion
: of a character called the Lollipop King in South Park's
: Imagination Land trilogy. The claim here is as bizarre as the
: South Park trilogy that is allegedly infringing. A guy named
: Exavier Wardlaw claims he created a show years ago called The
: Lollipop Forest in which one of the characters, Big Bad
: Lollipop, is the clear inspiration for the Lollipop King South
: Park character. His inspiration for the lawsuit is, apparently,
: the rather, uh, not nice things that Trey Parker and Matt Stone
: subject the Lollipop King to.
:
: In his suit, Wardlaw claims "Lollipop Forest" is
: a wholesome family show - and it's value was diminished when the
: Big Bad Lollipop ripoff was exposed to "unwholesome
: language and sexual innuendo."
:
: FYI - during the "South Park" episode ...
: Lollipop King gets choked out by a Storm Trooper ... witnesses
: the carnage of a suicide bomber ... and gets a front row seat as
: Kyle performs a sexual act of an oral nature on Cartman's nether
: region (... it was a crazy episode).
: Indeed, almost as crazy as Wardlaw insisting that his character
: was the basis for the Lollipop King, seeing as how the two
: characters look nothing alike (beyond being lollipops, of
: course). In fact, the absurdity of this claim in an episode
: where the disputed character, which South Park sources indicate
: is an original, is shown alongside such obvious non-original
: characters like storm troopers and Snarf, is almost too much to
: handle.
:
:
:
: Bizarrely, this isn't the first time that someone has suggested
: that South Park copied The Lollipop King. A group called TLG
: Media put out a satirical video with its own Lollipop King, and
: when South Park came out with its own, they took it (mostly) in
: stride, first pointing out their logical and emotional
: reactions: " My common sense says 'No, anybody could come
: up with a 'lollipop king'' but my ego says 'Those motherf.uckers
: ripped us off! F.ucking Motherf.uckers!' " But then
: concluded that " ours is way better because he's insane
: ." But not insane enough to actually think the South Park
: guys copied him.
:
: And beyond the question of any actual copying that might have
: occurred (a dubious claim, at best), this is yet another case
: that demonstrates the overblown nature of tarnishment
: accusations. Can anyone with a straight face say they really
: think that The Lollipop Forest (whatever the hell that is; I
: couldn't find any IMDB credits) had its value tarnished by South
: Park's Imagination Land trilogy? Unless you're in the middle of
: one epically large stroke, the only sensible answer is " no
: ". Hopefully, this suit gets punted out of the legal system
: post-haste.
:
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