online legal advice

but just no one knowswhat this place is. - correct.- no one-- you don't have a brandthat people recognize. - absolutely.- but maybe there's a shortcut to actually havingbrand recognition, using a little somethingcalled parody law. - parody law. - often used by artists like"weird al" yankovic and shows likesaturday night live,

parody law allows youto use trademarks and copyrighted material as longas you're making fun of them. so if elias could find a wayto make fun of starbucks, he'd be free and clear to borrowtheir valuable corporate name and image for his store. the plan:turn the helio cafe into the world's firstparody starbucks. - so how do you make thata parody without it-- you just not mimickingtheir brand?

- like, the coffees could be"dumb grande," "dumb venti"... - yeah, i got you.- "dumb frappuccino." - gotcha.okay. - i mean, as a whole, the storecould just be called "dumb starbucks."- right. that's-- okay, i see what you're saying.right. - but the "dumb" could be smallso people could come in thinking it'san actual starbucks. - huh.it's smart, i just don't know

if people would get it.you know. i don't know if people are,you know... - well, do people getwhat you're doing now? you're not that popular.- right. - you have no menu.- that's true. - i mean, what do you haveto lose by trying? - i mean, what do i haveto lose? i...i don't know actually. - elias was on board, buthe did have one major concern.

- i definitely could not afforda lawsuit from starbucks. definitely not. - based off what i read onwikipedia, it seemed like my approachwas legal. but just to be sure,i retained the services of attorney peter j. marxto guarantee we were protected. - "dumb starbucks"? - but the "dumb" would besmaller so people would still thinkit's a starbucks.

- if people think it's astarbucks, you've got a problem. it's not really a parody then. - apparently, my legal footingwasn't as solid as i thought. but then peter brought up oneway i could cover myself. - let's say you had a reputationas being a-- - yeah. - someone who doeslots of parody. then they know, oh, he's justmaking fun of starbucks, because this is what he does.

- so i have to becomea parody artist. - it wouldn't hurt. - it seemed like i still hadsome work ahead of me. but before leaving, i neededto be sure i was protected. so if i do all this,then starbucks can't sue me? - this is america. people file lawsuitsat the drop of a hat. - but if they sue,you're liable too, right? - who's liable?- you.

- me personally?- yeah. - not unless i'm involvedin--in viola-- in infringingtheir trademark, no. - yeah, the appearance releaseyou signed before had a clause that you would be liable too,if starbucks sued. - i don't agree to this at all. i do not agree to payall legal fees and damages from legal action becausei have no control over what's being released.

- well, why did you signthat, then? - yeah, i signed it. and isigned it because i didn't have a chance to read itand i thought-- - but you're a lawyer.don't you read things before you sign them?- i do read things-- i try to read things but youwanted me to shoot and i glanced at it and this was my mistake.i'll acknowledge that. - okay. well, you signed it so iguess you can give that back. - well, i-i'm not gonna give itback because i'm going to--

- well, i handed it to you justto look over, but you already-- - no, i'm not gonnagive it back to you. i'm protecting myself and,frankly, you from a nightmare. - well, you signed it. we have you on camerasigning it. so it still holds up in court. - you don't have me on camerasigning it. - yes, we do. - what kind of lawyer am i?signing [...] i haven't read.

well, if you do, that's finethen you--then you'll know how the terms--i'm gonna put itin my pocket. - well, no, we don't want itin your pocket. - i--we do want itin my pocket. - please.please, you're in my office. i'm very serious. and i don'tknow if you're really trying to do this just for the show,but i'd like you to get off my desk and i'm gonnaask you to leave the office. - i was disappointed that peterwas trying to back out

of the deal he signed. but our producers wereeventually able to calm him down enough to keep shooting. - they just said they need toget a shot of the--an insert of the document.like a shot of it. - [laughs] it's staying--it's staying in my pocket. it's not going anywhere.- well, we just need to get a shot of the clausefor the scene. - i-i--- in the document.

you can hold on to it. just hold it outlike you'd had and then--yeah. this camera needs to get itout here. - okay, that's how i had it. - and then you can-- just make sure you get an insertof the actual-- - you know, i'm about to--idon't know if you're provoking me or not, but i'm--i'm not--i'm getting tired of this. i'm not gonna be responsiblefor your conduct, okay?

- my plan to have peter shareliability didn't work. so it was more importantthan ever that elias and i take his guidanceto protect ourselves. it would just be helpful,legally, if we had a history of being parody artists. - okay.