Space Empires V or ridiculous lawsuits? What is the connection?

[TerranC]

Originally posted by Lisif Deoral:

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Originally posted by TerranC:

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Originally posted by Ed Kolis:
Space Empires Armada!!!

If that happens, Paramount and Activision would sue Aaron for the name's similarity to one of their products.

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I wonder why the Spanish navy didn't sue Activision, then

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That's because the Spanish armada didn't trademark their name

[narf poit chez BOOM]

i was using an exageration. there's probably things you can find that have gone through the courts that are silly enough.
need to think of things ahead of time, though. works best for people. so, people should think of this ahead of time, so they have a stance when it comes up for serious.

[Fyron]

Like that woman that ordered hot coffee from McDonald's and was then dumb enough to place it in her lap, and lo and behold, some coffee spilt (I forget exactly why) and she was burned? She sued McDonald's for being burned by their coffee.

[jimbob]

I thought she won because she was old. And as we all know, the old and infirm should always win court cases... and people with cute fluffy white dogs... and cute blondes with short skirts... and... and... movie stars that just can't quite kick the habit for the fifth time...

[dogscoff]

Like that woman that ordered hot coffee from McDonald's and was then dumb enough to place it in her lap, and lo and behold, some coffee spilt (I forget exactly why) and she was burned? She sued McDonald's for being burned by their coffee.

I also remember one tale of a woman who sued mcdonalds when she slipped up in a pool of cola on the floor. The thing is, the pool had been put there moments earlier by her own son, who had been running riot and throwing stuff all over the place. Even though she should have been disciplining her own vile offspring, the court decided that McD was responsible for not keeping their floors clean and safe.

Also stories of burglars suing their victims when injured by a broken ladder they've stolen from the shed to gain entry to house and stuff like that... but we're fringing the territory of urban mythology now=-)

[teal]

Regarding all these court cases. Does anyone *know* for sure that all these cases survived the lengthy appeals process and stood? I thought not. The media loves to report the initial judgement and then leave everyone with the impression that's what the courts decided. The courts don't work that way. There is a lengthy appeals process that actually works pretty darn well all things considered. Just to throw out a perhaps contrerversial example, the massive tort judgement against the tobacco companies in Florida was just overturned on appeal. Even if one or two of these silly cases got all the way through to the end of the judicial process that would be just one example, which is a terrible way to make decisions about what the courts should be like. There is loads of evidence that juries actually award *less* in tort damages then judges acting without juries (for example).

[geoschmo]

Teal, I think you are right that a lot of these cases get either overturned, or at the very least the damages get reduced. I think the infamous McDonalds coffee case itself was one that was reduced. I seem to remember hearing that although I am not sure.