Barney may love you and he may love me, but he doesn't love The Famous San Diego Chicken.
The purple dinosaur's owners have filed a copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit against The Chicken for ridiculing and assaulting a Barneylike character during performances at baseball and basketball games across the country.Texas-based Lyons Partnership said the red and yellow chicken mascot, Ted Giannoulas, was first notified in 1994 that using the Barneylike costume in his act constituted infringement of Lyons' trademarks and copyrights and violated state and federal law.
"Specifically, Giannoulas would punch, flip, stand on and otherwise assault the putative `Barney,' " the lawsuit charges. "Despite such notice, Lyons received subsequent reports of `Barney' appearing with The Famous Chicken at games of the Detroit Pistons, Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners and others."
The company wants a permanent injunction against use of the dinosaur costume and a minimum $100,000 for each time Giannoulas has performed a skit with the dinosaur in it.
The complaint said that, because Barney consumers are young children, they aren't likely to know the difference between the real Barney and the one getting knocked around by San Diego's infamous fowl.
"It's nothing more than to be mean sprited," Giannoulas said Wednesday of the federal lawsuit filed last week in Texas. "There have been plenty of parodies of Barney. They probably think that the Chicken is easy picking."