Chuck Norris tired of Chuck Facts?!

[McLaren]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tough-guy actor and martial arts expert Chuck Norris sued publisher Penguin on Friday over a book he claims unfairly exploits his famous name, based on a satirical Internet list of "mythical facts" about him. Penguin published "The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 facts about the World's Greatest Human" in November. Author Ian Spector and two Web sites he runs to promote the book, including www.truthaboutchuck.com, are also named in the suit.

The book capitalizes on "mythical facts" that have been circulating on the Internet since 2005 that poke fun at Norris' tough-guy image and super-human abilities, the suit said. It includes such humorous "facts" as "Chuck Norris's tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried" and "Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits," the suit said, as well as "Chuck Norris can charge a cell phone by rubbing it against his beard.""Some of the 'facts' in the book are racist, lewd or portray Mr. Norris as engaged in illegal activities," the lawsuit alleges.

Norris, who rose to fame in the 1970s and 1980s as the star of such films as "The Delta Force" and "Missing in Action," says the book's title would mislead readers into thinking the facts were true."Defendants have misappropriated and exploited Mr. Norris's name and likeness without authorization for their own commercial profit," said the lawsuit.

The suit, filed in Manhattan federal court, seeks unspecified monetary damages for trademark infringement, unjust enrichment and privacy rights.
Norris, whose real name is Carlos Ray Norris, claims in the suit he is protective of what his name is associated with. He has recently made U.S. headlines for backing Republican presidential candidate former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

A spokesman for Penguin, owned by Britain's Pearson, was not immediately available for comment.

22/12

I kind of agree. I'm not sure I want "facts" about be possibly portraying me as a racist.

 

[Azuremen]

I say he is pretty much in the right with this suit. He played along with the Chuck Norris jokes for a while, but at some point you can go too far. I think this is that point.

 

[Small_Fryz]

If he was to get royalties for the book, then i think he wouldnt have minded. But since he gets nothing and they get all the profits because of HIM, then he has a very valid point.

 

[Famine]

He seemed quite happy to laugh along with them back in March 2006:

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Including ones which were gags about testicular cancer, animal abuse and tax evasion...

 

[daan]

Chuck Norris can't read.

 

[Formula1Driver]

Chuck Norris can speak Brail

I can see where Chuck is coming from, these people are going to make money based on false facts about him and he isn't going to see a dime (unless he wins the suit). Some of the "facts" are pretty bad but some of them are just funny and I remember a while back on his wiki page that he endorsed the jokes for a while but now that they are writing a book on them is going a bit too far.

 

[Alfaholic]

Since Penguin is making money by ripping him off, his response seems reasonable.

Then again, I have a problem with newspapers and magazines making their money by printing candid pictures of famous people doing what they do. The celebs get nothing for that except harrassment and invasion of privacy. Making money from someone else's name / image without asking, thanking or reimbursing them to me just seems wrong.

Then again, I don't care what my favourite movie star does with their spare time. Others may find it more important that their heroes are also good real life role models, so that's another side ofthe coin. In Chuck's case, though, since its all lies, it's just wrong (unless Penguin has a side to the story that we haven't heard yet).

 

[zoxxy]

Pretty damn useless to release a book with all these facts, when you easily can find them on the internet.

 

[Kent]

I agree with Chuck (more or less).
In my opinion, the internet gag was funny and harmless. However, when the guy that runs those sites took all the material (provided by fans who submitted comments on the site), published it, and basically tried to get rich off of other people's material and Chuck's name- he crossed the line.

I just don't think the guy should be able to get rich off of Chuck's name and the work of fans from the site.

 

[Vander]

I agree with Chuck (more or less).
In my opinion, the internet gag was funny and harmless. However, when the guy that runs those sites took all the material (provided by fans who submitted comments on the site), published it, and basically tried to get rich off of other people's material and Chuck's name- he crossed the line.

I just don't think the guy should be able to get rich off of Chuck's name and the work of fans from the site.

quite true, I mean who would ever think of taking a bunch of material created by others and getting stupidly rich off of it. . .*cough*YOUTUBE!*cough*

The only infringement here is not having Chuck's permission, so the suit is valid.

 

[Touring Mars]

Go to Google and type "Find Chuck Norris", then hit "I'm Feeling Lucky"....

 

[Nitrof1]

Go to Google and type "Find Chuck Norris", then hit "I'm Feeling Lucky"....

muahahaha

 

[Sting]

Go to Google and type "Find Chuck Norris", then hit "I'm Feeling Lucky"....

LMAO! Perfect!

 

[Loon]

I can understand him being mad about Penguin making money off of him, but to think that its going to make him look racist and etc is ridiculous. Anyone who would buy that book knows all the crap in it is just made up.

 

[87chevy]

I can understand him being mad about Penguin making money off of him, but to think that its going to make him look racist and etc is ridiculous. Anyone who would buy that book knows all the crap in it is just made up.

You have severly underestimated the stupidity of the masses.