Who knew that street performers could copyright their shitck acts where they panhandle for a few coins laying a hat on the sidewalk? But New York's street performer, the Naked Cowboy, has sent a cease and desist letter to some woman who bills herself as the Naked Cowgirl claiming copyright infringement of a registered act. I don't recall the Naked Cowboy ever performing on TV. I don't recall him ever playing a tour across the nation. I don't recall him ever being billed at Las Vegas. Is being a street performer a legitimate and copyrightable act?
At Disneyland you have to be so tall to ride some rides. Shouldn't a street performer act have to so good before it's considered a legitimate act and not just some panhandling screwing around.
Hey, I get some skidrow guy who comes in my grocery store, mumbles when he returns bottles, cuts his hair cut like a Dutchboy, wears women's beads and pisses his pants. Can he copyright that shitck if another guy would steal that act?
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Comments (1)
Paul, I know you are oblige... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Nick Broad | July 3, 2010 9:56 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Paul, I know you are obliged to write for comic effect, and probably asked to write too much and too often, but street performers deserve a littl respect. Yes, busking is a legitimate profession. Blue Man Group, Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Benjamin Franklin; all these Vegas-worthy people (okay, Franklin's would have been a shit show), were, early on in their careers, street-performers. Perhaps they'd never have made it if other people had stolen their "shitck"? (is that spelling on purpose? I like it!)
Here's a link to the Cowboy's website, where you can see the gigs and festivals he has performed at "across the country," as well as about two dozen appearances he has made on TV.
.nakedcowboy.com
If I were to write for comic effect, I'd say that I understand that you are a busy and successful writer, and probably quite a famous one, but without an attempt to be accurate ("I don't recall"...really?), perhaps the Naked Cowboy does his job better than you do. Considering the stats, us writers have a higher chance of ending up on Skid Row than do performers - a guy I used to live with made between $200 and $400 a day from playing the violin on the subway.
How much are you being paid for your writing here?
1. Posted by Nick Broad | July 3, 2010 9:56 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 3, 2010 09:56