God Never Sued "Father Ted"

To be sure I don't know who to be routing for in this one. In a dispute between God and lawyers, it's difficult for me to be on either side. But that is this case in this next story of copyright infringement. An evangelical publishing company was forced by lawyers representing two British comedy series to stop using their catchphrases on posters sold to outreach to youngsters (see story).

The phrases in question come from the series "Little Britain" and "Catherine Tate" and include such gems as, "Am I bovvered", "Yeah but no but yeah", and "I don't know". Underneath each phrase was a passage of scripture. Now usually I applaud any method of getting scripture off the streets, and when we find this bothersome Guideon fellow he'll get what's coming to him. But how do you copyright "I don't know" (Sorry, TM)? I mean I thought British comedians were better writers than that. Are they really so impoverished of good material, that they have to sue a Christian company to protect every scrap of dialogue they write?

Then there's the publisher. If they were using the posters to freely advertise their faith, I'd be infuriated. But they were SELLING these posters for profit. Now there's something admirable in that as well. Peddling God's Word and infringing on copyrights to boot. It's somewhat of a mixed curse, if you will.

So I sit at my keyboard confused. Who do I praise in this situation? Who deserves the recognition? I have no easy answer, so I'll do what I always do. I'll turn on the television and try to forget the whole situation.

I wonder if there are any good British comedies on?


Brackish