The Associated Press

March 16, 2007

Carol Burnett has filed a $2 million copyright infringement lawsuit against 20th Century Fox, claiming her cleaning woman character was portrayed on the animated series 'Family Guy.' The U.S. District Court lawsuit, which was filed Thursday, said the Fox show didn't have the 73-year-old comedian's permission to include her cleaning woman character, Charwoman, in an April 2006 episode.

The episode shows Charwoman as a porno-shop maid, and it uses what the lawsuit called an 'altered version' of Burnett's theme music. The characters in the show also perform Burnett's signature ear tug, the lawsuit said.

Besides copyright infringement, Burnett alleges 20th Century Fox violated her publicity rights.

The studio said it was surprised by the lawsuit over what amounted to about an 18-second scene.

'`Family Guy,' like `The Carol Burnett Show,' is famous for its pop culture parodies and satirical jabs at celebrities. We are surprised that Ms. Burnett, who has made a career of spoofing others on television, would go so far as to sue `Family Guy' for a simple bit of comedy,' said 20th Century Fox Television spokesman Chris Alexander.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Hosted by: Topix.net Publisher Platform (beta)

Here's the scene from the show

While it's grossly lame, I'm surprised that "reference-based" TV sitcoms don't get this stuff a lot more often, given the nature of the industry.

I'm going to take her side, purely out of spite for Family Guy.

__________________
Time is the distance that you can't return by miles.

I escaped somehow. Let's go

actualy [sic] I have quite a blessed life if I'm honest. I have many people to love, hate few and have few money problem's [sic].... What more does a person need? Oh yeah and I have some kind of humbleness unlike you of course ^_^ ~ CarefulCarpenter

I love Carol Burnett... I remember watching her show before bedtime as a kid. It is so unlike her to sue someone over something tributary. It's like she doesn't want to be remembered. Besides that, the target audience of Famiiy Guy is in a way different direction.

Comedy is so wide open... Those with suits against these things rarely win. There's a difference between theft of intellectual property and parody or generalizations of characters.

I was at the store one time and these kids tried to get their mom to buy part of the family guy box set. The kids were about 12 or so, and they kept comparing it to shows like the Brady Bunch, and etc. The kids knew the content of the show. Mom didn’t and didn’t buy it for them. Wow a responsible adult.

I was really entertaining to her all the pleading and excuses the kids came up with though.

That is pretty odd. The Carol Burnett Show originally aired when I was quite young, my parents were fans (so I saw it even before I would turn on the TV to watch it), and there are any number of movies that I first heard of through her parodies, including Gone With the Wind, Mildred Pierce and Sunset Boulevard. They were fairly detailed.

__________________
We are sorry, the mind you have reached is not a working mind.
Please hang up and die again.
Please hang up,
And die again.

I once saw this fat bitch in a video store who wouldn't let her four year old son rent Spice World.
She freaked out that he even asked. And then she picks up whichever Scream movie was just out on video at that time.

Her son is probably going to become a repressed pole-smoker & serial killer. Fat ass will probably bite it due to complications of diabetes before all the blame can be placed on her. Tragic.

I just saw this last night for the first time. Brilliant. It should be more famous, although it probably is quite famous. But it needs to be All About Eve, Sunset Blvd. famous.

It is. Just maybe wasn't to you, yet.

That's fairly extreme. But it's not like he was screaming for Rainbow Brite meets the Care Bears in Happy Cloud Land, and she got Fisting, Obese Chicks, Withnail, and I. Spiceworld is quite frightening if you're not in the right mood. A damn sight more frightening that Scream 3.

__________________
Time is the distance that you can't return by miles.

I escaped somehow. Let's go

actualy [sic] I have quite a blessed life if I'm honest. I have many people to love, hate few and have few money problem's [sic].... What more does a person need? Oh yeah and I have some kind of humbleness unlike you of course ^_^ ~ CarefulCarpenter

I thought so, since it rated a Carol Burnett Show parody. The parody might even have been episode-length.

__________________
We are sorry, the mind you have reached is not a working mind.
Please hang up and die again.
Please hang up,
And die again.

I thought of this too.

I like carol burnett, i think she's a clever comedian but this sue-happy civilization is annoying. are we going to have to get permission for everything we do in the future? parody is a huge part of comedy. it's a trivial legal issue.

I agree. I hate Family Guy and American Dad. As some guy in Bes Buy said (who was trying to sell me a Family Guy dvd set over a Simpsons dvd set), "the jokes are spelled out for you". I guess I like to think

I think celebrities tend to way over emphasize their importance to people and their lives.

Does anyone who really believe that Carole Burnett really endorsed Family Guy? It’s more they hurt her ego. It’s the same motivation behind another recently threaten lawsuit that we are all familiar with.

I wish I had that kind of money, I wouldn’t blow it on lawyers.

About the parent, I am just thankful the woman didn’t buy it. She would have bought it. Then eventually see it, and then mounted a censorship campaign.

I mean, I have in my time seen it and laughed, once or twice. But that isn't enough. A bad Homer Simpson rip-off and a one trick pony? That's a show?

__________________
Time is the distance that you can't return by miles.

I escaped somehow. Let's go

actualy [sic] I have quite a blessed life if I'm honest. I have many people to love, hate few and have few money problem's [sic].... What more does a person need? Oh yeah and I have some kind of humbleness unlike you of course ^_^ ~ CarefulCarpenter

That’s not what lawsuits like this are usually about. The more common reason; and the one that seems to be at work here, is that asking and receiving permission to do something like this generally involves paying.

__________________
We are sorry, the mind you have reached is not a working mind.
Please hang up and die again.
Please hang up,
And die again.

I hadn't heard of Caroll Burnett before Family Guy, and now I have.

They don't owe her shit.

I'm not really sure how I feel about the suit, but The Carol Burnett Show was a much bigger deal than Family Guy will ever be (and I mostly like Family Guy). And the joke did depend on it being instantly recognizable - I can't imagine it was that funny if it was some cartoon character you don't know, but obviously is supposed to be something, music that you don't know, but obviously is supposed to be something, and a seemingly random ear-tug, which is obviously supposed to mean something, but you don't know what.

If she copyrighted the charwoman (which was always a cartoon) she might have a legal leg to stand on. In terms of music, I think there are specifics about how different it technically has to be before you can sue for something like that.

__________________
We are sorry, the mind you have reached is not a working mind.
Please hang up and die again.
Please hang up,
And die again.