   |
      |
|
|
|
PUBLICITY-HUNGRY MOCKINGWORD BEGGING TO BE SUED
|
|
|
|
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – In a shameless quest for publicity, fledgling satire site MockingWord, which calls itself the “fairest and most balanced of them all,” is doing everything it can to get sued by somebody.
“Anybody? Please?” begged MockingWord executive editor Harrell Peterson as he cheerily downloaded music from Kazaa to the MockingWord mainframe.
Early attempts by MockingWord to prompt a lawsuit included listing its agent for service of process on all correspondence and responding to reader complaints by saying “the only way to right the wrong we have done to you is by filing a huge lawsuit.”
The effort
continued in earnest last month with the release
of “To Kill A MockingWord,” a novel
that, as the cover openly admits, “is almost
entirely plagiarized from just one other well-known
source.” In fact, the only new material in
the book is a chapter where Atticus Finch “sues
the sh*t out of” Boo Radley and recommends
that others do the same.
“I think it’s all a far-from-subliminal suggestion to sue MockingWord,” said one attorney familiar with MockingWord’s practices. “Those guys are anything but subtle.”
Observers say the recent release of MockingWord XP was just the latest step in MockingWord’s “please sue us” strategy. Much to the chagrin of MockingWord, however, the move prompted only a perfunctory cease and desist letter from Microsoft, but no real threat of monster litigation.
“We are happily violating the cease and desist letter,” Peterson told reporters while reviewing plans to relocate MockingWord’s headquarters to endangered species habitat. “Would you like me to sign an affidavit to that effect?” he added. “No? Why?”
Undaunted by its present inability to get sued, MockingWord says it may change its name either to MS MockingWord, Mocking Columbia House Records or Mocking Fox News.
“We’ll probably use all three,” Peterson revealed. “We already send spam e-mails saying we’re the Internet’s largest purveyors of fake Viagra, low-rate mortgages, penis enlargement pills, high-nicotine cigarettes and bootleg DVDs. We make telemarketing calls only to people on the federal “do not call” list, our e-mails say ‘this spam is from MockingWord.com,’ and we triple-book all revenue and send daily financials to the SEC.”
“What else can we do?” Peterson asked while using Rush Limbaugh’s credit card to order several cases of absinthe from the Czech Republic. “If this name change doesn’t do it, I guess we could sell Coca-Cola and tell people its Pepsi, but I just don’t know anymore.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
