Stuart Frankel created a website which featured a doctored photograph of Barney with fangs and a pentagram and '666' on his belly, saying that this was what Barney looked like after a show.
Lyons Partnership, the owners of Barney, threatened to launch a copyright and trade mark violation law suit against Frankel unless he took the site down. Frankel refused and contacted digital rights lobby group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) which filed a law suit on his behalf.
Frankel's suit sought a declaration from a Federal Court of San Francisco that his use of Barney imagery was protected as 'fair use' and was protected by the US Constitution's First Amendment, which guarantees rights to free speech.
The EFF says that copyright law is increasingly being used to control what people say about certain things under the guise of protecting intellectual property. "Those who misuse copyright should know that they can be sued for doing so," said EFF staff attorney Corynne McSherry. "This settlement should send a message to those who want to use copyright law as a pretext for censorship."
Lyons has withdrawn all legal action against Frankel and agreed to meet his legal costs.
Lyons had written cease and desist letters to Frankel from 2002 onwards. "The images you are using of Barney are the intellectual property of Lyons Partnership," read the first such letter. "It is unlawful to use this property without the permission of Lyons Partnership. These materials must be immediately removed. Lyons Partnership would prefer not to have to pursue legal remedies or contact your Internet Service Provider and inform it of your unlawful use of copyrighted materials (which is presumably a violation of your ISP's terms of service)."
"It's not much, but it's mine. They're acting like bullies. They're doing this to other people, I'm sure," Frankel told reporters in the US. "I just wanted to call them on it."
The case was settled out of court.
