A federal court has ruled that Charles Smith, who runs two Web sites that criticize Wal-Mart, is within his First Amendment rights to compare the company to the Holocaust and Al-Qaeda. The court also ruled that Wal-Mart does not own exclusive rights to the smiley face.
From Law.com:
In a meticulously crafted, 87-page order that eviscerated conclusions by Wal-Mart’s expert witness, the judge explained that Smith’s products qualified as protected noncommercial speech because his goal was to criticize Wal-Mart, not to make a profit from his products. The judge noted that Smith had sold only 62 T-shirts, including 15 to one of Wal-Mart’s outside law firms.
Ironically, Wal-Mart’s inhouse blog about products includes a favorable review of a violent video game that features a smiley face. The blogger, Sam’s Club video game buyer Joe Muha, writes “How can you not love a game that features a smiley face pin on a grenade?”
Writers of cheesy e-mails everywhere are breathing a sigh of relief about their ability to continue include smiley-face emoticons with annoying frequency.
Have a nice day!:)
Don Mecoy
Business Writer