Starbucks sued cartoonist Kieron Dwyer for copyright infringement after he devised this parody of the Starbucks icon.

In article posted at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund website, we learn that in Starbucks v. Dwyer, C00 1499, Judge Chesney ruled that Dwyer's parody was legitimate and protected by the First Amendment. However, Judge Chesney's ruling also prohibited the the sale of items--such as stickers and t-shirts but also Dwyer's Lowest Common Denominator comic--bearing the remixed mermaid logo, as these sales would count as copyright infringement on Starbuck's trademark.

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