Blackmoor Vituperative

Barney’s days as a litigious purple Tyrannosaur that terrorized Web sites daring to poke fun at his sizable girth or singing abilities have become extinct.

Lawyers for the plush children’s icon have agreed to pay $5,000 to settle a federal lawsuit filed against them in August by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which was defending an anti-Barney Web site called the “Source of All Evil.”

The settlement, announced on Tuesday, caps a five-year campaign by the New York firm of Gibney, Anthony and Flaherty to rid the Internet of unflattering images of its plump saurian client.

(from ZDNet, Barney’s legal threats end up extinct | Tech News on ZDNet)

I would like to see us get to the point when lawsuits like this one are immediately thrown out as frivolous. And $5000 is too little. What’s that, a day or two of one lawyer’s time? For using the legal system to bully law-abiding citizens for years? That’s an outrage.

But let’s hope this is the start of a trend.

Way to go, EFF.