Did you hear the one about Conan O'Brien? He's accused of purloining jokes from a San Diego man's Twitter feed and personal blog.
According to a copyright infringement lawsuit recently filed in federal court by a self-described Southern California comic writer named Robert Alexander Kaseberg, a few jokes he published were picked up by the comedian O'Brien, who told them during his monologue on the Conan television show throughout the year.
The suit comes as Twitter has been in the news for honoring Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown requests from users complaining that their jokes were "lifted wholesale and shared by others, passing them off as their own."
Here are the four jokes at issue, according to the lawsuit (PDF) filed in US District Court in San Diego.
A Delta flight this week took off from Cleveland to New York with just two passengers. And they fought over control of the armrest the entire flight.
Tom Brady said he wants to give his MVP truck to the man who won the game for the Patriots. So enjoy that truck, Pete Carroll.
The Washington Monument is ten inches shorter than previously thought. You know the winter has been cold when a monument suffers from shrinkage.
Three streets named Bruce Jenner might have to change names. And one could go from a Cul-de-Sac to a Cul-de-Sackless.
Kaseberg says he has filed copyright applications for these jokes with the US Copyright Office. Copyrights are pending, the suit says.
"Plaintiff did not receive any compensation for the use of these works. Plaintiff did not receive any screen credits for the use of these works. Plaintiff did not receive any writing credits for the use of these works," the lawsuit said.
The suit seeks a restraining order prohibiting the comedian from using the plaintiff's material, along with at least $600,000 in damages plus fees and other costs. Under the US Copyright Act, damages for willful infringement run as high as $150,000 per violation.
The jokes, however, were not repeated verbatim and were re-casted. The show's production company, Conaco, said there was "no merit to this lawsuit."
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