Mystery litigation hits humour sites

Updated Three sites (now four sites) which all specialise in parody and satire have received writs from a large corporation which lacks a sense of fun. The sites concerned were Segfault, Userfriendly and Bedope. But we have just received an email from a reader that shows another "fun site" has received a writ from m'learned friends. If you point your browser to OTB Online, you will learn that the site has just received a letter from a grand sounding set of m'learned friends called Fross, Zelnick, Lehrman and Zissu, which represents the Jim Henson Company. The owner of OTB Online points out that a simple email would have been enough for it to have ceased and desisted from its no doubt extremely interesting and probably funny parodies and satires. Two of the (original) three sites carry notices saying they have been advised by their lawyers not to disclose which corporation is involved. But speculation is rampant. It's a very worrying development. For example, will Dell bash us because we call it the Great Satan of Hardware, Intel for calling it Chipzilla and Great Stan, Compaq's Pfeiffer because we call him Lord of Haircuts, and AMD because we dub them The Great Satan of Tape Recorders? Or even His Billness, His Dweebness or Bilge Ates? When we discover who this humourless corporation is, you can rest assured it will get ribbed by us… ® RheoStatFact On the first of April in la Belle France, the festival is called Poisson d'Avril. People pin fake fish on people's clothing to alert them to the fact they've been gulled. Gulls, being gannets, don't know the difference, so rend people's clothes in search of fishfood. In the UK, April Fool's Day only lasts until midday, when the couplet kicks in...