Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Why Sarah Palin (TM) ?

From Yahoo! News (Where else?)

Sarah Palin has two noted and famous impersonators who travel the country pretending to be the former governor of Alaska. Palin impersonator Patti Lyons showed up at the Conservative Political Action Conference Feb. 11, on a day the real Sarah Palin said she would be absent. Lyons was dressed in Palin's red outfit, wore her glasses and even shook hands with real politicians.

Are these impersonators the real reason Palin wants her name trademarked? Here's an examination of the case in light of this new development. Despite the application for a trademark being rejected, an impersonator is a good reason to have yourself branded and copyrighted if your persona is worth a lot of money.

If there are any people making money on Palin's visage, she would have a right to compensation with a trademark designation. A fake Palin probably couldn't demand her alleged $100,000 a pop speaking fee which she gets every time she draws a crowd. Any financial gain of other people would be minimal as compared to Mama Grizzly's monster salary, [but] any money made on the Palin brand should rightfully be hers if a trademark is allowed.

[T]here are limits to what Palin can do to prevent her name being used in a negative or harmful way. ...

... But a full-fledged impersonator probably draws the line. Comedian Gallagher sued his brother to stop using his name in 2000 to make money. For awhile Ron Gallagher worked fine using "Gallagher II" [at his] shows. But then he started booking larger venues which took away from Leo Gallagher (the real Gallagher) and his money. Then a lawsuit was filed, which Leo won.

It looks as though Sarah Palin will become a party pooper, if she trys to shutdown her impersonators.

Patti Lyons' website is here.

Patsy Gilbert's website is here (it autoplays music when you land on the page).

Update: But a better idea than stopping the impersonators -- If she'd just listen to good advice -- is to start a school for Sarah Palin impersonators. Each graduate would be licensed to impersonate her! The tuition might be -- I don't know -- is $25,000 too much? Then, Sarah could out-source her appearances. Suppose she paid an impersonator $10,000 for an appearance -- See! that license would be valuable -- she'd keep about 90% of a $100K fee. Profit! And she could appear in more than one place at once. Magic!

7 comments:

Jolly Roger said...

Whenever you think of Mama Grifter, you naturally think of poop.

Anonymous said...

I looked at Patti's site. Like Tina Fey, she does well on the obvious stuff, but she's missing some key things. Also, I didn't hear her speak, so I don't know how she's doing at that end.
But. Her hair is too tidy and not high enough. And doesn't change every time she reappears. And where's the blingy necklace? And not enough flags. And she really needs to practice the chin protrude thing that Palin does. And she needs to use her eyebrows more. And her skirt is too long, boots not spiky enough.

Anonymous said...

I don't mean to be picky (I can't impersonate anybody), but Patsy doesn't really have it right either. She's got a bit of the chin/jaw thrusting going on, but the rest of her body language is all wrong. And that fake minnesota accent isn't right either. Okay, I guess I'm picky. I've been waiting for somebody to do a really good job, but they are still hung up on the 2008 vibe and have not evolved.

Anonymous said...

I was thinking that perhaps she was trying to trademark her name because she knows she cannot prevent the release of the non-HIPAA documentation which she filled out which indicates she was not pregnant with Tripp. The paperwork from the spa. If she trademarked her name successfully, she might have been able to better prevent that documentation from becoming public.

Joie Vouet said...

Are you sure, long number?

People will still be able to take her picture, write about her ... without violating the trademark, if she ever signs the application and gets the trademark.

She will probably be happy knowing she wasn't pregnant with Tripp.

Anonymous said...

err...I meant Trig, not Tripp...

But in any case...yes, it was simply speculation.

It doesn't make a lot of sense, but neither does Sarah Palin...

conscious at last said...

Regarding your update:

I think you are kidding about the school for impersonators-- it's good for a laugh. However, that just may be what is actually going on right now with young mama grifterette-- no joke.