Scott Bowden presents Kentucky Fried Rasslin

Based on a true story.

As my past work shows, I love a good porn parody. But I must say that I was creeped out when I heard the news of a “Hogan Knows Best” porn flick, mostly because Hulk and Brooke are reportedly playing themselves. (Can Brutus Beefcake and the Nasty Boys be far behind?)

I can only imagine the reaction of the rather litigious Hulkster. (I mean if he was that upset over a cereal commercial, I can only imagine what he’ll say to this.) Good luck, Hulk. If Vivid can get away under the “Fair Use” laws protecting parodies-George Lucas apparently can’t do a thing to prevent the upcoming release of “Star Wars XXX”-then Hogan most likely won’t make a dime from this.

The U. S. Supreme Court decision in 1994 regarding 2 Live Crew’s parody of Roy Orbison’s song “Pretty Woman” was a major ruling in this area. The court established that parody is a defense against copyright infringement claims. In the case of trademarks, the law provides some statutory “fair use” protection. But, because it is so narrow, the courts have added three additional categories: (1) nominative, (2) comparitive advertising and (3) parody.

As New York lawyer Baila H. Celedonia notes:

A review of trademark parody cases give us no bright line rules. Rather, they appear to be a barometer of both the presiding judge’s sense of humor and sense of fairness. As Tom McCarthy puts it, ‘a non-infringing parody is merely amusing, not confusing.’”