Ethics

This complaint really has nothing to do with legal ethics, but it is too funny not to post.  It involves a trademark dispute between the makers of an iphone application called "ifart," which apparently simulates various types of flatulence, and the makers of a competing software application called "pull my finger."  The complaint is a real gas.

Once IP professors get wind of this case, I'm sure they'll make a big stink out of it.  But don't forget that you got a whiff of it here first.  Some key allegations appear "below the fold."

11. The iFart novelty application boasts a number of unique features including a built in security system designed to aurally surprise and discourage iPhone theft. iFart also features a "Sneak Attack" function using a timer that emits the sound of flatulence when it goes off. iFart Mobile simulates 20 different sounds of passing gas, from short toots (the ?Butt Socket?), to longer drawn out farts (the ?Wipe Out?), to every conceivable way of breaking wind in-between.

12. Defendant AOM is the developer of an iPhone app that competes with iFart Mobile. AOM?s app is descriptively titled ?Pull My Finger.? AOM?s app also simulates flatulence noises on iPhones. However, the apps function differently, have different interfaces, different ?look and feel,? and otherwise share little in common beyond their creators? desires to have a little fun with a laughter inducing bodily function.

13. The phrase ?pull my finger,? and derivations thereof, are generally known and widely understood in American society to be a joke or prank regarding flatulence. The prank begins when the prankster senses the deep stirrings of flatulence. The prankster then requests that an unsuspecting person ?pull [his or her] finger.? The prankster extends his index finger to the victim. As the victim pulls the prankster?s finger his flatulence erupts so as to suggest a causal relationship between the pulling of the finger and the subsequent expulsion of gas. In other words, the phrase ?pull my finger? is understood to be a description of the act of passing gas.