Wednesday, August 12, 2009

For Entertainment Purposes Only

There are a lot of unnecessary legal disclaimers in the world, but I think the one on DVD commentaries is a shinning example. I am referring to the message at the start of DVDs that reads 'The commentary tracks on this DVD are for entertainment purposes only and does not necessarily reflect the views or options of the studio, parent company or partners.'

I am no legal professional, but if an Actor, Actress or Director says something slanderous on a commentary track like 'Our wardrobe department stole all the cloths from a local gym to save money!' Then no 'for entertainment purposes only' message is going to protect them from an order to pay damages to the wardrobe company's image and loss of business.

I understand that managers follow what advice the legal department gives them and that the legal department is trying to cover themselves in a very sheepish manor, but you wouldn't find a legal disclaimer like that at the start of an encyclopaedia.

The contents of this encyclopedia is for entertainment purposes only and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher.


Or even

The publisher has taken reasonable care to make sure the contents of this encyclopaedia is accurate, but takes no responsibility for any mistakes.


In July I Posted about how Amazon cleaned customer Kindles of a few novels. Well I am sure they thought they where legally covered, but they also deleted one Justin Gawronski's Summer Homework. He is as American tradition dictates, suing Amazon for damages. And rightly so because that kind of thing might conform to the letter of the law by Amazon giving itself the right to do that kind of stuff in it's terms of service, but it is very unreasonable.

*Note this Blog Post was for entertainment purposes and is not to be retaken orally or in a tart.