The BugEyed Review Blog

If you don’t know about the Laugh It Off vs. SAB court case, here’s a quick summary.

Laugh It Off is a small parody company that makes t-shirts with clever slogans that look like well-known South-African brands. I don’t own any of their shirts, but I find them rather funny.

Well, SAB-Miller, owner of the Black Label beer trademark, decided to flex their corporate muscle, and decided to try to squish the little t-shirt company bug. What they did not bargain on, was that the little company was going to fight back. The slogan/parody in question?

The words “Black Label Carling Beer – America’s lusty, lively beer enjoyed by men around the world” had been substituted with “Black Labour White Guilt, Africa’s lusty, lively exploitation since 1652, no regard given worldwide”.

And, according to singe at the Creative Commons ZA launch, Laugh It Off just won their case in the South-African constitutional court. Well done!

Here’s a brief history of news articles relating to the whole battle Laugh It Off had :

• Court asked to laugh it off – 31 August 2004
• Court refuses to laugh it off – 16 September 2004
• SAB-Miller not letting go of Laugh It Off – 11 November 2004
• Round number two in court – 14 November 2005
• Laugh It Off to get their say in court – 8 March 2005
• Off to the constitutional court – 8 March 2005
• SAB says ‘brand was made ugly’ by t-shirts – 8 March 2005
• Laugh It Off says ‘law needs to catch up with reality’ – 13 May 2005
• Mark Shuttleworth offers to fund Laugh It Off court case – 13 May 2005
• Laugh It Off has last laugh – 27 May 2005
• SAB not laughing after court ruling – 27 May 2005
• Again, thanks to singe for linking to the Official Constitutional Court ruling page – 30 May 2005 New