Palin-haters to release lookalike attack book on Nov. 17

Via Gateway Pundit. November 17 is the same day her own book drops, of course. Further evidence of how obsessively the left hates her or just a bunch of lefties looking to make a quick buck by piggybacking on her buzz? Both, of course! Behold the ingenuity of capitalism:

Going Rouge is compiled by Richard Kim and Betsy Reed, two top editors of the left-leaning weekly The Nation, and includes essays by Nation regulars like Katrina vanden Heuvel, Naomi Klein, and Katha Pollitt. It’s the first release from OR Books, a fledgling outfit founded earlier this year by publishing veterans John Oakes and Colin Robinson that “embraces progressive change in politics, culture and the way we do business,” according to its website.

I realize that this anti-Palin book is a paperback and probably won’t be stocked anywhere near Palin’s hardcover memoir in bookstores, but are these jackets look too similar to be, well, fully kosher? At the very least, might some hockey-mom-loving conservatives be confused enough to pick up the wrong book? You betcha!

Good question. My memory of trademark law is rusty so the intellectual property lawyers in the audience are invited to treat this as a final-exam fact pattern in the comments. Can the entire layout of a book cover qualify as a trademark for legal purposes? Even if it can, doesn’t the subtitle “An American Nightmare” on the cover of the lefty book defeat the argument that the design is confusing? (If not, is there some sort of “parody” defense?) In the mad rush to the bookstore next month, some Palinistas are bound to grab the evil twin instead of Sarahcuda’s own book, but after a few angry returns I’m sure store managers will move to keep the two titles separate and distinct somehow. Exit question: Will the “evil twin” become a bestseller too as lefties snap up copies to try to counter her hype?

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