Via Madville comes this unusual story from my old stomping grounds just outside Kansas City, Missouri where an idiot – we’ll call him Daniel Smith – was involved in an accident. When police responded to the scene and asked for his license, Smith informed them that his name was copyrighted and claimed that anyone who reproduced his name in any fashion would be sued for copyright infringement. And then it got really silly.

According to police reports, he then told the officers that he would not turn over his license unless he was given a receipt. When the officers informed him that he would be getting his license back, he refused and demanded a receipt.

The officers then called in for a supervisor. After he arrived, he was immediately added to the list of people being sued.

When the supervisor explained that Smith would need to contact the city’s Law Department, he said each time his name appears on any document it was a $500,000 action and if it was not paid within 10 days, it goes to $1.5 million.

Failing that, Smith said judgments would be entered against all parties involved and their property.

Well, the kind officers gave Smith a receipt as well as his license. They also gave him tickets for C&I driving, expired tags and an improperly registered vehicle. But they won’t be giving him any money: a copyrighted name can be reproduced by anyone as long as their intention isn’t to generate profit from its use.