Legal Commentary

So, I'm in Moscow, hoping that I'll get over this stomach bug in time to give a series of talks about church/state matters around town on Friday.  It should be interesting, and if something comes up that seems worth sharing here, I certainly will.  My current concern, however, is this.  Since my book is called "Holy Hullabaloos," the temptation to say the word "hullabalooza" like a million times a day is quite strong.  For all those IP people out there, can I do this, or does Perry Ferrell or whoever own some sort of IP right--copyright?  trademark?  patent?  I really don't know anything at all about IP--that would stop me?  I assume that I can whisper the word "hullabalooza" to my wife in the confines of our own bedroom, of course, but what can I do beyond that?  Can I make a t-shirt that says "hullabalooza"?  Use it in a marketing campaign?  Would it change things if I added an "o" so it was "hullabaloooza"?  Or more "o"s: "hulabaloooooooooooooooooza"?  What if I instead went for the darker, more conflicted, "hullabaloser"?

In any event, if anyone's interested in reading the starred review Publisher's Weekly gave HH, you can do so here.