Oh My God, Air Arabia Airlines Copied Kenny!

A big hat tip to Brian J. Markowitz (who really needs to get a blog of his own).

Air Arabia, a discount carrier based in the United Arab Emirates, features on its website the images of animated children who bear a striking resemblance to characters such as Stan, Kyle and Eric from the Comedy Central hit.

So, an airline is seeking to profit from the use of cartoon figures that look suspiciously like the four featured South Park characters? Say it isn't so.

There's that UAE thing again. They keep popping up in the oddest places. And did Air Arabia know that Kyle was Jewish and that the other characters are infidel Christians? Brian notes:

Additionally, they are opening themselves up to copyright infringement lawsuit. Commercial advertising is not a fair use under 107 of the copyright act. Additionally, the altered images would be considered
derivative works. They could be liable for damages (diminution of value of
the copyright, disgorgement of profits received from the infringing use, etc.) as well as a permanent injunction, enjoining them from using the images further.

Busting out the legal doctrine. I love it!

Also picked up by Opinion Journal's Best of the Web, grapeshisha notes that this ad campaign has been going on for eight months now who also provides a link to let you create your own South Park character, which also was noted by Steve Portigal.

And this post is technorati bait to boot: south park, cartoon, cartoon jihad. Sweet!