Corporations Expected To Sue At Government Request

In New York, the police are asking private companies to sue individuals because they hope that’s easier than policing or something. NYPD to Disney and Marvel: Get Minnie Mouse and Spider Man out of Times Square:

New York’s police chief is asking Disney and Marvel to crack down on the costumed hustlers of Times Square, but the companies aren’t responding.

Times Square is populated by a variety of rogue characters plying tourists for money. Some of these characters, like Minnie Mouse and Spider Man, are trademarks of Disney (DIS) or Marvel (which is owned by Disney.)

The NYPD confirmed to CNNMoney that Commissioner Bill Bratton asked Disney and Marvel to sue for copyright infringement. But according to the NYPD, the companies aren’t biting.

. . . .

Times Square has a long history of sordid behavior up until the 1990s, when it was overrun by peep shows, prostitutes and street corner crack dealers. But former Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg swept away much of the crime and turned it into a pedestrian haven for tourists and corporations like Toys R Us and Olive Garden.

More recently, Times Square has become the haunt of costumed characters and topless women who get their pictures taken with tourists for tips.

But thing started to go sour in 2013, when Cookie Monster got arrested for allegedly knocking over a toddler when his mother supposedly refused to pay.

There’s been a series of incidents and arrests since then, including accusations of groping by another Coookie Monster, and also Woody from “Toy Story” [sic, which is Latin for “The period at the end of this sentence is missing in the original, it’s not a cut and paste error on the part of the blogger]

So New York has a new administration that has made it harder for police to operate and to discourage malcreants, so the administration is turning to the other stock bad guy, corporations, to make them take action to stop public nuisances.

It’s asking corporations to spend their money (via legal fees and time in tracking down and suing two-bit operators in the public square. Of course, as with anything the government does, the request comes with the implied or else.

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