Mel Gibson threatens 72-year-old brewer

As if you didn't need another reason to think Mel Gibson was an utter and complete waste of matter, energy, space, etc.:

According to numerous media sources, Mr. Gibson has cease-and-desisted 72-year-old Keld Andersen from marketing his small-batch Danish beer called Braveheart, and threatened to sue if the demand was not met. Why? Because "Braveheart" was the name of a movie he made.

It's unclear whether Gibson actually holds a trademark to this compound word, but even if he did, you have to prove when filing for a trademark that you are using said term in a specific field. In other words, you can't trademark a word for all possible purposes across the board on a "just in case" basis, and since there's been no "Braveheart" beer of his own since the movie came out in 1995, we can assume Gibson's argument has failed this basic tenet of trademark protocol.

Andersen was quoted as saying "There's nothing we can do so we'll stop making the Braveheart beer".

By the way, did you know that prior to Gibson's film, there was already a film in the 1920s called "Braveheart"?

Even more importantly, there was a 15th century Romanian king who called himself Braveheart. If Mr. Andersen wanted to insist that his beer was named after this historical figure, and that's his story and he's stickin' to it, then Gibson's nonsense probably wouldn't last a day in court.

Thanks a lot, Mel Gibson. This is a sure-fire way to improve your already useless reputation. It's undeniably clear at this point that whoever manages your PR needs to be fired. (I'm available. Seriously.)

--JSH