Idol Production Company Tells ‘Worst’ Site to Cease and Desist

A website that encourages viewers to vote for the worst contestant on American Idol has agreed to remove the Idol logo after receiving three cease-and-desist letters from the show’s production company.

A lawyer for the site, Vote for the Worst, says most of the content is protected under fair-use laws, the New York Times reports, but the logo came down nonetheless. The cease- and-desist letters said the website was using the show’s copyrighted content without permission.

Dave Della Terza, an information technology professional from Illinois, created Vote for the Worst and is profiting from the idea. The site earned about $40,000 in advertising revenue last year, although part of the money went for Web servers and legal fees. He has created a limited liability company to protect the assets of the site's operators in case of any lawsuits, the story says.