History Main / OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope

* [[TwoLiveCrew 2 Live Crew]] albums featured the warning "Unlawful duplication will get you fuck up by the Ghetto Style DJs." ''[sic]''

* White Wolf's ''WorldOfDarkness'' Role Playing Game books mostly contain some serious though tongue-in-cheek examples. Examples from ''VampireTheMasquerade'' books usually start with the five words "You are not a vampire." and end with a suggestion that if you want to carry out various inhuman acts you should seek counselling and leave roleplayers to get on with their games.

* 2LiveCrew albums featured the warning "Unlawful duplication will get you fuck up by the Ghetto Style DJs." ''[sic]''

-->"Based on the advice of our lawyers, We've [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial never heard]] of a musical based on the life of [[{{Evita}} Eva Peron]]"\\

** Speaking of the FBI, the ''[[TheXFiles X-Files]]'' credits included a sentence that was something like "This series has not been endorsed, [something] or authorized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

* Anything required by the ComicsCode, M.P.A.A. rating system, E.S.R.B., Woman's Christian Temperance Union rules, or pretty much any CensorshipBureau.
* Anything required by the F.C.C; An [[UsefulNotesOnAmerica American]] agency with broad scope. One must be very careful here due to the lack of a statute of limitations, as evidenced by a recent lawsuit, caused by a mid 1990s N.Y.P.D. Blue episode.

* Apple legally prohibits the use of I-Tunes for the creation of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

* ''SouthPark's'' opening disclaimer.

* An episode of TheSimpsons that was based on the musical {{Evita}} had the following disclaimer at the end:

* [[FallOutBoy "Our Lawyer Made Us Change the Name of This Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued"]].

-->"So's we don't get sued, I just wanna remind all you knee-jerk fucks out there that this is a work of parody. Doogie doesn't really make porn ... not that I know of anyway. And Fred Rogers is probably a saint of a guy. Federal Wildlife Marshals aren't nearly as stupid as they're portrayed here, and John Hughes has never led anyone to believe that Shermer really exists. [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday And I never ... NEVER ... jerked no guys off.]] Snoogans."

''' In the name of the 'Tv Tropes ltd.' Legal Department, we like to recall, that the following bullet points are ''Not Straight Examples'' of the page's topic, or anything resembling it: Not Straight Examples:'''

** Parodied in TheSimpsons too, with "No dogs were harmed during the production of this episode. A cat threw up and somebody shot a duck, but that's it."

** Also parodied in GarthMarenghisDarkplace with the line "I do not believe that any form of life, be it human, animal, or plant, should be hurt in the making of a television programme. So I personally feel really bad about that cat we killed."

Our lawyers have advised us to advise you that it may be [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment advisable]] to list legal protections and advisements at the beginning of your show, film or any form of entertainment delivery vehicle.

Pursuant to the avoidance of unnecessary civil and criminal litigation, a variety of disclaimers, notices, and even changes to the actual work, are present in modern fiction.

->"Based on the advice of our lawyers, We've [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial never heard]] of a musical based on the life of [[{{Evita}} Eva Peron]]"
-->~'''The Simpsons:''' ''The President Wore Pearls''

[[{{DonPachi}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pachirights.png]]
[[caption-width:240:A typical screen when an arcade game boots up.[[hottip:* :Except for [[BlindIdiotTranslation the part about jam.]]]]]]

* Nintendo's safety warnings on bootup of the Wii and DS systems.

** It was a virtual automatic acknowledgement of how bad a movie was, around the 1980s, in that the more vicious and frightening the copyright notice was, the more likely the movie didn't just suck, it was a vacuum cleaner. In fact, the viciousness of the copyright notice was inversely proportional to how likely it was someone would pirate it. Until the use of the Interpol notices became almost universal on movies, the rare movie that had one was probably SoBadItsHorrible that you didn't even need to watch the movie to know how bad it was.

* AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle

** Nintendo's safety warnings on bootup of the Wii and DS systems.
*** For that example, it's not that people can't read it, it's that people DON'T read it.

** It gets really annoying in things like AlternateHistory where it is clearly not true. Which may be why some recent works say things like "with the exception of well-known historical characters used fictiously". See also next-but-one.

* "Stuntman on closed course"

** And the apple pie is even hotter.
*** They say "''may'' be" where I live, probably to prevent people attempting to sue if the coffee is ''not'' hot by the time they drink it.

* Germany, apparently, has the most extreme version: It outlaws Nazi imagery, violence against humanoid creatures and blood. There's even a great controversy about whether Buddhists should be allowed to display Buddhist swastikas for religious purposes!
** Swastikas are legal in films and TV but not in comics. Violence against humanoid creatures and blood are OK in films but usually not in video games.

-->"You'll notice more obscenity than we usually use. That's not just because it's on Showtime, and we want to get some attention. It's also a legal matter. If one calls people liars and quacks, one can be sued and lose a lot of one's money. But "motherfuckers" and "assholes" is pretty safe. If we said it was all scams, we could also be in trouble. But BULLSHIT, oddly, is safe.So forgive all the bullshit language. We're trying to talk about the truth without spending the rest of our lives in court because of litigious motherfuckers!"

* "Chain guns" is a trademark. ''{{Airwolf}}'' had to stop using the term after it was informed of this.

-->"Beavis & Butt-Head are not role models. They're not even human; they're cartoons. Some of the things they do would cause a person to get hurt, expelled, arrested, possibly deported. So to put it another way: [[DontTryThisAtHome don't try this at home]]."
** This was the result of kids who watch the show try to emulate the duo's antics, namely Beavis' "Fire! Fire!"

*** [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment But not torture?]]
** Now that's a [[BreadEggsMilkSquick squick]] if ever I saw one!
** [[MemeticMutation "Do not attempt to eat iPod Shuffle"]]

* A straight example written as a parody from "*** Dave does the Blog" notes 'The views expressed by me on this weblog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer, my church, my party, my candidate, my community, my wife, my friends, or, on occasion, myself.'


'''Our lawyers can verify up to 74%, that this clause has ''Parodies'' as it's topic: Parodies:'''
* [[HappyFunBall Happy Fun Ball]]

''' In the name of the 'Tv Tropes ltd.' Legal Department, we like to recall, that the following bullet points are ''Not Examples'' of the page's topic, or anything resembling it: Not Examples:'''

*** Later repeated in the second RatchetAndClank game, which was made by the same developers. It also adds, "Except for one. Bastard had it coming to him."

** Parodied in TheSimpsons too, with "No dogs were harmed during the production of this episode. A cat trew up and somebody shot a duck, but that's it."

*** [[EnforcedMethodActing Ridden?]]

** If you rip off the tag, you have to eat it.

Our lawyers reccomend you see also ContentWarnings, NoAnimalsWereHarmed, YesButWhatDoesZataproximetacineDo.

See also ContentWarnings, NoAnimalsWereHarmed, YesButWhatDoesZataproximetacineDo.

* The video case for ''{{Blackadder}}'s [[YetAnotherChristmasCarol Christmas Carol]]'' states that all characters are fictional and any resemblence to any real person, living or dead, is entirely conincidental. Except the Awful Screeching Woman, who knows ''exactly'' who she is.

* ''{{GURPS}} [[SteamPunk Steam-Tech]] features advertising copy for a robot detective clearly based on SherlockHolmes, with a legal disclaimer claiming that he isn't based on SherlockHolmes at all.

* At the beginning of the DOS game ''QuestForGlory II'', there is a bunch of copyright information that appears on the screen and ends with something like "...by the way, the game is [[CopyProtection unplayable without the information contained in the manual.]] It's not just the law, it's a good idea!"

** [[{{Borat}} "selling piratings of this moviedisc will result in punishment by crushing"]]
** The ''FightClub'' DVD had a warning from Tyler Durden.

** On one of the ''{{Futurama}}'' [=DVDs=], an alien-language FBI warning screen displays after the usual one.

''' In the following list, we like to present ''Straight examples'', of course to a degree, which is so far known to us, et alii our lawyers:
Straight Examples:'''

'''Our lawyers can verify up to 74%, that this clause has ''Parodies'' as it's topic:
Parodies'''

''' In the name of the 'Tv Tropes ltd.' Legal Department, we like to recall, that the following bullet points are ''Not Examples'' of the page's topic, or anything resembling it:
Not Examples:'''

'''Our lawyers, who consequently took action, persisted, that both ''A Little From Column A'', and ''A Little From Column B'' shall be displayed in this article, naturally in a fair and comprehensive ratio:
A Little From A, A little From B:'''

''' In the following list, we like to present ''Straight examples'', of course to a degree, which is so far known to us, et alii our lawyers: Straight Examples:'''

'''Our lawyers can verify up to 74%, that this clause has ''Parodies'' as it's topic: Parodies'''

''' In the name of the 'Tv Tropes ltd.' Legal Department, we like to recall, that the following bullet points are ''Not Examples'' of the page's topic, or anything resembling it: Not Examples'''

'''Our lawyers, who consequently took action, persisted, that both ''A Little From Column A'', and ''A Little From Column B'' shall be displayed in this article, naturally in a fair and comprehensive ratio: A Little From A, A little From B:'''

'''Last not least, it shall be stated, that none of the promises and regulations, that were mentioned above, are valid, or should be taken seriously. We would like to apologize in advance for any errors and serious complications, regarding property, health, or sanity.'''

[[caption-width:240:A typical screen when an arcade game boots up. Except for [[BlindIdiotTranslation the part about jam.]]]]

*** And also parodied at the end of a campaign in ''Left4Dead'', in which case it is used to show the body count.
*** Parodied in TheSimpsons too, with "No dogs were harmed during the production of this episode. A cat trew up and somebody shot a duck, but that's it."
*** ''Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie'', being made up of footage of American nuclear tests, has an interesting version of this: "No animals were harmed in the making of this movie. Some goats, pigs, and sheep were nuked in the making of the original films."

''' In the name of the Tv Tropes ltd.' Legal Department, we like to recall, that the following bullet points are ''Not examples'' of the page's topic, or anything resembling it: Not examples'''

''' In the following list, we like to present ''Straight examples'', of course to a degree, which is so far known to us, et alii our lawyers: Staright Examples:'''

''' ''Straight examples'', to a degree which is so far known to us, et alii our lawyers:'''

'''Our lawyers can verify up to 74%, that this clause has ''Parodies'' as it's topic:'''

''' In the name of the 'Tropers United ltd.' Legal Department, we like to recall, that the following bullet points are ''Not examples'' of the page's topic, or anything resembling it:'''

'''Our lawyers, who consequently took action, persisted, that both ''A Little From Column A'', and ''A Little From Column B'' shall be displayed in this article, naturally in a fair and comprehensive ratio:'''

'''Last not least, it shall be stated, that none of the promises and regulations, that were mentioned above, are valid, or should be taken seriously. We would like to apologize in advance for any errors and serious complications, regarding property, health, and/or sanity.'''

'''Straight examples:'''

'''Parodies:'''

'''Not examples:'''

'''A Little From Column A, A Little From Column B:'''

** More like the MattressTagGag is on its way to becoming a DiscreditedTrope. The italicized portion is a much more recent addition to those tags.

These may be legally mandated with threats of [[RunningGag legal]] actions by government bodies or could be attempts by the well advised creators to reduce their vunerability to civil litigation from civilian citizens.

* "This is a work of fiction - any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental".
** This troper has seen this one used even when it was definitely on purpose: while Neku talks to a very obvious Nomura cameo on the top screen in ''TheWorldEndsWithYou'', this disclaimer appears on the bottom screen. For added humor, the last time you had a screen like this it had Shiki's stuffed animal facing the audience, but this time he's looking ''straight up''.