Offtopic Forum

Tough-guy actor Chuck Norris is suing publisher Penguin over a book he claims unfairly exploits his famous name.

Titled, The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 facts about the World's Greatest Human, the book capitalises on mythical facts that have been circulating on the internet since 2005 that poke fun at Norris’s tough-guy image and super-human abilities.

It includes humorous facts like "Chuck Norris's tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried" and "Chuck Norris can charge a cell phone by rubbing it against his beard".

Norris, who rose to fame in the 1970s and 1980s as the star of such films as The Delta Force and Missing in Action, says the book's title would mislead readers into thinking the facts were true.

"Some of the 'facts' in the book are racist, lewd or portray Mr Norris as engaged in illegal activities," the lawsuit alleges.

"Defendants have misappropriated and exploited Mr Norris's name and likeness without authorisation for their own commercial profit."

The suit, filed in Manhattan federal court, seeks unspecified monetary damages for trademark infringement, unjust enrichment and privacy rights.

Norris, an author himself of fiction and non-fiction books, has been in more than 20 films. The actor was a six-time undefeated World Professional Middle Weight Karate champion who in 1997 became the first man in the Western Hemisphere to be awarded an 8th degree Black Belt Grand Master recognition in the Tae Kwon Do system, the suit said.

A few popular Chuck Norris facts:
- Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.
- When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.
- When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.
- Chuck Norris is so fast, he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head.
- Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door.
- Chuck Norris doesn’t wear a watch, HE decides what time it is.
- There is no chin behind Chuck Norris' beard. There is only another fist
- Chuck Norris doesn't sue, he...no wait, he sues