The NBA has cancelled plans to release a "Krypto-Nate" T-shirt after DC complained about stupid copyright infringement. After this year's NBA All-Star Weekend, during which wee Nate Robinson leaped over Dwight Howard to win the slam-dunk contest (Howard was wearing a Superman cape, like he did last year, and Robinson was wearing a green Knicks jersey and using a green ball), the NBA planned to release green T-shirts with "Krypto-Nate" written across the back:

Yeah, well, DC put the kibosh on that right quick. Actually, they didn't really put the squeeze on the NBA, they just pointed out that, as Superman and Superman-related stuff (such as Kryptonite) belongs to them (but for how much longer?????), they should get a piece of the action. The NBA decided to kill the shirt instead.

I heard about this on Pardon the Interruption this afternoon, where Michael Wilbon ripped DC for giving up the free publicity this would garner them. Hmmm ... that sounds familiar! How dare DC exercise its property rights? Don't they know that everyone who buys a Krypto-Nate T-shirt would immediately rush out to buy DC comics? It's marketing gold, baby!