Believe It or Not

Lucy, who has been a bossy, precocious child for the past 29 years, is now a fallen woman. Or at least about eight months pregnant, judging from an advertisement promoting maternity fashions in Chicago. Quick to defend her honor, United Feature Syndicate, which distributes the Peanuts comic strip created by Charles Schulz, has sued Maternity Shop Owner Bernard Poticha. Charging copyright infringement and unfair trade practices, the lawsuit demands that Poticha stop using the ad and seeks $50,000 damages. Lucy "has been consistently and continuously portrayed ... as a young, unmarried girl," says the complaint. To portray her as pregnant is "degrading and offensive ... and tends to destroy the wholesome image." The next thing you know, Dick Tracy will sell out to the mob, Daddy Warbucks will go broke, and Charlie Brown will start pitching no-hitters.

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