A local segment from WBUR’s broadcast of this morning’s NPR show “Morning Edition” was about a dispute in Massachusetts over the rightful owner of Lizzie Borden’s history. The argument is in the form of a trademark lawsuit, where the owner of the “Lizzie Borden Museum” trademark (website here) filed a complaint for trademark infringement in the Massachusetts federal district court against a new museum in Salem called “The True Story of Lizzie Borden Gift Shop and Museum” (website here). Of course we all know that the murder was in Fall River, not Salem, and the plaintiff is located at the house where the murder occurred. Salem’s connection to Lizzie Borden is that there’s a statue of Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha in “Bewitched” there, and Elizabeth Montgomery played Lizzie Borden in “The Legend of Lizzie Borden.” That, and a lot of tourists.
