Actor loses trademark suit against sheriff candidate Andy Griffith

From Yahoo! News: "Judge: Sheriff Andy no harm to actor":

A man who changed his name to Andy Griffith and ran for sheriff did not harm the actor who played Mayberry's folksy sheriff on the "Andy Griffith Show," a federal judge ruled.

District Judge John Shabaz on Friday dismissed the lawsuit brought by Andy Samuel Griffith, who played Sheriff Andy Taylor on the popular 1960s TV series.

The suit claimed William Harold Fenrick violated trademark and copyright laws and the actor's privacy after he changed his name last year to Andrew Jackson Griffith. The suit was filed the day after the independent candidate came in a distant third in his race for Grant County sheriff in southwestern Wisconsin.