From The New York Daily News:

Spike Lee trumped Spike TV yesterday as a Manhattan judge pulled the plug on the upstart cable channel's planned debut next week.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Walter Tolub issued a preliminary injunction barring parent company Viacom from changing TNN's name to Spike TV on Monday.

Lee charged the station is trying to capitalize on his name, while Viacom argued the filmmaker has no ownership of the word "Spike."

"What appears, at first blush, to be an exercise in egocentricity, becomes on closer review an earnest attempt by a prominent personality to limit what he regards as the commercial exploitation of his public persona," Tolub said.

The network said it will appeal today.

"I'm ecstatic, as is Mr. Lee," said his lawyer, Johnnie Cochran. "For many, many people, when they are using the word Spike TV, they are thinking about Spike Lee."

Tolub ordered Lee to post a $500,000 bond to pay damages or costs incurred by Spike TV if the network wins.

The director fears he will be associated with Spike TV's lineup, which includes a cartoon featuring Pamela Andersen as a superhero stripper

doomboogie said:

Tolub had it right the first time. Sometimes things are exactly as they seem.