O'Brien lost an effort to toss out a federal copyright infringement lawsuit in San Diego last week, potentially setting up a novel trial over comic creativity and the value of laughter. "The laughter stopped in late 2014 and early 2015, at least for a spell, when (Kaseberg) began to notice similarities between his posts and several of the jokes used in the late-night television show Conan's monologues," U.S.