Copyright Law

Doubling Down

By Andrew Raff, Esq.

Here's an example of how overly aggressive tactics blow up in one's face. And then taking that explosion and doubling down aggressively.

Matthew Inman writes and publishes The Oatmeal, one of the funniest comics on the web. Users at Funnyjunk.com reposted many of Inman's comics. So Inman asked his readers how he should respond and then had some dialogue with the proprietor and denizens of Funnyjunk.

Then last week, Inman received a demand letter from Funnyjunk: FunnyJunk is threatening to file a federal lawsuit against me unless I pay $20,000 in damages. Alleging that The Oatmeal violated made false accusations of willful copyright infringement and infringed on Funnyjunk's rights under the Lanham Act, Funnyjunk's attorney demanded $20,000.

Inman's attorney replied, as did Inman, who used IndieGoGo to ask his readers to raise the $20,000 and donate it to the National Wildlife Foundation and the American Cancer Society (as well as send a crude cartoon to the owners of Funnyjunk.)

After Inman raised more than $100,000, Funnyjunk's attorney Charles Carreon went full Rakofsky to personally sue not only Inman, but also IndieGoGo, the National Wildlife Foundation and the American Cancer Society. The Oatmeal v. FunnyJunk, Part IV: Charles Carreon Sues Everybody: "On Friday, June 15, 2012, attorney Charles Carreon passed from mundane short-term internet notoriety into a sort of legal cartoon-supervillainy."

Wow.

Full post as published by IPTAblog on June 18, 2012 (boomark / email).