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Penny Arcade vs. American Greetings Revisited

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the your-right-to-parody-is-void dept.

Jojo writes "After American Greetings got some lawyers to bring down a Penny Arcade strip (M i r r o r) last week, PA is now striking back.. IANAL, but I fear their latest strip might get them into real trouble this time." As always, PA cracks me up, but these are scary events. The banned strip is clearly a work of parody, which I believe is still legal in this country, unless that too changed recently.

10 of 571 comments (clear)

  1. Who was the target? by IIRCAFAIKIANAL · · Score: 4, Informative

    The problem is that they were parodying American McGee by using a registered trademark. They clearly weren't parodying Strawberry Shortcake - if they were, it would be more clear cut. Not that we wouldn't see a C&D letter anyways...

    For the record though, I love PA and hope they make it through ok. And you just have to respect em for making a stink even if they did pull the offending strip originally. They're as subtle as a heart attack :)

    --
    Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
  2. Mirror of the new strip by Motherfucking+Shit · · Score: 4, Informative

    Today's PA comic

    --
    "BSD: Free as in speech. Linux: Free as in beer. Windows 10: Free as in herpes." --Man On Pink Corner in #52607549.
  3. Re:Can someone explain? by Randolpho · · Score: 4, Informative

    American Greetings currently (I think) holds the copyright for Strawberry Shortcake. If you click on one of the mirrors, you'll see Penny Arcade's take on American McGee's *next* game, in which Ms. Shortcake is quite the little sadist.

    So American Greetings is essently protecting their copyrights to Strawberry Shortcake. Groundlessly, because as the article stated, it's a work of parody. The funny thing is, it's *supposed* to be a poking fun at American McGee. I'm sure PA was prepared for any backlash from them. Getting hammered by a greeting card company probably surprised PA quite a bit.

    And, to top it off, PA is now getting hit with a slashdotting, as if PA didn't already have bandwidth problems!

    --
    "Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
    -Marilyn Manson
  4. Comic Book Legal Defense Fund by Lothar+0 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I looks like they're seeking legal aid from the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. If the little guy can't defend himself in court against the big boys, then there should be someone else who can. They also protect Japanese and American manga artists and sellers. I joined, and so should you.

    --
    "Anonymous Coward" is for whistleblowers, not unpopular opinions.
  5. How to fight lawsuit abuse in general by Nova+Express · · Score: 4, Informative

    For general information on curbing all sorts of lawsuit abuses across the country, you might want to take a look at the American Tort Reform Association.

    --
    Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)

    http://www.lawrenceperson.com/

  6. Email from American Greetings by rudeboy1 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I did my patriotic (read-rabid PA fan) duty, and wrote Miss Rinda Vas a letter, telling her what bad idea this all was and everything. I got a fairly swift response, including an "original" letter written to the PA staff. Email addresses have been removed to protect the innocent...

    Email sent Wed. 4/23--

    there is no legal action against them ... fyi ...

    -----Original Message-----
    From: RV Rinda Vas (1328)
    Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2003 9:32 AM
    To: Subject: RE: Trademark infringement, misuse

    Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter. We note that the
    cartoon has been removed.

    I am receiving a good amount of e-mails from the penny-arcade subscribers
    asking why American Greetings asked you to pull the cartoon. Unfortunately I
    do not have the resources to respond to them individually so I am passing
    the answer on to all of you. On April 17, 2003, American Greetings received
    a complaint about the cartoon namely that it was "creepy" and "offensive."
    Thereafter, we asked you to remove it.

    Note that the target audience for Strawberry is young females (indeed young
    children). And we do receive complaints from parents and the like over
    cartoons like yours.

    So there you have it.

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Ryan
    Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2003 3:55 PM
    To:
    Subject: Please Cease and Desist

    Dear Rinda Vas-
    I am writing to you, as I am sure are many others, to implore you to stop
    your legal action against Penny Arcade and its creators. As you may or may
    not be aware, the actions your company has taken against Penny Arcade has
    already publicized the original event much more than the comic's web site
    ever would have. Furthermore, several websites have made note of this
    issue, spreading the issue to more people, not usually associated with the
    normal Penny Arcade crowd. Feel free to read the articles posted on
    http://slashdot.org, and other such sites. At Slashdot, you will see the
    forum that follows every article. Within said forum, you will note a
    resoundingly negative response to your decision to take legal action. There
    is even a petition out to boycott your company. The last time I checked
    that site, the petition was drawing near the 10,000 mark, and climbing.
    I am not going to threaten you, or swear at you, as I am sure many others
    are doing, regarding this issue, but I have to advise you that, from all
    evidence available, what you are doing does not seem like a smart move. I
    think you might do well to look into options for reaching a quiet agreement
    with the owners of Penny Arcade. I am sure they will be happy to make this
    legal action go away with as little public notice as possible. My advice to
    you is to try to save face, as your company stands to lose a large amount of
    business and public appeal by pursuing this petty issue. Thanks for your
    time.

    Ryan

    --
    Raging in an online forum won't do anything for the world around you. To see change, you must take action.
  7. Re:Admirable pluck... by cptgrudge · · Score: 4, Informative
    Are you offering to foot their legal bills?

    If you truly do want to help, go to the Club PA section of their site and contribute. It's real money like this that pays the bills folks. Plus you get cool stuff every month for being a member!

    I am in no way affiliated with PA. I just love the site.

    --
    Qualitas edurus commercium, nullus penitus net rimor, nullus deus beneficium
  8. The issue is Strawberry Shortcake, not the style. by Mr+Z · · Score: 5, Informative

    According to the USPTO website, the Strawberry Shortcake mark is owned by "Those Characters From Cleveland, Inc." Those Characters From Cleveland appears to license their marks to American Greetings or is a subsidiary. I haven't found a page that explicitly mentions their relationship. (Note: I think USPTO query links 'expire.' You can always search again using TESS.

    According to this link, it looks like American Greetings, Those Characters From Cleveland, and Rinda Vas have previously gone after alleged violations of their marks. (In the linked page, the case appears to be a reasonable attack against a domain squatter.)

    --Joe
    --
    Program Intellivision!
  9. Re:Polymer City by wikthemighty · · Score: 4, Informative


    Polymer City Chronicles is doing it too...

    --
    "There are people who do not love their fellow human being, and I _hate_ people like that!" - Tom Lehrer
  10. Re:Clearly Parody, But.... by 42forty-two42 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, if slashdot posted a direct link to the donations page...