Twenty years ago the bootlegged decal was ubiquitous, and illegal (still is).First things first—Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson says he has nothing to do with the lewd caricature of his beloved Calvin. Watterson was vehemently against licensing his creation for merchandising, and that includes the stickers that “cheapened and corrupted” the comics. Watterson never gave […]
Print and film classics from 1924 become public domain on January 1, 2020.Some famous comic strips which were created in 1924 finally have their debut year now p.d. Boots and Her Buddies first appeared on February 18, 1924 from the NEA Service. So there is most of the year available there. Here is a very […]
Cartoonist Adam Ellis called out a Malaysian company for using his comic strip art in an advertising campaign without permission, notification, or compensation.Shopee Malaysia has apologised after being called out by cartoonist and former Buzzfeed writer Adam Ellis for stealing one of his comics to promote its 12.12. Birthday Sale. In a tweet last week, […]
The current issue of the French magazine Blandice has a Dean Yeagle cover,unfortunately, due to a series of mistakes, Dean was neither credited nor paid for the art. Tom Heintjes noticed it while traveling abroad and informed Dean.Dean, taking it in stride, wrote on Facebook: Then Bleeding Cool picked it up:Blandice there, a comic book that declares […]
Alex Jones and Infowars have agreed to pay Pepe the Frog creator Matt Furie $15,000 to settle a lawsuit concerning misuse of the cartoon character.Infowars included Pepe the Frog in a poster by Jon Allen featuring right-wing public figures in a campaign to earn money for the conspiracy-theory website. Both sides claimed victory in the struggle.“What […]
Whhhiirrrrr…clik…clik…clik…clak Awards The Slate Book Review and the Center for Cartoon Studies are proud to announce the nominees for the seventh annual Cartoonist Studio Prize. The winner in each of our categories will be announced April 12. Each winner will receive $1,000 and eternal glory. On the shortlist of nominees for Best Web Comic of the […]
Cartoonist Ted Rall has petitioned the California Supreme Court to review a lower court’s ruling that found in favor of the L. A. Times anti-SLAPP suit against Ted.SLAPP and anti-SLAPP from Forbes:For my non-attorney readers, a strategic lawsuit against public participation — aka SLAPP — is a lawsuit that may potentially censor, intimidate and silence […]
I was wronged. All I wanted was a trial by jury, a right enshrined in Anglo-Saxon legal tradition in the Magna Carta 903 years ago. Is this still America? No. America is dead.For me personally the ruling necessarily means bankruptcy and/or being forced to leave the United States so I can continue to earn a […]
Whereas the prospect of a Supreme Court ruling against Marvel may have played a role in the comic publisher’s decision to settle with Jack Kirby’s heirs, the other comic publisher DC Comics was handed a victory when the Supreme Court refused to hear the case and allowed a lower court’s decision to stand that allowed […]
From Deadline Hollywood comes news that just days before the US Supreme Court was to take into consideration the legal case between Jack Kirby heirs and Marvel, the two parties have struck “amicably resolved their legal disputes.”Dominic Patten writing for Deadline: All things considered, and with the billions that Marvel/Disney have made off the films […]
The legal fight between San Diego Comic-Con and Salt Lake Comic Con took another step forward – and hints at a possible settlement. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the Salt Lake Comic Con filed their official response to San Diego’s lawsuit asserting that “comic con” (no dash) is generic term and used by several […]
The Man of Steel – or more specifically the heirs of Superman creator Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster – needs a few more allies as they prepare their case for the Supreme Court. You, as a professional artist, can add your name to an amicus brief (friend of the court) supporting the position of creator […]
MAD Magazine cartoonist Tom Richmond takes on the following question in a “I’m not a laywer, but a cartoonist” fashion: I know from reading your blog that a caricaturist can use caricatures of celebrities to display their work, but cannot sell them due to the celebrity “owning” their likeness, and that it is not worth […]
From Deadline.com: Turns out the Walt Disney Company really does own the rights to the Marvel characters created by Stan Lee, at least according to a federal judge today. U.S. District Judge William J. Martinez Thursday granted with prejudice Disney’s motion to dismiss Stan Lee Media’s multibillion-dollar lawsuit superhero copyright suit. In his 11-page order […]
The Oatmeal’s Matthew Inman is being sued again. From Wired (UK): The comic teamed up with the company that owns the Papyrus chain of card and gift shops, Recycled Greetings, to sell paper greeting cards of his web comics via the The Oatmeal’s web store, along with other novelty items. But that caught the attention […]