BearLove Good. Cancer Bad.

[Alareth]

Last year, the artist of The Oatmeal took issue with his work being uploaded to the website funnyjunk.com without attribution. He wrote a blog post about it, then for the most part just let it go.

Now, a year later, he has received a letter from a lawyer representing funnyjunk.com claiming defamation and demanding $20,000 or they would file a lawsuit.

Inman has responded with another blog post detailing the incident and his plan to have a fundraiser to get the twenty grand, then mail funnyjunk a picture of himself with the money before giving it all to charity.

He raised the money within 64 minutes. As of the writing of this post, the total is at $144,000. In an interview with MSNBC, funnyjunk's lawyer stated that he has contacted indiegogo.com and requested the fundraiser be shut down as he believes it to be a violation of the sites terms of service.

Further reading:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2011/06/funnyjunk-vs-the-oatmeal/
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...-so-webcomic-raises-100000-from-the-internet/

 

[tyr_13]

Troll lawyer is trolling.

 

[Cuddles]

http://digitallife.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/12/12187665-cartoonist-turns-lawsuit-threat-into-100k-charity-fundraiser

"I really did not expect that he would marshal an army of people who would besiege my website and send me a string of obscene emails," he says.

"I'm completely unfamiliar really with this style of responding to a legal threat — I've never really seen it before," Carreon explains. "I don't like seeing anyone referring to my mother as a sexual deviant," he added, referencing the drawing Inman posted.

Given that the owner of FunnyJunk explicitly told every single one of its members to do exactly this when the issue first came up a year ago, pretending that this is something they haven't seen before takes some pretty serious balls. As does trying to sue someone when you're the one profiting from stealing their work.

 

[Alareth]

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition Internet!

 

[Moss]

<trollhat> I wonder if he could sue them for defamation because they put his stuff up on a website that calls itself funny JUNK. </trollhat>

 

[Alareth]

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20...trying-to-shut-down-oatmeals-fundraiser.shtml

 

[Alareth]

the man behind this article is a consummate wordsmith http://www.popehat.com/2012/06/12/hey-did-somebody-say-something-was-going-on-with-the-oatmeal/

 

[kookbreaker]

Did the lesson of Cook's Source go completely past this person? Ocean Marketing? Does he have no idea how the internet can pound you into dust?

 

[Alareth]

In a classic example of the Streisand Effect, the lawyer appears to be doubling down.

http://www.popehat.com/2012/06/15/t...dysfunctional-relationship-with-the-internet/

 

[Alareth]

Well, Carreon has filed suit. And it's a doozy.

He is not only suing The Oatmeal, he's suing Indiegogo AND THE CHARITIES THE MONEY HAS BEEN PLEDGED TO GO TO.

According to the summary provided by CNS, and again I stress I haven't seen the actual complaint yet, Carreon has sued for "trademark infringement and incitement to cyber-vandalism," and he has not only sued Inman but also the website through which he has been raising money for charity (IndieGogo.com) and the charities to which Inman has pledged the money. Yes, he is apparently also suing the National Wildlife Federation and the American Cancer Society. The summary says Inman's request for donations "purports to raise money" for these organizations, "but was really designed to revile plaintiff and his client, FunnyJunk.com .…" (As you can divine from that, Carreon is representing himself here.) Looking forward to seeing the complaint for many reasons, but especially to find out how the charities are supposedly to blame for any of this.

http://www.loweringthebar.net/2012/06/the-guy-continues-to-mess-with-the-oatmeal.html
http://www.popehat.com/2012/06/17/the-oatmeal-v-funnyjunk-part-iv-charles-carreon-sues-everybody/

 

[ponderingturtle]

keep digging you crazy star!

 

[Lamuella]

that's amazing. I hope next he goes on to sue the concept of money.

 

[Dancing David]

Lawyer makes money suing, fourteen year old pretends to be lawyer

 

[Wowbagger]

If it was Oatmeal's intention to egg his opponent on, so he would be more inclined to react in stupid ways.... it seems to have worked.

If that wasn't the intention, Oatmeal may have simply overestimated the intelligence of his opponent.


Either way, the best thing FunnyJunk and its lawyer can do, would be to.... Stop. Doing. Stupid. Things. Cool down, think rationally for a moment or two, before taking your next action.

 

[Alareth]

Here is the full pdf of the actual filing

http://kevinunderhill.typepad.com/Documents/Pleadings/Carreon_v_Inman_redacted.pdf

 

[ehcks]

If it was Oatmeal's intention to egg his opponent on, so he would be more inclined to react in stupid ways.... it seems to have worked.

If that wasn't the intention, Oatmeal may have simply overestimated the intelligence of his opponent.


Either way, the best thing FunnyJunk and its lawyer can do, would be to.... Stop. Doing. Stupid. Things. Cool down, think rationally for a moment or two, before taking your next action.

Never underestimate human stupidity.

 

[IMST]

I've loved The Oatmeal for some time and the thing that infuriates me here, in addition to the obvious, is that it seems to have significantly reduced the site's output since this seems to be taking up a significant portion of Matt's time.

 

[Alareth]

Charles Carreon answers some questions: http://www.ramblingbeachcat.com/2012/06/not-backing-down-rambling-beach-cat.html

Also, he donated to the fundraiser specifically so that he could claim standing to sue: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...onally-gave-money-to-the-oatmeals-fundraiser/

 

[Lamuella]

if ever there were a case for the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram...

 

[Ladewig]

If it was Oatmeal's intention to egg his opponent on, so he would be more inclined to react in stupid ways.... it seems to have worked.

If that wasn't the intention, Oatmeal may have simply overestimated the intelligence of his opponent.


Either way, the best thing FunnyJunk and its lawyer can do, would be to.... Stop. Doing. Stupid. Things. Cool down, think rationally for a moment or two, before taking your next action.

Yesterday I heard a vintage radio program in which one character tells another "think carefully about what decision you are about to make in the next two minutes. It is very possible that you will spend the rest of your life trying to recapture those two minutes - you will not succeed in that endeavor."