Oh, The Courtrooms You’ll See, The Judges You’ll Meet

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ComicMix’s Glenn Hauman has launched a GoFundMe appeal to help defray the legal expenses incurred defending against Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ suit to stop his project Oh, The Places You’ll Boldly Go!

The book features the writing of David Gerrold and the art of Ty Templeton. Dr. Seuss Enterprises (DSE) filed suit in 2016 claiming the publication infringed their copyright and trademark on Dr. Seuss’ Oh the Places You’ll Go! A court ruling in May 2018 disposed of DSE’s trademark claims, but the copyright claims remain to be litigated. And legal help ain’t cheap! As Hauman told me in an email —

I know that you’ve heard, I know that you know,
About “Oh, The Places
You’ll Boldly Go!”
We think it’s fair use
(although maybe we’re biased)
Not just because our
arguments are the slyest.
But we’re fighting a
company with millions of bucks
And we’ve spent most of
ours, which truly just… stinks.

If we lose, then ALL
mashups may go through the thresher
And may be deemed
infringement. (But hey, no pressure.)
The fight’s now upon
us, can’t close the barn door
Lest our loss set a
precedent tough to ignore.
And fair use gets
wrecked in a Weehawken minute
This case is important,
so we have to win it.

And there are many more stanzas in this vein at the GoFundMe page — “Help us produce FAIR USE vs. Seuss!” – which makes it worth reading for its own sake.  The epic ends with this call:

If you care about mashups and value free speech,
If you think free expression’s a value to preach
Then reach in your wallets and give what you will
And help us pay for a quite large legal bill.

Be a copyright fighter! And fight for the right
To research, report, comment, criticize, cite!
Be the fifth factor in our fair use case!
Every dollar contributed buys breathing space!
(Heck, if only this doggerel just made you laugh
Consider donating a buck and a half.)

If you can’t spare some cash, then please spread the word
Get on social media and help us get heard.

Lawsuits are scary and hard to endure,
But if you help us out, then you’re part of the cure.
And for your help countering copyright cranks,
We offer our humble and most grateful thanks.

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5 thoughts on “Oh, The Courtrooms You’ll See, The Judges You’ll Meet”

  2. Do they take PayPal? Because that’s the only way I have of donating online.

  4. “Do they take PayPal? Because that’s the only way I have of donating online.”

    It would seem the answer is No.

    https://support.gofundme.com/hc/en-us/articles/203999308-Accepted-Forms-of-Payment

    “GoFundMe accepts donations online, using most major credit or debit cards. This includes Visa, Mastercard and American Express. Select campaigns can also accept Discover cards depending on the country they were set up in.”

    This has always been Go Fund Me’s Achilles’ Heel, at least here in the USA.

    No Pay Pal. No Apple Pay. No Google Pay. No AliPay. No Qiwi. Sigh!

    The year is 2018. Unfortunately Go Fund Me is stuck in the year 1918, to the determent of its patrons and causes that it represents.

  5. Even if GoFundMe won’t take PayPal
    We’ll take it directly, oh yes we shall.
    Just use [email protected]
    And we will happily accept your balm.

    And thank you so much for helping us out
    Against copyright maximalists that we must rout.

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