Seuss vs. ComicMix Trek Mashup Litigation Settled

In a joint motion filed by the parties on October 5, ComicMix has agreed to a permanent injunction on further distribution of Oh, the Places You’ll Boldly Go! while Dr. Seuss Enterprises will abandon its efforts to collect damages.

As The Hollywood Reporter’s Eriq Gardner explains in his article “’Star Trek’/Dr. Seuss Mashup Legal Dispute Ends After Five-Year Journey”, the parties settled because after the appeals court gave Dr. Seuss Enterprises a win and remanded the case, the district court judge denied summary judgment on the issue of whether Seuss had shown copyright infringement. That meant the judge would not make a determination on the existing record and a trial would be required to develop the remaining issue – therefore ComicMix still had a small chance. Dr. Seuss Enterprises decided not to find out how small.

Federal District Court Judge Janis L. Sammartino’s decision denying summary judgement filed August 9 can be read here.

The litigation began in November 2016 when, during a Kickstarter campaign to fund Oh, The Places You’ll Boldly Go! featuring the writing of David Gerrold, the art of Ty Templeton, and the editorial skills of ComicMix’s Glenn Hauman, Dr. Seuss Enterprises (DSE) filed suit for damages claiming the project infringed their copyright and trademark on Dr. Seuss’ Oh the Places You’ll Go! 

[Thanks to Chris Barkley for the story.]

4 thoughts on “Seuss vs. ComicMix Trek Mashup Litigation Settled

  1. I need to note here Mike that whatever the merits or not of this decision, the health of the defendant Ty Templeton played a significant, if not decisive, role in this “agreement”. The defendants’ attorney Dan Booth of Dan Booth Law said in a statement that his clients settled because of Templeton’s diagnosis of Stage 3 colorectal cancer earlier this year.
    “[W]e refuse to put him through any additional stress that would in any way impinge on his health and recovery. To the credit of the people at Dr. Seuss Enterprises, they didn’t want to put Ty through that either…”
    This casts a different light on the announcement.

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