Not yet 365 days had gone by yet when I started my Londons Times Cartoons project in rural Ms. I was still living in an abandoned rural Mississippi warehouse. Nobody would rent to me as they, I am certain, felt this former 9-5 business executive had lost his mind for launching a cartoon at age forty three. I would live there for almost 18 months. I was a year into the project. It was a very bumpy start. I had no capital and no investors on the horizon. It soon became clear this was just a hobby, and I would eventually need to take some kind of job in sales, but for now, I was obsessed with seeing it through. Then a marketing idea hit me, which, at the time, I thought was quite smart (at least for me). I would create another series of cartoons called "Panel Hollywood" and feature real life celebrity caricatures and then mail signed copies directly to them or to their agent to forward. Out of the two hundred or so that we created and mailed, about twelve responded, and even offered reviews, which was my strategy. Those celebrity reviews, of their own image on a cartoon, are still posted a decade later on my main cartoon website. That is how we "became discovered".
One day, while toiling away on a hot summer afternoon, an email arrived. It was from the estate of the late, great Roy Orbison. It was from his widow Barbara's assistant, who wanted to know if they could purchase the rights to a Roy Orbison cartoon on my website. Ms. Orbison loved the cartoon so much, she wanted to make custom greeting cards for her friends and Roy Orbison fans. They had seen it on my website. I had not mailed a copy of it to them yet, as I'd not located the estate, or its representatives. Naturally, I offered it gratis, letting her know that he (Roy) had brought me so much pleasure throughout the years, and so many others, I need to sleep at night, and there would be no charge. She thanked me profusely, and used the card which was later revealed to be a wonderful success.
Over the years, I have received threatening letters from attorneys of some celebrities of which I have used their likeness in parody. At first this frightened me, so I consulted with major cartoonists way above my league, who assured me most of the best cartoonists receive at least one per month, and many of them frame them. I talked to an attorney who taught me about "The Fair Use Act" in the U.S. Constitution, and how it protects such parody. My attorney revealed that those greedy attorneys, simply spend all day cruising the Internet, in hopes of finding someone who was clueless to the law, and would "settle with them". And I was told this works quite often (even though the attorneys do not have a case). So I started framing the threatening letters like all the rest. Even the late Charles Schulz, whom I highly respected and made himself available to me when starting, had received them.
About five years after this pleasant experience with Ms. Orbison, I received a letter from a large Houston law firm representing the Orbison estate demanding cease and desist with the Roy Orbison parody cartoon panel and, not only to take down all the images, but to provide an accounting of what had been sold, and "they would probably settle rather than take this to court". Not that this makes me an authority by any means, but my maternal direct ancestry includes former Supreme Court Judge Benjamin Cardozo. His name might not mean much to many, but his words about law were powerful His books, his writings, until this day, are generally the "final word" in interpretation of Constitutional Law. New York Law School is named after him. I say this not to brag, but that, I do have a great many (good) attorneys in my family who strengthen the Constitution, rather than weaken it, and Benjamin was one of them.
I am not an authority on copyright law, or much else for that matter, but, more than more than local college football and schoolwork were discussed at our family dinners. Talk of legal rights, civil rights, and rights of expression were instilled very early. Before I was 18, I clearly understood the difference between parody and copyright infringement. Parody is protected by the Fair Use Act. Infringement is not. Our work is total parody. We make it very clear in both the artwork and our captions. I remembered that attorney I had hired a long time ago and it all made sense. A lot of these celebrity lawyers are working on their client's behalf, but as you can see in this case, and I've seen others, the celebrity (or estate executor...in this case Ms. Orbison) hadn't a clue I was being threatened for something she already had in her possession, and continues to enjoy it.
Later I recalled a story Charles Schulz told me. Mad Magazine ran a hilarious parody of Peanuts. The day it hit the stands, Schulz's attorneys shot out a gruesome letter of what would happen to "Mad" if they did not remove all copies and pay their client for damages. What the lawyers did not know what that Mr. Schulz had also seen that Mad issue, and loved the parody so much, he sent them a congratulatory note telling them how brilliant it was. This was also written in his autobiography.
If you are a person who works in the arts, and creates images of real celebrities in parody form, it is a very good idea to Google and learn about "The Fair Use Act". This is important, not only because it educates the creator to know his/her rights, but keeps that element who has entered the world of law to erode our precious Constitution and this great country, any more than they already have. Freedom of speech (and expression) is one of the major differences in our Constitution, and say the one of the former Soviet Union, or Iraq, or Iran. When attorneys do their job correctly, and many do, that is, finding real copyright infringement criminals and making them pay, they are doing a great thing. When they go after humor producers of parody, especially without even contacting their own client first, they are showing a real sense of irresponsibility and limited capabilities of practicing the law the way our Founding Fathers had in mind.
One day, while toiling away on a hot summer afternoon, an email arrived. It was from the estate of the late, great Roy Orbison. It was from his widow Barbara's assistant, who wanted to know if they could purchase the rights to a Roy Orbison cartoon on my website. Ms. Orbison loved the cartoon so much, she wanted to make custom greeting cards for her friends and Roy Orbison fans. They had seen it on my website. I had not mailed a copy of it to them yet, as I'd not located the estate, or its representatives. Naturally, I offered it gratis, letting her know that he (Roy) had brought me so much pleasure throughout the years, and so many others, I need to sleep at night, and there would be no charge. She thanked me profusely, and used the card which was later revealed to be a wonderful success.
Over the years, I have received threatening letters from attorneys of some celebrities of which I have used their likeness in parody. At first this frightened me, so I consulted with major cartoonists way above my league, who assured me most of the best cartoonists receive at least one per month, and many of them frame them. I talked to an attorney who taught me about "The Fair Use Act" in the U.S. Constitution, and how it protects such parody. My attorney revealed that those greedy attorneys, simply spend all day cruising the Internet, in hopes of finding someone who was clueless to the law, and would "settle with them". And I was told this works quite often (even though the attorneys do not have a case). So I started framing the threatening letters like all the rest. Even the late Charles Schulz, whom I highly respected and made himself available to me when starting, had received them.
About five years after this pleasant experience with Ms. Orbison, I received a letter from a large Houston law firm representing the Orbison estate demanding cease and desist with the Roy Orbison parody cartoon panel and, not only to take down all the images, but to provide an accounting of what had been sold, and "they would probably settle rather than take this to court". Not that this makes me an authority by any means, but my maternal direct ancestry includes former Supreme Court Judge Benjamin Cardozo. His name might not mean much to many, but his words about law were powerful His books, his writings, until this day, are generally the "final word" in interpretation of Constitutional Law. New York Law School is named after him. I say this not to brag, but that, I do have a great many (good) attorneys in my family who strengthen the Constitution, rather than weaken it, and Benjamin was one of them.
I am not an authority on copyright law, or much else for that matter, but, more than more than local college football and schoolwork were discussed at our family dinners. Talk of legal rights, civil rights, and rights of expression were instilled very early. Before I was 18, I clearly understood the difference between parody and copyright infringement. Parody is protected by the Fair Use Act. Infringement is not. Our work is total parody. We make it very clear in both the artwork and our captions. I remembered that attorney I had hired a long time ago and it all made sense. A lot of these celebrity lawyers are working on their client's behalf, but as you can see in this case, and I've seen others, the celebrity (or estate executor...in this case Ms. Orbison) hadn't a clue I was being threatened for something she already had in her possession, and continues to enjoy it.
Later I recalled a story Charles Schulz told me. Mad Magazine ran a hilarious parody of Peanuts. The day it hit the stands, Schulz's attorneys shot out a gruesome letter of what would happen to "Mad" if they did not remove all copies and pay their client for damages. What the lawyers did not know what that Mr. Schulz had also seen that Mad issue, and loved the parody so much, he sent them a congratulatory note telling them how brilliant it was. This was also written in his autobiography.
If you are a person who works in the arts, and creates images of real celebrities in parody form, it is a very good idea to Google and learn about "The Fair Use Act". This is important, not only because it educates the creator to know his/her rights, but keeps that element who has entered the world of law to erode our precious Constitution and this great country, any more than they already have. Freedom of speech (and expression) is one of the major differences in our Constitution, and say the one of the former Soviet Union, or Iraq, or Iran. When attorneys do their job correctly, and many do, that is, finding real copyright infringement criminals and making them pay, they are doing a great thing. When they go after humor producers of parody, especially without even contacting their own client first, they are showing a real sense of irresponsibility and limited capabilities of practicing the law the way our Founding Fathers had in mind.
