Tag: Funky Winkerbean

Tom Batiuk responds to Funky blog take down order at The Daily Cartoonist

Tom Batiuk responds to Funky blog take down order The Daily Cartoonist

Let me tell ya, snarkers, it’s not as dramatic as the headline makes it sound, but TB is officially on the record regarding last Friday’s legal action, with a rather terse, two-sentence comment. It’s linked above, but I might as well share this bit of intellectual property right here:

“When asked why he felt he needed to take legal action to take down the blogs, Tom [Batiuk] responds:

‘I fought a lawsuit to regain ownership of my creations and, as a result, I take my intellectual property rights including trademark and copyright very seriously, and will enforce my rights when I find them being infringed. That includes someone reprinting the work in total without permission or compensation.’”

The man has spoken. And without admitting any guilt on my part, I will say I respect and understand what TB (and his lawyers) have to say. This whole affair has been quite an education for yours truly. At the Daily Cartoonist site, comics luminaries including Comics Curmudgeon’s Josh Fruhlinger and My Cage cartoonist Ed Power have weighed in, with most of them (Ed excluded, bless his heart) have come down on TB’s side. “Caricaturist” Dave Stephens, whose work includes a cartoon of JFK getting his head blown off, calls me a “bad egg”.

A number of folks are following this turn of events and wondering if this may have a “chilling effect” on other comics blogs. I hope it will not, and I don’t expect that it will. It’s time to get back to the business of snarking. Let me offer my thanks once more to everyone who has voiced their support for Son of Stuck Funky: most especially Sgt Saunders for his intellectual property expertise, and to David O for covering the cost of the domain name, and everyone who emailed me when the heat came down. Lastly let me welcome those who’ve discovered this blog as a result of all the fracas! Stick around and enjoy Westview through our eyes.

Stay Funky, y’all!

TFHackett

Cease and Desist

Read it and weep. I did. Click to enlarge

Well, now we know why sonofstuckfunky.wordpress.com (and stuckfunky.wordpress.com) got the plug pulled. Here is the letter that Batiuk’s lawyers sent to the WordPress.com folks. They are not happy with the “unauthorized use of the Funky Winkerbean name, trademark, or comic strips” on the site. They go on to ask the WordPress people to provide them with my name, address, and email address.

I’m still reeling from having the plug pulled, then was feeling great about being able to move the blog so quickly. Now I’m feeling pretty anxious. I don’t have a lawyer, I (obviously) don’t have a deep knowledge of copyright, and really don’t need to get sued.

This turn of events ought to tell you everything you need to know about Tom Batiuk’s sense of humor.

I will collect my thoughts and decide on the course of action going forward. In the meantime, thank you, friends, for your support.

Stay Funky.

TFH

Whap

Monday morning, and we embark down yet another never-to-be-resolved meandering plot path…Susan Smith Westbrook, Les’ erstwhile stalker student, now faculty colleague, corners the Delicate Genius in an unused classroom. At the suggestion that Les was any help at all to his boss, even crazed Susan sees right through his bullshit and smotes him. “You know what I’m talking about…” Oooh…feeling frisky, are we?

Sunday, gravely

Click to view larger image

You never know when you’ll get the urge for a slice of Montoni’s Gazpacho Pizza…good thing they’re open til 2 AM (4 AM on the weekends)…

Open til two AM? Four AM? Must be an Ohio thing. The bars where I live close at 3 AM, and that’s  on the weekends. Ye gods, who runs Montoni’s at night? Who patronizes Montoni’s after midnight? Doesn’t Westview roll up the sidewalks after 10? At least it explains the poor “lighting” in this strip: Funky and Crazy are having this conversation at 2:30 am (Crazy Harry, because he’s crazy, wears his postal uniform all the time).

I find Funky’s comment in panel 3 to be telling: “Hopefully, I’ve done what I can to help Montoni’s weather the downturn.” Sounds like he’s not convinced he’s done everything he can. “We’ll cut back hours and hopefully that’ll be enough…hopefully I won’t have to do anything else.” Hope is not a strategy, pizza man.