cease & desist letter #5 - Pointy Haired Lawyers
An archive of disturbing illustration

Part I. Cause

A series of 17 rude parodies involving the Uni**d M*dia character "D*****t" are posted. The strip characters are involved in various homoerotic escapades, sexual harrassments, and racist roundtable.

There was a disclaimer at the beginning stating these were parody, with strip clearly labelled as being not under the approval of Uni**d M*dia. Nobody could ever assume these were officially sanctioned representations of their character.

Part II. Conclusion

We believe we're in the legal right on this one. Mad magazine, for instance, published a similar but less rude parody, and others exist on the net. Apparently, these are singled out because of the things the characters are saying. And admittedly, they are foul mouthed.

Fair use of copyright includes the right of parody. This right is not negated because the person being parodied does not approve of the end work. That's the whole point behind the idea of parody itself, and the reason that fair use exists. Otherwise, parody could never exist.

Nonetheless, the parodies have been removed, there being other battles to fight.

[return to rotten.com]