“Sometimes the questions about fair use are complicated and the answers are even more complicated.”
– misquoted from Dr. Suess
Don’t mess/remix with the Dr’s estate?
Readers here will know that we’ve followed the trademark and copyright lawsuit filed by the estate of Dr. Seuss against ComicMix LLC, creators of the mashup book Oh, the Places You’ll Boldly Go! The entire thing has been a multi-year rollercoaster designed to be serpentine, with ComicMix arguing that the mashup book was transformative and covered by fair use, and winning on that front, only to have the copyright portion of the argument overturned on appeal. Go and read Cathy Gellis’ writeup on the appeal; it’s incredibly detailed and informative.
But if anyone was hoping to see this case progress up the federal court ranks, they will be both disappointed and sad. Disappointed because the parties have now settled the case with ComicMix agreeing to acknowledge that the book did, in fact, infringe on Suess’ copyrights.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20211006/08560047711/seuss-estate-comicmix-copyright-case-settles-saddest-possible-way.shtml
Also, Dr. Suess never said
“You’re off to do Great Remixes!
Today is your day!
The lawyers are waiting,
So… get ready to pay!”
Chapter 4522 in the book of how unclear fairuse can be.