Hey, DC Legal!

Glenn Hauman

Glenn is VP of Production at ComicMix. He has written Star Trek and X-Men stories and worked for DC Comics, Simon & Schuster, Random House, arrogant/MGMS and Apple Comics. He's also what happens when a Young Turk of publishing gets old.

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7 Responses

  1. Tony Isabella says:

    The parody/satire elements of the above make it fair usage. Pirating copyright material without compensating creators or publishers is stealing. Apples and oranges. I applaud DC and Marvel for doing whatever they can do make the pirates walk the plank.

    • Glenn Hauman says:

      I'm not so sure this would fall into the category of parody/satire; the closest example on point, Cherry (formerly Cherry Poptart until they got sued over the usage of the name) uses a different name than, say, Betty or Veronica. The parody is only of the house style, but doesn't sufficiently confuse the name to be a violation. This case sure looks to be a direct attempt to take look and feel (pardon me, ma'am).Wait, why am I debating this with you? Get Ingersoll in here– oh wait, he's not IP law. Well, he'll do until Charles Petit stops by.

    • Marilee J. Layman says:

      I think Glenn is right. If she took the Harley part of it and rapped on that, it would be parody.

    • Elayne Riggs says:

      On the other hand, even when it's satire, DC has tended to frown on the use of its characters for less than family-friendly offerings, for which Suicide Girls more than qualifies. I'd shed no tears at a C&D order sent to that site.

      • Martha Thomases says:

        The First Amendment was not designed to protect tasteful speech that everyone liked. It was designed to protect the offensive, the provocative, the dissonant. Hence, the ACLU is obliged to defend Nazis so that you and I can say whatever we believe.

        • Vinnie Bartilucci says:

          I should go find an animated gif of an auditorium full of appluading people and paste it here. Picture that scene from Silent Movie, if you will.One of the reasons I respect the ACLU is that they do indeed come out in support of people and things that they must find deplorable. I can only imagine how much Listerine was bought and quaffed as they defended Rush from his medical records seizures.Elayne, do I detect a certain lack of interest for the work of the Suicide Girls? One that might elicit a bit of schadenfreude should they catch a little hell for this little bit of fun that odds are Dini might find entertaining?