Warner Bros. Sued By Meme Creators Over Copyright Infringement

Krazy Kanuck sends this quote from the BBC: "Warner Bros is being sued for the alleged unauthorized use of two cats that have achieved internet fame. ... The complaint alleged that the cats were used without permission in Scribblenauts, a series of games on the Nintendo DS and other platforms. Court documents alleged that Warner Bros and 5th Cell 'knowingly and intentionally infringed' both claimant's ownership rights. 'Compounding their infringements,' court papers (PDF) said, 'defendants have used "Nyan Cat" (designed by Christopher Torres) and "Keyboard Cat" (created in 1984 by Charles Schmidt), even identifying them by name, to promote and market their games, all without plaintiffs' permission and without any compensation to plaintiffs.' "

Well...

[Sigvatr]

That escalated quickly.

I can haz memes?

[femtobyte]

nyan cat is watching you litigate!

The LOLCATS endgame.

[GodInHell]

Well -- we all knew they were up to something -- now we now it really was world domination, just not the way we all expected.

Re:I can haz memes?

[msauve]

So, you're saying that WB infringed the memes, knowing they'd be sued, just so they could lose the case and set a precedent which they could then turn around and use against 4chan?

I think your tin foil hat is borken.

Re:Pot, meet Kettle

[Anonymous Coward]

Frosted breakfast toaster pastries aren't an exclusively owned intellectual property

I know this all too well, and still suffer the scars of my youth; that one time when my mom brought home "Toaster Pastries" instead of Pop Tarts.

Re:A Taste of Your Own Medicine

[langelgjm]

That's Pop-Tarts®. You'll be hearing from our lawyers shortly.

Sincerely,

Kellogg Company Special Counsel for Intellectual Property Issues

The second coming?

[coldsalmon]

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
a character with a cat's face and a body
resembling a horizontal breakfast bar
with pink frosting sprinkled with light red dots,
flies across the screen, leaving a stream
of exhaust in the form of a bright rainbow
in its wake, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born.

Re:The second coming?

[AioKits]

Strangest Burma Shave advert, ever.