Los Angeles, CA – A copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit was filed against Warner Bros. and 5th Cell Media, the creators of the Scribblenauts videogame, by attorneys for Charles Schmidt – creator of the Keyboard Cat meme – and Christopher Orlando Torres – creator of Nyan Cat meme.
Keyboard Cat is a video of Schmidt’s cat, Fatso, wearing a shirt and playing an electronic keyboard with its pause. The meme, which is a communication of ideas or information, has gone viral, receiving over thirty million YouTube hits. Schmidt has registered the video’s copyright with the US Copyright and has two pending trademark application for the term “Keyboard Cat”, click to see the first trademark application and the second trademark application. Keyboard Cat’s stardom has led to numerous appearances in commercials, including a feature role in a national Starburst candy television commercial.
Nyan Cat is a cartoon character with a cat’s face with a Pop Tarts body, basically a pink frosting sprinkled horizontal breakfast bar with glitter and a rainbow flowing therefrom. The GIF animation has also gone viral and it was the fifth most-watched video on YouTube in 2011, winning the 2012 Webbys’ “Meme of the Year” award. Torres also registered the copyright in the animated GIF with the US Copyright Office. Torres has also filed a trademark application to register the “Nyan Cat” word mark with the US Patent & Trademark Office.
Plaintiffs accuse Warner Bros and 5th Cell of including, without any licenses or authorizations, the Keyboard Cat and Nyan Cat characters in their original Scribblenauts videogame released in 2009, the 2010 Super Scribblenauts, 2011 Scribblenauts Remix, and the 2012 Scribblenauts Unlimited. Defendants are accused of shamelessly using identifying “Nyan Cat” and “Keyboard Cat” by name to promote and market their games. Plaintiffs claim that Warner Bros and 5th Cell’s trademark infringement was willful and intentional and are requesting an award of treble damages and requesting the case be deemed exception under 15 U.S.C. § 1117(a), thereby entitling Plaintiffs to an award of reasonable attorneys’ fees.
Plaintiffs, however, mistakenly demand statutory damages and an enhancement of damages under 17 U.S.C. § 504, and mistakenly believe that they are entitled to attorneys’ fees and costs of suit under 17 U.S.C. § 505. Defendants are accused of infringing both copyrights in their initial 2009 release of the video games and neither copyright was registered until 2010. Thus, neither Plaintiff is entitled to statutory damages or attorney’s fees, a prerequisite of which – per 17 U.S.C. § 412 – is either registration before commencement of any infringement or within three months after the first publication of the copyrighted work. Further, both the Keyboard Cat video and the Nyan Cat video were published over five years before the application to register the copyrights were filed, thus they are not entitled to a presumption of validity afforded by 17 U.S.C. § 410(c).
Keyboard Cat is a video of Schmidt’s cat, Fatso, wearing a shirt and playing an electronic keyboard with its pause.
Somebody owns a cat playing the piano? ::)
Somebody owns a cat playing the piano? ::)
Somebody owns a cat playing the piano? ::)
Fair use: parody/satire.*
*have not read any case law because this exception/defense was just recently added to the Canadian Copyright Act under "fair dealing" (equiv of fair use).
Somebody owns a cat playing the piano? ::)
well, he did make the original video. Dumber things are protected...like Happy Birthday.
QuoteKeyboard Cat is a video of Schmidt’s cat, Fatso, wearing a shirt and playing an electronic keyboard with its pause.
:comeon
I wonder if Nyan Cat guy has given anything to whoever made the song he uses in the video. Cause he sure did not compose it himself.
A JEREMIAH SLACZKA lawsuit.Yeah, someone has claimed ownership of them as Cool Face apparently. We have shirts of them at one of my jobs. Dunno how you can copyright stupid shit randoms drew on 4chan or wherever but it seems somebody has done so!
Sorry, just wanted to make that joke. That nobody will get.
Does anyone own the rights to the rage faces? Because I see shit all the time being sold that has Rage faces on them. Internet memes are kinda weird, legally.
A JEREMIAH SLACZKA lawsuit.
Sorry, just wanted to make that joke. That nobody will get.
Does anyone own the rights to the rage faces? Because I see shit all the time being sold that has Rage faces on them. Internet memes are kinda weird, legally.
Does anyone own the rights to the rage faces? Because I see shit all the time being sold that has Rage faces on them. Internet memes are kinda weird, legally.
A JEREMIAH SLACZKA lawsuit.HYBRID! I get it! Because I've seen that name just before I join entirely unpopulated Lobbies.
Sorry, just wanted to make that joke. That nobody will get.
Does anyone own the rights to the rage faces? Because I see shit all the time being sold that has Rage faces on them. Internet memes are kinda weird, legally.