Don’t worry Pacejv, there will be no law suit. The “PEANUTS guy” AKA Charles Shultz passed away just hours before his last strip was published back in 2000. I think his family would be honored to see his work remembered.
@ Doctor Toon Did you see the tribute to Shultz on PBS? He was a fantastic businessman that protected his product and charged everyone many $ for using–if he gave permission in the first place….kind of reminds me of how McD’ees hits anyone coming near their identity!
This sort of thing is fair use, and Schulz wouldn’t have had any problem with it. It’s one comic strip giving a tip of the hat to another comic strip, and that sort of thing is done all the time (I don’t specifically recall Schulz name-dropping another comic strip, but he popped in other pop culture references on a regular basis). One important factor is that it’s explicitly a reference to “Peanuts”; it’s not Anderson trying to pass off one of Schulz’s established ideas as his own, nor is he introducing one of the Peanuts gang (say, Woodstock) as a continuing character.
(By the way, Doc T, when I was pushing Bill Hinds to file a lawsuit against Brian Bassett/Rob Harrell for a superficial [and probably coincidental] parallel between “Cleats” and “Adam@Home”, I was joking. I legitimately feel, however, that Hinds should have gotten compensation or at least a “Special Thanks” credit from the makers of the movie “Monsters vs Aliens”. Ridley Scott gave William Burroughs a credit for the title “Blade Runner”, even though Burroughs’ book “Bladerunner” had nothing to do with Scott’s movie.)
Edit: There was a fairly famous continuity in Peanuts where Charlie Brown was so obsessed with baseball that every morning he was seeing the rising sun as a baseball. After a couple of weeks he was “cured”, and rushed out one morning in the hopes that the sun would look like the sun, but in fact he saw it as the face of Alfred E. Neuman, ringed by the slogan “What, Me Worry?” Technically that violated MAD’s intellectual property rights, but nobody on either side could or would have found that to be grounds for a lawsuit.
It was also an established element of Peanuts that the shoes worn by Snoopy’s brother Spike were a gift from his friend Mickey Mouse. As litigious as Disney was and is, I don’t recall there ever being so much as an angry letter written about that, although had Mickey actually appeared in the strip it might have been a different story. The Mouse Factory was not pleased with Berke Breathed’s use of Mickey’s disreputable brother Mortimer Mouse as a core character in “Outland.”
GROG Premium Member almost 14 years ago
Yeah, but this Lucy is much cuter!
margueritem almost 14 years ago
Definitely much cuter!
ladywolf17 almost 14 years ago
with a better personality.
Pacejv almost 14 years ago
Who won’t bet the PEANUTS guy won’t come back with a law suit?
cleokaya almost 14 years ago
Is that a yawn or is Sophie singing an aria? Great art Brian.
mkyritsi almost 14 years ago
As always, Brian. I love the way you draw this strip.
Cymbol almost 14 years ago
Love it Brian, wonderful job!
Don’t worry Pacejv, there will be no law suit. The “PEANUTS guy” AKA Charles Shultz passed away just hours before his last strip was published back in 2000. I think his family would be honored to see his work remembered.
lewisbower almost 14 years ago
Do you think Beethoven would have married a puppy?
Trisha_Evenstar almost 14 years ago
YAY! I love this
Pacejv almost 14 years ago
@ Doctor Toon Did you see the tribute to Shultz on PBS? He was a fantastic businessman that protected his product and charged everyone many $ for using–if he gave permission in the first place….kind of reminds me of how McD’ees hits anyone coming near their identity!
fritzoid Premium Member almost 14 years ago
This sort of thing is fair use, and Schulz wouldn’t have had any problem with it. It’s one comic strip giving a tip of the hat to another comic strip, and that sort of thing is done all the time (I don’t specifically recall Schulz name-dropping another comic strip, but he popped in other pop culture references on a regular basis). One important factor is that it’s explicitly a reference to “Peanuts”; it’s not Anderson trying to pass off one of Schulz’s established ideas as his own, nor is he introducing one of the Peanuts gang (say, Woodstock) as a continuing character.
(By the way, Doc T, when I was pushing Bill Hinds to file a lawsuit against Brian Bassett/Rob Harrell for a superficial [and probably coincidental] parallel between “Cleats” and “Adam@Home”, I was joking. I legitimately feel, however, that Hinds should have gotten compensation or at least a “Special Thanks” credit from the makers of the movie “Monsters vs Aliens”. Ridley Scott gave William Burroughs a credit for the title “Blade Runner”, even though Burroughs’ book “Bladerunner” had nothing to do with Scott’s movie.)
Edit: There was a fairly famous continuity in Peanuts where Charlie Brown was so obsessed with baseball that every morning he was seeing the rising sun as a baseball. After a couple of weeks he was “cured”, and rushed out one morning in the hopes that the sun would look like the sun, but in fact he saw it as the face of Alfred E. Neuman, ringed by the slogan “What, Me Worry?” Technically that violated MAD’s intellectual property rights, but nobody on either side could or would have found that to be grounds for a lawsuit.
It was also an established element of Peanuts that the shoes worn by Snoopy’s brother Spike were a gift from his friend Mickey Mouse. As litigious as Disney was and is, I don’t recall there ever being so much as an angry letter written about that, although had Mickey actually appeared in the strip it might have been a different story. The Mouse Factory was not pleased with Berke Breathed’s use of Mickey’s disreputable brother Mortimer Mouse as a core character in “Outland.”
darat almost 14 years ago
Hey! Let’s dump the ads already!
Pacejv almost 14 years ago
Guess my real gripe is we have too many lawyers and too many lawsuits. This is costing us all in our daily living .
Ace2Mick almost 14 years ago
Dear Pacejv: amen!