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15 November 2016Copyright

Dr Seuss estate sues Star Trek writer over comic book

Dr Seuss Enterprises, the estate of late children’s author and illustrator Theodor Seuss Geisel, has sued the producers of a comic book.

The complaint, filed on Thursday, November 10 at the US District Court for the Southern District of California, centres on the comic “Oh, The Places You’ll Boldly Go!”.

Dr Seuss’s estate sued Connecticut-based comic company ComicMix, its co-founder Glenn Hauman, David Gerrold (the co-author of the comic) and Ty Templeton (the comic’s illustrator) for copyright and trademark infringement, and unfair competition.

Gerrold is probably best known for writing the Star Trek episode “The Trouble With Tribbles”.

The estate alleged that the comic book infringes its works “by using innumerable copyrighted elements of several well-known Dr Seuss works, including the works’ settings, illustrations, characters, prose, and themes”.

According to the filing, the estate is the owner of the following trademarks: the book title ‘Oh, The Places You’ll Go!’; the stylised font used throughout the Dr Seuss books; and the unique illustration style of the characters and backgrounds found throughout the books.

Dr Seuss’s estate alleged that the comic “purports to be an amalgamation of the Dr Seuss works and certain characters, imagery, and other elements from Star Trek”.

It accused the defendants of making “wholesale slavish copies” of the Dr Seuss works’ distinctive illustrations and text.

“The infringing work misappropriates key protected elements of ‘Oh, The Places You’ll Go!’, including without limitation its title, story arc, characters, and illustrations,” said the suit.

The suit added that the work also misappropriates key protected elements of the books “Horton Hears a Who”, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”, “The Lorax”, and “The Sneetches and Other Stories”.

In late September, the estate sent the defendants a letter asserting its exclusive rights in the Dr Seuss intellectual property and notifying them of the infringement.

According to the suit, the defendants didn’t respond to this letter or a later letter in early October.

Then, on October 7, crowdfunding website Kickstarter disabled access to the defendants’ campaign (which had been used to raise funds for the comic) after receiving a notice from the estate.

Later in October, the estate said, it sent another letter to ComicMix. This time, ComicMix replied, “refusing … demands to cease all use of the Dr Seuss IP”.

According to the suit, ComicMix also threatened “to pursue claims for tortious interference, unfair business practices” and advised that it would be sending a counter-notice to Kickstarter to reinstate its campaign.

The estate is seeking injunctive relief, statutory damages of up to $150,000 for each work infringed, and profits from the infringement.

It has also asked for a finding of wilful infringement, and costs and expenses, including attorneys’ fees.

Geisel, under the pseudonyms Dr Seuss and Theo LeSieg, began writing and illustrating children’s books in the 1930s.

His popular works include “The Cat in the Hat”, “Green Eggs and Ham”, and “The Lorax”.

The claim is available here on Geeknation, a website producing “articles, blogs, podcasts, vodcasts, videos and web series to serve as a lifestyle and entertainment hub for the ever-growing geek contingency and pop-culture enthusiasts”.

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More on this story

Copyright
8 August 2019   Comic book “Oh, The Places You’ll Boldly Go!” has “aped the purpose” of late children’s author and illustrator Theodor Seuss Geise’s work and is not protected by the fair use doctrine, according to his estate.
Copyright
11 August 2021   Dr Seuss Enterprises has been denied a summary judgment in a copyright suit related to the comic book “Oh, The Places You’ll Boldly Go!”
Copyright
6 October 2021   Dr Seuss Enterprises has settled its copyright dispute over a comic mash-up of “Oh the Places you’ll go” and “Star Trek”, after ComicMix conceded that it had infringed upon the late author’s work and accepted a permanent injunction.