Dr Seuss, ‘Star Trek’ mashup suit will go to jury trial
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!”
The comic, which includes created by ComicMix, is not so similar to the work’s of Dr Seuss that no jury trial is required, said judge Janis Sammartino in an order published from the US District Court for the Southern District of California on Monday, August 9.
Sammartino said that it was “unnecessary” to rule on the comic’s liability for copyright infringement, nor the willfulness at this time.
The order also denied ComicMix’s motion for reconsideration of a referral order, claiming that a Ninth Circuit’s reversal of a previous summary judgment in ComicMix’s favour left the referral order subject to reconsideration.
The Ninth Circuit opinion was handed down in December 2020, finding that ComicMix and former Star Trek writer David Gerald’s work on “Oh, The Places You’ll Boldly Go!” was not protected as “fair use”.
The suit will proceed to trial at an undetermined date.
Star Trek writer’s comic
The estate of the late children’s author and illustrator Theodor Seuss Geisel first sued ComicMix, its co-founder Glenn Hauman, Gerrold (the co-author of the comic) and Ty Templeton (the comic’s illustrator) for copyright and trademark infringement, and unfair competition in 2016.
Oh, the Places You’ll Boldly Go began as a Kickstarter campaign, written by Gerrold, a Hugo and Nebula Award winning science fiction author perhaps best known for writing the 1967 “Star Trek” episode “The Trouble With Tribbles.”
Templeton is a comics artist known for his work on “Batman”, “The Simpsons”, and as the co-creator of the Vortex Comics series “Stig’s Inferno”.
Dr Seuss Enterprises claimed that the makers of the mash-up comic infringed Dr Suess trademarks and copyrights by creating “wholesale slavish copies” of Seuss illustrations and text.
The comic was created as a mash-up between Star Trek and Dr Seuss’ works, borrowing imagery and characters from the two properties, particularly from the Dr Suess book “Oh the Places You’ll Go!”
The estate also claims that the comic incorporated protected elements of the books “Horton Hears a Who”, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”, “The Lorax”, and “The Sneetches and Other Stories”.
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