DU lawyers: need your help on a copyright question concerning a new comic.

[gatorboy]

I've been thinking about doing a regular (somewhat political) strip using a character I created years ago for a strip, "gatorboy" I use to draw in my college days. The question concerns another character I've considered usign for the strip who resembles a certain conservative duck from the funny pages.

My question regards the similarities of the two and how much I can get away with without bringing copyright infringment into it. Any takers? PM's are welcomed!

Thanks in advance! :)

[Dora]

1. I'm not a lawyer, but I hear copyright discussions regularly.

I may be wrong.

But IMO, the only way you couldn't do what you're saying would be if you actually use the character in question.

All you're doing is writing an innocent comic strip using a cartoon duck that just happens to be espousing conservative commentary, as long as it doesn't look/act/speak like MF. It's in your favor that MF isn't the first cartoon duck in the world, hence he isn't unique, so there's no reason you can't have a cartoon duck character of your own.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, talks like a duck...

[Atman]

5. As with all these types of cases..."it depends."

It depends upon how much your duck character actually looks like their duck character. If it is a direct rip-off, that still doesn't mean you can't use it if the strip is clearly intended as a parody of the other duck's strip. Look at Bobby London's "Dirty Duck." No pants, remarkable similarity to a certain "Donald," with a few accessory modifications. But is anyone likely to confuse Donald Duck with Dirty Duck? No way. Two different characters, two different audiences.

So as you see, "it depends" really is the best answer you'll get without shelling out some bucks for a living breathing lawyer. You could look online at findlaw.com, too.

(BTW, I am a cartoonist by profession, so I know the copyright stuff pretty well. But you should still seek the advice of your own lawyer. Should you get sued, the judge won't likely accept "But, Your Honor, some dude on DU told me it would be cool!" as a valid defense.)

[gatorboy]

6. Didn't the "Dirty Duck" guy get flack from Crumb

for the duck character being too "Fritz the Cat"ish?

Thanks for the reply. I had no intention of using any posts here as a true defense for future lawsuits. ;) Just thought I'd get a few opinions on the matter. (I am going with the "no pants" look though. :P)

[EFerrari]

2. I almost got sued by Godzilla's lawyer for some drawings I did

so, it's good to sort this stuff out in advance.

[A HERETIC I AM]

3. Seeking legal advice on a message board is ill advised.

You should seek the advice of a qualified Copyright Attorney.

Sorry to be such a party pooper, but i am sure the Admins will say the same thing.

[gatorboy]

4. I understand that an online forum probably wouldn't be the best place.

But considering the wide array of folks we get here, I thought I'd give it a "what the heck" and see if we had a few copyright lawyers in our midst.

The duck part, I can get away with. Daffy, Donald, Mallard, Howard...The all generally have the same design. But the strip would take place in a newsroom and I had considered giving him the "press" hat. It was that detail, I was worried about because the other characters occasionally wears one. I had also considered a cigar but then that goes into "Howard the Duck" territory...

[nealmhughes]

7. The new copyright law is so bloody complicated that as an academic

librarian who was in charge of setting up a new electronic reserve system, I basicly studied it and its ramifications and all the current standards and case law and existing procedures for six months before the first links or scans were put into the system. Unbelievable. Lawyers wrote the law, by the way...