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The Oatmeal/Funnyjunk saga

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 6:00 pm
by Jason181
Has anyone else been following this?

Essentially funnyjunk.com's users uploaded a huge portion of the oatmeal's comics and funnyjunk was reaping the advertising from the copyright-infringing content. Funnyjunk's attorney sent The Oatmeal a letter demanding not only that all references to funnyjunk.com be removed, but that The Oatmeal pay $20,000.

The Oatmeal's commentary on the letter put funnyjunk's attorney's panties in a bunch and now he's personally suing the American Cancer Society, the National Wildlife Federation, The Oatmeal, and anyone else who's seen, heard of, or knows somebody who has heard of the controversy.

Naturally, a lot of people are unhappy with the attorney, and ironically the litigation threatened while representing funnyjunk.com never materialized.

Re: The Oatmeal/Funnyjunk saga

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 6:22 pm
by superjawes
Considering The Oatmeal's author kept Carreon's contact info and personal/company website out of the affair, please remove that link (and possibly just use the Wikipedia page as The Oatmeal did).

I heard about it a couple weeks ago when the charity story was breaking, and Matthew Inman is an extremely classy guy in turning it into a massively successful fundraiser for ACS and NWF. I think that Carreon is going to have to cut his losses while he can still save face.

Re: The Oatmeal/Funnyjunk saga

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 6:38 pm
by derFunkenstein
It's beyond saving face. His wife has lost her mind, calling people Nazis and terrorists (among other things) in a very open forum. He's screwed because he married a bat **** crazy woman.

Everyone knows who Carreon is in this story, I see no reason to pull down the link to his public website. He probably wants the traffic. :lol:

Re: The Oatmeal/Funnyjunk saga

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 6:40 pm
by paulWTAMU
I kind of think he and his wife were like calling to like Derfunk. His actions are at least as off the wall as hers.

Re: The Oatmeal/Funnyjunk saga

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 6:58 pm
by Jason181
superjawes wrote:
Considering The Oatmeal's author kept Carreon's contact info and personal/company website out of the affair, please remove that link...


I think the cat's out of the bag already. If he can't handle the heat, he should stay out of the kitchen.

It would be one thing if I was calling people to arms to intimidate, harass, or otherwise violate his rights. Telling me I should remove his personal/company information when he's embroiled in a very public legal battle (with charitable organizations that really had nothing to do with the dispute) is offensive to me.

Perhaps you're unfamiliar with some of his other ***NSFW*** illustrious works ***NSFW****.

Re: The Oatmeal/Funnyjunk saga

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 7:45 pm
by derFunkenstein
paulWTAMU wrote:
His actions are at least as off the wall as hers.

That's true. Birds of a feather and all that. I just hope the Oatmeal doesn't have to spend a ton of money to defend themselves from the inmates running the asylum.

Re: The Oatmeal/Funnyjunk saga

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 8:07 pm
by CampinCarl
derFunkenstein wrote:
paulWTAMU wrote:
His actions are at least as off the wall as hers.

That's true. Birds of a feather and all that. I just hope the Oatmeal doesn't have to spend a ton of money to defend themselves from the inmates running the asylum.


I don't think they'll have too much trouble fundraising to pay for it though.

Re: The Oatmeal/Funnyjunk saga

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 8:29 pm
by grantmeaname
The EFF has offered aid, as well as a handful of JD-equipped lawbloggers

Re: The Oatmeal/Funnyjunk saga

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 10:22 pm
by superjawes
Jason181 wrote:
superjawes wrote:
Considering The Oatmeal's author kept Carreon's contact info and personal/company website out of the affair, please remove that link...

I think the cat's out of the bag already. If he can't handle the heat, he should stay out of the kitchen.

While I am definitely on the side of The Oatmeal and associates, my point of keeping his personal contact info out of it was all about taking the high road.

Yes, this lawsuit can only be described as bat **** insane, but that doesn't mean you should feed the bat.

Re: The Oatmeal/Funnyjunk saga

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 11:34 pm
by MadManOriginal
You have a point superjawes, but at the same time the guy's personal website is www.{firstnamelastname}.com...i'ts not exactly 'hiding' in any way :)

Re: The Oatmeal/Funnyjunk saga

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 2:39 am
by Jason181
superjawes wrote:
...my point of keeping his personal contact info out of it was all about taking the high road.


What rubbed me the wrong way was that you took it upon yourself to tell a complete stranger what to do, and are now insinuating that I've done something wrong. If that weren't enough, your advice is completely wrongheaded. Not only is the contact information all over the place, but what he's doing is of public record, made more public by the interviews with Forbes and MSNBC, and his trademarked personal name.

The site I linked to is his, and if he had any desire to shield his contact information, the onus is on him. It just seems kind of ridiculous that you felt it necessary to tell someone to remove a link to someone's webpage.

This kind of uninformed knee-jerk criticism isn't taking the high road.

Back on topic, I've read some great commentary on the situation at Popehat and Lowering the Bar, and the latter page is full of satirical takes on actual incidents by an actual attorney.

A few gems from the popehat.com commentary:
    Regarding funnyjunk.com and his legal team: ...they're going to get curb-stomped in court, whether in initial motion practice or in a proctological discovery
    OK, our legal department is insisting that I make clear that I am not claiming that Charles Carreon is in Ewok.
    Yes. Charles Carreon, butthurt that someone had leveraged his douchebaggery into almost two hundred thousand dollars of donations to two worthy charities, sued the charities.

Re: The Oatmeal/Funnyjunk saga

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 6:48 am
by grantmeaname
Yeah, I've loved those two blogs (both are run by lawyers and analyze real-life cases, by the way. Popehat is just narrower, about first amendment cases). Their coverage has been much more nuanced than that by anandtech, which seems to try and convey both viewpoints as if they're sane even though one is batsh*t crazy.

Re: The Oatmeal/Funnyjunk saga

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 7:53 am
by superjawes
Jason...I was asking for the removal of the link because of this.
The Oatmeal wrote:
I never encouraged anyone to attack, harass, or otherwise contact you. In fact in my original letter I blurred out your contact information and I linked to your Wikipedia page instead of your website. If I've directed energy anywhere it's been to the fundraiser page.

And to anyone else who is reading this: it goes without saying, but stop harassing Carreon. Be lawful and civil in your interactions with him.
If you want to help, go donate.
Full post here.

I am sorry that I rubbed you the wrong way. The spirit of my "knee-jerk criticism" was to follow The Oatmeal's example in both letters. You can do what you want. I won't post here again.

Re: The Oatmeal/Funnyjunk saga

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 12:10 pm
by ludi
It appears that the attorney involved is risking some major sanctions and possibly loss of his certification to practice. There's usually only one reason why any competent attorney would file motions that jeopardize his reputation and practice, and it involves an involuntary decline in the "competence" part. A quick GIS seems sufficient to prove the point.

Re: The Oatmeal/Funnyjunk saga

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 9:15 pm
by ludi
Okay, I thought there was something familiar about this guy, but even by the rules for playing Separated at Birth, this is disturbing:

Charles Carreon, as himself

John Malkovich as...