Not only did the (alleged) legal troll that is Funnyjunk make an obscene demand on The Oatmeal’s creator, Matthew Inman, yesterday, MSNBC is today reporting that the lawyer representing Funnyjunk’s interests is trying to have the fundraising campaign for wildlife and cancer research taken down. For shame, sir!
Just what in the name of bearlove is going on here? The short version is that website Funnyjunk allegedly started re-hosting The Oatmeal’s content for profit without permission. The Oatmeal complained and most of the content was removed. That was a year ago. Yesterday, however, lawyer Charles Carreon, on behalf of Funnyjunk, asked that Inman retract statements made about Funnyjunk, while cutting the website a cheque for $US20,000.
Understandably, Inman lost it:
You want ME to pay YOU $20,000 for hosting MY unlicensed comics on YOUR shitty website for the past three years? No. I’ve got a better idea.
1. I’m going to try and raise $20,000 in donations.
2. I’m going to take a photo of the raised money.
3. I’m going to mail you that photo, along with this drawing of your mom [sic] seducing a Kodiak bear
4. I’m going to take the money and donate one half to the National Wildlife Federation and the other half to the American Cancer Society.
The IndieGoGo-hosted charity campaign raised the $US20,000 in an hour, and in just over 24 hours has gone on to raise over $US137,000. A solid, philanthropic “f**k you” to a legal troll I’d say.
But Carreon has told MSNBC today that not only is he stunned by Inman’s response (can you blame him?), but he’s filed a request with IndieGoGo to have the campaign taken down, saying that it violates the crowd funding site’s terms of service.
MSNBC’s Rosa Golijan writes:
[Carreon] also explains that he believes Inman’s fundraiser to be a violation of the terms of service of IndieGoGo, the website being used to collect donations, and has sent a request to disable the fundraising campaign. (The fundraising website has only responded with an automated message so far.)
“I don’t think that what I did was unreasonable,” Carreon says while discussing the initial demands sent to Inman. He tells me that while this situation is unique, he is typically open to negotiation. He ended the conversation with a promise to keep me updated on how things are resolved and on whether he takes any legal action against the folks who have been harassing him since Inman’s “BearLove Good Cancer Bad” fundraising campaign started.
“It’s an education in the power of mob psychology and the internet,” Carreon told me.
I’m no lawyer, so I don’t know if the $US20,000 demand was in fact “reasonable” (certainly doesn’t feel it), but I know that trying to have a charity drive for wildlife and cancer research shut down puts you in the running for Douchebag Of The Year for the next decade. [MSNBC via BoingBoing]