Fanning the Flames of Simpsons Fandom: Your Responses?
Torey Lightcap
Dear a.t.s.-ers:
Today the lead story at Wired News (www.wirednews.com)
is that of Harry Knowles, publisher of the online paper
"Ain't It Cool News." Harry was recently asked to remove
some images from his site because, according to Sony
Pictures Entertainment, they amounted to "the theft and
dissemination of trade secrets." It's another instance
of fans getting burned by the very companies that profit
from those who enjoy their products the most. Because
the story failed to mention the rather painful experience
of Simpsons fan Jeanette Foshee, I submitted the letter
below to them.
If you have salient comments to add, send a letter to
newsfe...@wired.com; if you would like to respond to
my comments, post them here or send mail to me directly.
I'm sure most copyright attorneys are fair people who are
only trying to do their jobs; but the essence of that duty
can occasionally make them look like shills for dirty
money grubbing rather than respectors of the First Amendment.
Torey L. Lightcap
ligh...@waterwiser.org ... to...@ecentral.com
"The Fox network has sunk to a new low." --Lisa, "Cape Feare"
* * *
Dear Wired News Representative,
Your story concerning intellectual property rights
and the burgeoning legalsphere of the Internet
brings to mind yet another, more alarming tale of
fandom gone sour in the face of aggressive corporate
media.
Jeanette Foshee, a fan of Fox's "The Simpsons," worked
in her own graphics package to create several sets of
icons representing some of the lead characters for that
show. Apparently her effort was a little _too_ accurate;
having freely distributed the icons for several months
--and, in effect, having little control over their destiny
after disseminating them over the Net--she was issued a
"Cease and Desist" order by Twentieth Century Fox. They
wanted her to not only curtail the icons' availability but
also hand over her work, tally monetary "damages," and
essentially squeal on those who'd downloaded the images.
"The letter was pretty aggressive and hostile, and even
though I knew it was a form letter, I was disappointed at
the extremes to which some companies feel they must go in
order to protect animated characters," she later wrote.
"Somehow I don't think that 25 years ago such greed and
overprotectiveness would have been present."
As both a netizen and an intense fan of "The Simpsons,"
I hated to see Jeanette's work go unrewarded, even
punished. It therefore seemed appropriate to alert you to
this unreported aspect of today's otherwise comprehensive
front-page story. We simply cannot allow the hordes of
legal moguls to infringe on our appreciation of the shows
they presume to shield--especially when our appreciation
is thorough and adds considerably to the community of
dialogue over a treasured piece of our culture.
A full accounting of this tale is available at
http://www.snpp.com/icons.html. (This is the unofficial
site of primacy for the show, as well as the site of record
for users of the newsgroup alt.tv.simpsons.)
Sincerely,
Torey L. Lightcap
cc: o...@digimark.net
alt.tv.simpsons
Torey Lightcap
Fellow a.t.s.-ers:
I apologize if this message has been double-posted,
but I received word this morning that it had not been.
So I'm trying again to relate this tale.
The lead story at Wired News <http://www.wired.com/news/>
on Friday concerned a gentleman who runs the online
pub "Ain't It Cool News." After posting some images
anonymously e-mailed to him, he was told by Sony Pictures
Entertainment he'd have to remove the pictures or face
their wrath.
Sound familiar?
My response to Wired News follows. If you have salient
comments to add, write to newsfe...@wired.com. If you
consider what has happened with Simpsons fans to be
a tip, write to ti...@wired.com. For any other comments,
send mail to me at either of the addresses below.
Torey L.
ligh...@waterwiser.org .... to...@ecentral.com
* * *
24 January 1997
Dear Wired News Representative,
Your story concerning intellectual property rights
and the burgeoning legalsphere of the Internet brings
to mind yet another, more alarming tale of fandom
gone sour in the face of aggressive corporate media.
Jeanette Foshee, a fan of Fox's "The Simpsons," worked
in her own graphics package to create several sets
of icons representing some of the lead characters for
that show. Apparently her effort was a little _too_
accurate; having freely distributed the icons for
several months--and, in effect, having little control