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Digital Culture Gaming Legal Issues Media

Penny arcade vs Strawberry Shortcake

Here we have a bizarre case. One of my favorite online comics, Penny Arcade, was served a cease and desist from American Greetings, the owners of the characters in the Strawberry Shortcake family of products most of us probably remember from our youth. The problem in question is this comic (also here as PNG), which parodies a game creator called America McGee, whose specialty is taking children’s stories (Alice in Wonderland, Oz) and taking them gothic. Clearly, American Greetings didn’t think it was funny.

Discussion on Slashdot.

Sad state of intellectual property in the US continues. PA can’t afford to fight this, so they just have to roll over.

Or, they make a strip like this.

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