What is Digg?207 Comments
- ChrisRX, on 10/12/2007, -13/+292I'm going to start drawing faces on random household objects in the hopes that 10 years now I can sue a major company for stealing my character and become $1.6billion richer
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -23/+163funny how hes like 6 years late after Nick already made millions of dollars of it.........
he must have been in a pineapple under the sea..... - demigod, on 10/12/2007, -5/+121If you bother to RTFA, it says he has been in talks with Viacom for years but they stopped talking to him so he launched a law suit.
FTFA " Walker said he tried to work out a settlement with Viacom's attorneys when he first learned about SpongeBob. But Viacom stopped corresponding with him, he said." - deviouskoopa, on 10/12/2007, -7/+109"He cites a 2004 episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, called, "Sponge for hire!" as a piece of "undeniable proof" that Nickelodeon ripped him off.
"It is more than ironic that two working class sponges are named Bob," Walker says in his complaint. "Both characters are unemployed. Both characters live in a house concept." "
There seems to be a decent argument against Viacom, but also the guy sounds like he doesn't have his Spongebob info accurate. First off, Spongebob has been employed at the Krusty Krab or Chum Bucket in almost every episode, or he invented "pretty patties" to support himself. Secondly, every cartoon character lives in a "house concept" which I'm assuming he refers to the underwater pineapple as "concept". I mean Catdog had a bone/fish house, Doug's dog Porkchop had an igloo... so that argument is completely worthless.
But I think it could go either way, kinda like Spongebob... ;-) - zizzybaloobah, on 10/12/2007, -7/+102I don't see much of similarity. How many animation companies have done mice, rabbits, ducks, chickens, penguins, etc? Bob is a also common name, and furthermore...
Bob Spongee - Married with kids, hetero, and unemployed
Spongebob - Single, employed, and deceptively ambiguous
Bob Spongee - no pet
Spongebob - Gary the snail (meow)
Bob Spongee - lives in a house
Spongebob - lives in pineapple under the sea
Bob Spongee - no eyelashes, nudist
Spongebob - eyelashes, always dapper in shirt, pants, and shoes - shakin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+70From Wikipedia: "When Rocko's Modern Life was canceled in 1996, Hillenburg began working on SpongeBob (although sketches trace back to 1987)."
If Hillenburg has sketches, or any evidence, that his character was created in 1987 then this lawsuit is dead in the water.
(Note: the Wikipedia article is not very well done, containing several spelling and grammatical errors as well as dubious citations and subjectivity) - Gullop, on 10/12/2007, -12/+80Looks like towelie.
- Zippo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+70That sponge has no pants. That kind of defeats his argument that he created a character with Square pants. Nor does this Bob Spongee live in a pineapple under the sea.
- rockforever, on 10/12/2007, -6/+61Why stop at household objects? Start doing everything, other peoples cars, office buildings, road signs.
- merdiesel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+55Well his version of Spongebob sucks.
- Rich7ejr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+54Like New Orleans?
- sctechguy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+51I love that the article points out that the underwater city of Bikini Bottom is fictitious. It's like we would have confused it with another underwater city that was *real*.
- duddles, on 10/12/2007, -5/+52They both live in 'house concepts'!
So... yeah. - foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+47@1.6 Billion! Damn! Thats a whole YouTube!
- cissystrut, on 10/12/2007, -5/+48sometimes you have to ask yourself...
Are we really arguing about animated sponges? - starguy, on 10/12/2007, -18/+60Viacom's screwed on this one. If he in fact has the newspaper ads to back it up. And apparently he did try to work out with something.
Sponge Bob isn't worth 1.6 billion, however. Maybe a couple million for idea already implemented, and a licence thereafter for continued profits if Sponge Bob remains some kind of profitable icon. - ZeroMP, on 10/12/2007, -3/+43Come on now, let's be fair here - this guy CLEARLY deserves 1.6 BILLION DOLLARS for drawing a face on a sponge and trying to sell it 15 years ago....
- hotsoda, on 10/12/2007, -4/+38@ humperdeath: Something is copyrighted as soon as you create it. There's no "paperwork" involved.
- kingace, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28"Both characters live in a house concept"
*****, both my dog and Clifford live in a doghouse! I should sue. - zweben, on 10/12/2007, -1/+27I first read it as 1.6 million. I laughed when I saw it was 1.6 BILLION. Come on, does he really think he deserves every penny the company earned off the show since its introduction as damages for drawing a face on a sponge?
- rasterbator, on 10/12/2007, -8/+33absorbent and yellow and porous is he...
- RJNavarrete, on 10/12/2007, -1/+26[To the tune of SpongeBob SquarePants Theme]
Captain: Are you ready kids
Kids: I I Captain.
Captain: I can't hear you.
Kids: I I Captain
Captain: Ooooooooooooooooooooo... Who lives in a house concept on Apple St.?!
Kids: Bo-ob Spongeee!
Captain: Absorbent and Naked and Crappy is He...
Kids: Bo-ob Spongeee!
Captain: If supreme court nonsense be something you wish!
Kids: Bo-ob Spongeee!
Captain: Then cry like a bitch and sue til your rich!
Kids: Bo-ob Spongeee!
Captain: Ready?
Captain and Kids: Bo-ob Spongeee!, Bo-ob Spongeee!,
Bo-ob Spongeee!!
Captain: Bo-ob Spongeee!!!!
Captain: HA HA HA HA !!!!
***** ace. - CedEx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+24Touché
- zizzybaloobah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23One viewing of the 'Sailor Mouth' episode leaves no doubt that Spongebob is for adults too (and you'll never hear a dolphin quite the same way again)
- 7levels, on 10/12/2007, -6/+28this is *****. everyone knows spongebob is not an unemployed spnge. He is very happy with his job at the krusty krab.
- BZKyle, on 10/12/2007, -3/+25Yes, yes we are.
- IheartZombies, on 10/12/2007, -2/+22Dude needs to learn how to draw first. Looks like he got bored at Denny's and drew on a napkin with a marker.
- dcbebop, on 10/12/2007, -4/+22Probably why Viacom blew him off. I'd do the same thing. The only thing the same is a somewhat similar sounding name and the likeness to a sponge. I really think this is fair game and definitely the IP of Nick/Viacom.
- merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+19"remember, the lawsuit is in Northern California...now are you surprised?"
As a resident of Northern California, I'm offended by that statement, and have no other recourse but to sue you for slander. - etandrib, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15I love how Nickelodeon will not comment on pending litigation but then does… haha!
---
Hillenburg could not be reached for comment. Nickelodeon will not comment on pending litigation, a spokeswoman wrote in a statement.
"However we believe this is a baseless claim," the letter stated.
--- - mwmccullough, on 10/12/2007, -6/+20Damn. It must be hard out there for a... cartoonist.
- BonhamsGhost, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15The original look of SpongeBob that was pitched was of a real sea sponge, like his parents look like. Some executive at Nick suggested he be a regular household sponge. Whether that guy saw Bob Spongee, who the hell knows.
- brada33928, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17why is sponge bob so funny to adults? can someone clue me in? is it the jokes that are implemented that kids wouldn't get?
- fauxXenophanes, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15Plankton Strikes AGAIN ! ! ( HEH , HEH , HEH .... )
- PapaBoojum, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16Easy: T.H.C.
- EtherGnat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11The claims are baseless because you went to school with the guy? I agree the claims don't seem to have merit, but I fail to see how what you said makes sense.
- bremmi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10@RJNavarrete
The sailor-talk police think you probably mean 'Aye Aye' and not 'I I' =) - metalhead3767, on 10/12/2007, -20/+30I think this could be true. You need to read the whole article. He had this whole concept of "bob the sponge." He made comic strips, and sold the sponge dolls.
- sharksfan34, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9spongebob is actually a contraceptive sponge. thats why he "lives" in bikni bottom, his closest neighbor is a starfish (slang for an a$$hole), and he works at the Krusty Krab.
- shifty2, on 10/12/2007, -5/+14perhaps one can argue that he waited due to viacom taking forever, waiting for them to make more money to sue for more money or he need to pull all his material together to go to court.
- lazn, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11@humperdeath You obviously don't know how copyright works.. Unlike trademarks or patents anything created is copyrighted, you don't "copyright" something, instead anything you put to paper is copyrighted see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright "Thus, as with property, a copyright need not be granted or obtained through official registration with any government office. Once an idea has been reduced to tangible form, for example by securing it in a fixed medium (such as a drawing, sheet music, photograph, a videotape or a letter), the copyright holder is entitled to enforce his or her exclusive rights."
Thus Bob Spongee is copyrighted, now that doesn't mean that Sponge Bob Squarepants violates that copyright automatically, they are different, the question is if they are different enough and if they were come up with separately without stealing of content from one to the other. - merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9"At the very least spongebob was probably inspired by this guy's work."
Inspiration is not infringement. - noahhoward, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9We're talking about the name Bob here.... that name gets flung around everywhere more than any other name. It has replaced John Doe as the common name for some random person.
- tagnarth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Stephen Hillenburg originally drew him as SpongeBoy back in 87. The show was based on a comic he did in 89 . He had to change the SpongeBoy name to SpongeBob cause SpongeBoy was already trademarked. So the whole Bob thing and inspired by this guys boring comic is out the window
- intelmole, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Allow me to be the first to say it:
As long as I've got my health, and my millions of dollars and my gold house and my rocket car, I don't need anything else. - randf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7@ merreborn
i'm from virginia, i have no recourse but to challenge you to a duel. :) - orb_nsc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7My cat is fat and lazy. You're going to hear from my lawyer, Jim Davis!
- combustion8, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Hope the judge throws this out and makes this shmuck pay all legal fees.
- zizzybaloobah, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9You blaspheme! The Magic Conch will exact its revenge!
- nogami, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9"Come on, does he really think he deserves every penny the company earned off the show since its introduction as damages for drawing a face on a sponge?"
That doesn't sound like the American way...
N. -
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