The owners of two of the internet's best-known cat memes are striking back at Scribblenauts for using them without permission. Charles Schmidt and Christopher Orlando Torres have sued Warner Brothers for copyright and trademark infringement, based on images of Nyan Cat (created by Torres) and Keyboard Cat (created by Schmidt) that appear in the game. After both cats achieved fame years ago, Torres and Schmidt have parlayed them into an ongoing career under the management of "meme agent" Ben Lashes. Since then, they've had to confront the strange tension that comes from trying to own and license something that grew through sharing and appropriation.
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Unlike a Nyan Cat scarf or a Keyboard Cat phone cover, Scribblenauts isn't exactly promoting itself with memes. It's a game known for incorporating virtually every item in existence: if you can write it, you're supposed to be able to conjure it. Along with Nyan Cat and Keyboard Cat, you'll find Ninja Cat, Longcat, Spaghetti Cat, and a whole list of others. We've come to expect such reference-dense entertainment — open up the recently released Guacamelee and you'll find reimaginings of Grumpy Cat or Strong Bad. But at some point, these references can end up in a legal and ethical morass.
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Okay, I understand that the 'memes' may be copyrighted, but at what point does something that is altered and remixed by hundreds, maybe thousands, of people make it grounds for a lawsuit? These two memes being here was not a selling point of Scribblenauts (btw, which Scribblenauts is it?), but instead an easter egg. A little secret meant to tickle the fancy of people who would think to put something so abstract in as an item in the game, certainly not something I've ever seen on any of the Scribblenauts game boxes while I sell them at work. Are these guys butthurt over some fair use, or is this a serious legal battle that is about to ensue?
Also, I had never in my life heard of Keyboard Cat before this. Sue me.