(Photo: Matthew Inman/The Oatmeal)

Deja vu? Matthew Inman, creator of the popular comic series The Oatmeal, is being sued again, this time for trademark infringement.

A greeting card company called Oatmeal Studios didn't take kindly to Mr. Inman's decision to collaborate with Recycled Greetings to turn his web comics into greeting cards, available for purchase in his online store. Ars Technica reports that the Massachusetts-based company has sued Mr. Inman for trademark infringement, arguing that his crossover into the ever-competitive greeting card market will confuse potential customers, who might not know The Oatmeal and Oatmeal Studios are different properties.

Mr. Inman must be getting rather sick of legal recourse by now. It wasn't so long ago that FunnyJunk lawyer Charles Carreon mounted a rather frivolous lawsuit against the Oatmeal creator for allegedly making defamatory statements about both him and FunnyJunk. In typical Oatmeal fashion, Mr. Inman responded by raising over $220,000 for charity and drawing a photo of Mr. Carreon's mom humping a bear.

We look forward to any obscene drawings this new lawsuit might bring.

Discourse. (Photo: The Oatmeal

We're not going to lie: We've enjoyed following every single development of the FunnyJunk/Charles Carreon-versus-Oatmeal/Matthew Inman fustercluck. But at this point, with a lawsuit targeting the National Wildlife Federation and the American Cancer Society, it's getting a little ridiculous. And if Mr. Carreon digs himself any deeper, he's going to pop out in Beijing. That's probably why Mr. Inman just addressed Mr. Carreon's eyeroll-inducing legal antics with a blog post informing him as gently as possible (well, for the "ptero-you-a-new-asshole" Oatmeal) that he is making matters worse.

"You're upset, I get it," grants Mr. Inman, before doling out a little real talk: "My advice: take a few weeks off, stop saying crazy shit to journalists, and come back when you've calmed down. Write an apology to whomever you feel is appropriate, or just don't write anything ever again." (This is actually pretty solid counsel for anyone who ever incurs the wrath of the Internet.)

He even says that, were Mr. Carreon to launch his own fundraiser to appease the Internet, he'd chip in.

Of course, lest Mr. Inman endanger his reputation by appearing too civil and mature, he signs off with "Hugs and sexy bear kisses."

But it sounds like Mr. Carreon might have bigger problems than a few mean emails from overly devoted Oatmeal fans. His Wikipedia entry points out that,

In October 2005, Carreon was suspended by the Oregon State Bar for 60 days for the unlawful practice of law and failing to deposit or maintain client funds in trust.^[11] In September 2006, Carreon was also suspended for two years by the State Bar of California, stayed, and placed on two years of probation with an actual 60-day suspension for violating his duty to maintain client funds in trust, and for practicing without a license in Canada.

In the meantime, in case anyone still cares about the original issue here, FunnyJunk has apparently removed all the infringing content to which Mr. Inman initially objected.

(Photo: The Oatmeal)

Late Friday afternoon, the legal dustup between popular Oatmeal webcomic creator Matthew Inman and FunnyJunk lawyer Charles Carreon careened full-speed into OMGWTF territory. Mr. Inman initially launched a campaign on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo to raise money for the National Wildlife Foundation and the American Cancer Society in response to a trademark complaint filed by FunnyJunk. On Friday, Mr. Carreon, who is representing FunnyJunk in the case against The Oatmeal, filed his own lawsuit against Mr. Inman, alleging that he incited "cybervandalism" and initiated an "Internet jihad."

In the suit, Mr. Carreon alleges that Mr. Inman's campaign unleashed a swath of cybervigilantes who have fraudulently impersonated him and harassed him. But the thing is--Mr. Carreon is also suing the charities that were unwittingly dragged into this mess, as well as Indiegogo.

As far as we know, the charities have yet to issue any statements about the fracas. But Indiegogo did have some choice words for Mr. Carreon, and they ain't pretty. "As the largest crowdfunding platform operating in nearly 200 countries Indiegogo exists to provide crowdfunding opportunities worldwide, and a frivolous lawsuit doesn't change Indiegogo's commitment to this creative and popular campaign," Indiegogo said in a statement emailed to Betabeat.

It's impossible to identify the troll in this situation: FunnyJunk, for its laughable trademark claims; Mr. Inman, for his inspired, but immature, response; Mr. Carreon, for suing not one but two charities; or Indiegogo, for continuously responding to Mr. Carreon's bait. It's like a middle school boys' locker room fight. Last one to the courtroom gets a swirly!

Not a terms of service violation. (theoatmeal.com)

Round three of The Oatmeal versus FunnyJunk isn't looking so great for the latter.

For those just tuning in: Earlier this week, accused of defamation and faced with a demand he immediately fork over $20,000 in damages, Oatmeal creator Matthew Inman launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise the money. However, he proposed to split it between the National Wildlife Federation and the American Cancer Society. FunnyJunk's lawyer then alleged that the campaign was a violation of Indiegogo's terms of service and that he would be petitioning the crowdfunding site to remove it.

Well,  it turns out that Indiegogo does not agree with that assessment. The company just sent us the following statement:

"Indiegogo has not seen any behavior to cause us to believe that this campaign doesn’t comply with Indiegogo's Terms of Service.”

We take that to mean that Indiegogo has no intention of removing Mr. Inman's fundraiser, which has, as of this moment, raised a whopping $170,012.

Mr. Inman's lawyer has also released a formal response to FunnyJunk's charges, which is available in full on Scribd.

(Photo: The Oatmeal)

Earlier this week, Matthew Inman, creator of The Oatmeal webcomic, responded to a lawsuit threat by FunnyJunk with an Indiegogo campaign to raise $20,000 for the National Wildlife Federation and the American Cancer Society. The campaign hit its $20,000 goal in an hour, and has accrued over $144,000 to date, with 14 days still left to go.

But--not content to settle for just one asshole move--FunnyJunk lawyer Charles Carreon has responded to Mr. Inman's campaign by trying to get it pulled from Indiegogo. Because egos are more important than cancer research, obviously.

According to NBC, Mr. Carreon:

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.)

Apparently some Oatmeal fans did take the whole fracas a step too far, though: Mr. Carreon claims that he has been the target of "obscene emails" following Mr. Inman's campaign, an unfortunate consequence of becoming an Internet punching bag.

Trying to cancel a charity campaign, though? Not exactly the best way to engender sympathy from the Internet masses.

There were some other parts to Mr. Inman's response. (theoatmeal.com)

Popular webcomic The Oatmeal has reportedly been threatened with a lawsuit for making allegedly defamatory statements about FunnyJunk.com. Did the threat work? No, not at all, as of this writing.

FunnyJunk is a site with which Oatmeal creator Matthew Inman has some history. In response to the demand for $20,000 in damages, Mr. Inman proposed raising $20,000 on on Indiegogo, which he has pledged to donate to the National Wildlife Federation and the American Cancer Society. The project hit $20,000 in 64 minutes and is up to $25,000 with 15 days left to go. How do you like them oats?