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When Lawyers Send Letters

By Jessica Roy 7/24/12 1:56pm

When Lawyers Send Letters

U mad? (Photo: Idea Mensch)

Craigslist Goes Full on Troll, Sues PadMapper for Aggregating Its Listings

Remember the good old days, when Craigslist was a granola-crunchy, free-wheeling sort of place, filled with back alley studio sublets and questionable masseuses and sweaty old men with foot fetishes? Ah, those were the times.

But now the little Craigslist that we all love and rely on so much has grown into a corporate overlord, moving to squash a tiny startup focused on continuing to innovate on the local listings concept. Oh Craig Newmark, why hath thou forsaken us?

GigaOm reports that, following Padmapper’s “dickish” decision to continue to include Craigslist apartment listings on its visual mapping tool (despite a cease-and-desist letter), Craigslist is sue Padmapper and its API provider 3Taps. Not exactly an “embrace the free Internet” move there, Craigslist. Read More

By Jessica Roy 6/20/12 12:20pm

When Lawyers Send Letters

(Photo: Kickstriker)

Kony 2012 Sends Cease & Desist Letter to NYU ITP Students Behind Kickstriker

Oh good, the folks behind Invisible Children’s botched Kony 2012 campaign are at it again. After the highly-criticized campaign’s frontman Jason Russell was caught running around the streets of San Diego naked, the campaign tunneled underground to avoid further scrutiny. But now they’re back in the news for a pretty silly reason. Turns out they have a few choice words for the NYU ITP students who started Kickstriker, a Kickstarter parody that imagines a world where crowdfunded wartime might be possible. College kids, amiright? Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 6/19/12 11:52am

When Lawyers Send Letters

Discourse. (Photo: The Oatmeal)

The Oatmeal’s Matthew Inman Tells FunnyJunk Lawyer to Please Just Chill Already

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.) Read More

By Jessica Roy 6/18/12 3:16pm

When Lawyers Send Letters

(Photo: The Oatmeal)

Indiegogo Fires Back at FunnyJunk Lawyer’s ‘Internet Jihad’ Lawsuit, Calls It ‘Frivolous’

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. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 6/15/12 3:44pm

When Lawyers Send Letters

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

Nice Try, FunnyJunk: Indiegogo Says the Oatmeal’s Fundraiser is A-Okay

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: Read More

By Jessica Roy 6/13/12 10:21am

When Lawyers Send Letters

The image at issue. (Photo: The Oatmeal)

FunnyJunk Responds to The Oatmeal by Trying to Get Charity Fundraiser Yanked from Indiegogo

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. Read More

By Adrianne Jeffries 6/11/12 5:58pm

When Lawyers Send Letters

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

The Oatmeal’s Matthew Inman Responds to Lawsuit Threat By Raising $25K for Charity

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?