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by: RickLondon.
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In 1998, I was one year into my Londons Times Cartoon project. I was still living, working, and trying to survive in an abandoned rural Mississippi warehouse. Nobody would rent to me as they, I am certain, felt this former 9-5 business executive had lost his mind for launching a cartoon at age forty three. I was a year into the project. Not a lot was going right, I could clearly see it was a hobby, and I would eventually need to take some kind of job in sales, but for now, I was obsessed with seeing it through. Then a marketing idea hit me, which, at the time, I thought was brilliant (I humbly add). I would create another series of cartoons called "Panel Hollywood" and feature real life celebrity caricatures and then mail signed copies directly to them or to their agent to forward. Out of the 150 or so that we created and mailed, about twelve responded, and even offered reviews, which was my strategy. Their reviews of the work remain on my main cartoon website.

I remember doing some writing on a steaming, muggy summer afternoon, and my computer alerted me that "you've got mail" . It was from the estate of Roy Orbison. It was from his widow Barbara, written by her secretary, who asked if the estate could purchase the rights to a Roy Orbison cartoon on my website. Ms. Orbison loved the cartoon so much, she wanted to make custom greeting cards for her friends and Roy Orbison followers. That's a lot of cards! She had found the cartoon on my website. I had not mailed a copy of it to them yet, as I'd not located the estate, or its representatives. Of course I gave her the rights free , letting her know that he (Roy) had brought me so much pleasure throughout the years, and so many others, I need to sleep at night, and there would be no charge. She thanked me profusely, and used the card which was later revealed to be a wonderful success. She was very grateful.

Over the years, I have received threatening letters from attorneys of some celebrities of which I have used their likeness in parody. At first this frightened me, so I consulted with major cartoonists way above my league, who assured me most of the best cartoonists receive at least one per month, and many of them frame them. I talked to an attorney who taught me about "The Fair Use Act" in the U.S. Constitution, and how it protects such parody. My attorney revealed that those greedy attorneys, simply spend all day cruising the Internet, in hopes of finding someone who was clueless to the law, and would "settle with them". And I was told this works quite often (even though the attorneys do not have a case). So I started framing the threatening letters like all the rest. Even the late Charles Schulz, whom I highly respected and made himself available to me when starting, had received them.

Half a decade after Ms.Orbison and I did our pleasant business came a shock to me. I received a letter from a large Houston law firm representing the Orbison estate demanding cease and desist, not only to take down all the images, but to provide an accounting of what had been sold, and "they would probably settle rather than take this to court". Not that this makes me an authority by any means, but my maternal direct ancestry includes former Supreme Court Judge Benjamin Cardozo. His name might not mean much to many, but his words do to many attorneys. His books, his writings, until this day, are generally the "final word" in interpretation of Constitutional Law and most lawyers studied at least one of his books regarding the subject. Ashame they did not decide to practice it.

As I said, this does not make me an expert on law (or anything else for that matter) but, more than Disney movies and tonight's homework were discussed at our dinner table. Human rights was often the "topic du jour", and rights of expression were instilled before I was even a teen. Before I was 18, I knew the difference between parody and copyright infringement. Parody is protected by the Fair Use Act. Infringement is not. Our work is total parody. We make it very clear in both the artwork and text. It is that simple. I then remembered that attorney I had spoken with, and it all made sense. A lot of these celebrity lawyers claim to be working on their client's behalf, but sadly, the celebrity (or estate executor...in this case Ms. Orbison) was not aware they were coming after me, someone with whom they'd already had an enjoyable business relationship regarding the image in question. I was being threatened for something she already had in her possession, and grateful to have worked with me (and vice versa).

I love to tell the story that Peanuts creator Charles Schulz told once (and wrote about it in his last book). Mad Magazine ran a hilarious parody of Peanuts. The day it hit the stands, Schulz's attorneys shot out a gruesome letter of what would happen to "Mad" if they did not remove all copies and pay their client for damages. What the lawyers did not know what that Mr. Schulz had also seen that Mad issue, and loved the parody so much, he sent them a congratulatory note telling them how brilliant it was.

If you are a person who works in the arts, and creates images of real celebrities in parody form, it is a very good idea to Google and learn about "The Fair Use Act". This is important, not only because it educates the creator to know his/her rights, but keeps that element who has entered the world of law to erode our precious Constitution and this great country, any more than they already have. Freedom of speech (and expression) is one of the major differences in our Constitution, and say the one of the former Soviet Union, or Iraq, or Iran. When attorneys do their job correctly, and many do, that is, finding real copyright infringement criminals and making them pay, they are doing a great thing. When they go after humor producers of parody, especially without even contacting their own client first, they are showing a real sense of irresponsibility and limited capabilities of practicing the law the way our Founding Fathers had in mind.

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