TheOatmeal.com vs the douchebags at funnyjunk.com

Fishooked · 06-12-2012, 06:49 AM

As a PSA announcement, I hope no one spends any considerable time over with the morons over at funnyjunk.com.

Read this first - link to funnyjunk.com repackaging theOatmeal's comics as their own by rebranding them -

Original blog post:
http://theoatmeal.com/blog/funnyjunk

What should I do about FunnyJunk.com?

Here's how FunnyJunk.com's business operates:

Gather funny pictures from around the internet
Host them on FunnyJunk.com
Slather them in advertising
If someone claims copyright infringement, throw your hands up in the air and exclaim "It was our users who uploaded your photos! We had nothing to do with it! We're innocent!"
Cash six figure advertising checks from other artist's stolen material

I first contacted them about a year ago after I found a handful of my comics uploaded on their site with no credit or link back to me. They took down the offending images, but since then they've practically stolen my entire website and mirrored it on FunnyJunk:

Most of the comics they've stolen look like this -- no credit or link back to me. Even with proper attribution, no one clicks through and FunnyJunk still earns a huge pile of cash from all the ad revenue.
Should I send them a cease and desist? One of my readers wrote in and mentioned that Cyanide and Happiness did that very thing, but from what I can tell it hasn't had much effect. There's still hundreds of C&H comics hosted on FunnyJunk.com, as well as thousands from other artists:

Here's their only attempt at original humor:

And it's not just FunnyJunk.com, there's a small army of sites out there like this whose business model runs this way. Another one is DamnLOL.com, who managed to rack up 670,000 likes on Facebook by hosting stolen content and covering their website with "like this on Facebook" buttons. It seems like this "Host-stolen-content-until-someone-complains-meanwhile-earning-ad-revenue" business model is booming right now. It's basically the new Ebaumsworld.

I realize that trying to police copyright infringement on the internet is like strolling into the Vietnamese jungle circa 1964 and politely asking everyone to use squirt guns. I know that if FunnyJunk disappeared fifty other clones would pop up to take its place overnight, but I felt I had to say something about what they're doing.
Perhaps you should too *update* read below.
*Update*

The admin of FunnyJunk has responded, details here.

Fishooked · 06-12-2012, 06:50 AM

An update from their moronic site admin:

An update on the FunnyJunk situation

A few days ago I posted about FunnyJunk.com stealing my comics and asked my readers for advice. The owner of the site responded in two ways:

1. He sent this mass message to every member of his site:

As you can imagine, my inbox and Facebook page were slammed with thousands of messages from FunnyJunk users who believed that I was trying to get their community shut down. I think they set the land speed record for the highest number of "OMG ur a gayfagness!!!11" Facebook comments in a single day.
I politely responded with this letter.
2. He removed all the stolen material.
This includes all the content from David Thorne, Perry Bible Fellowship, Hyperbole and a Half, and so on. Unfortunately, he only deleted posts which have "The Oatmeal" in the title. This means that all the content which was properly attributed got wiped out and all the comics that have no mention of me are still there, which is basically my entire website.
To the admin of FunnyJunk: I put together a list of all my comics which you can download here and use to remove the remainder of the stolen material.

To the users of FunnyJunk: I never had plans to sue FunnyJunk and get it shut down; I just wanted my stolen comics removed -- your admin is a moron who chooses his words about as carefully as a mule chooses where to take a ****.
Hugs and kisses,

-The Oatmeal

Fishooked · 06-12-2012, 06:57 AM

Now, the ahole over at fj.com is planning to sue TheOatmeal for 'damages' - here is his response:

http://theoatmeal.com/blog/funnyjunk_letter

FunnyJunk is threatening to file a federal lawsuit against me unless I pay $20,000 in damages

Remember FunnyJunk? Almost exactly a year ago I published a blog post about my comics being stolen, re-hosted, and monetized on FunnyJunk's website. The owner of the site responded and some of the comics were taken down, He still had a ton of my comics hosted without credit, but the energy it would take to get him to take them down wasn't worth it. I thought the issue was done and over with so I let him be.

A few days ago I was served papers informing me that the owner of FunnyJunk is going to file a federal lawsuit against me unless I pay him $20,000 in damages. You can read the full letter here.

The owner of FunnyJunk hired Charles Carreon, a lawyer who became famous in the 90s after successfully litigating sex.com.
Charles does a bit of modeling too, apparently.

I don't want to get tied up in courtroom nonsense. I don't want to pay more money to my lawyer. Don't you miss the days when I posted 2 comics a week, instead of writing rebuttals to Forbes and dealing with bull**** like this?

So do I.

I've annotated the letter below as well as outlined how I'm going to deal with this.

Fishooked · 06-12-2012, 06:58 AM

(cont'd)

Here is the donate link;

He only wanted to raise 20,000 - so far he's raised over $93,000

Owen Reed · 06-12-2012, 07:17 AM

Cool story, Bro.

Fishooked · 06-12-2012, 07:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Owen Reed

Cool story, Bro.

The provide your own content for once, smart-ass.

RaoulDuke · 06-12-2012, 07:47 AM

Dude, you really expect us to read all that?

Bullet points and ye shall receive teh outrage.

SAR I · 06-12-2012, 08:41 AM

I've never heard of either of these two sites, but now that I have I'm going to visit only TehOatmeal.com because the FunnyJunk.com guys are not nice.

SAR I

jetswin · 06-12-2012, 08:49 AM

funny oatmeal?

ComfortablyNumb · 06-12-2012, 09:28 AM

Inman is a genius. That is all.

crasherino · 06-12-2012, 09:49 AM

Is Fishhooked teh Oatmeal? I would have pegged you more of teh Bran Flake knowing what I know about your constitution.

This just confirms what I already knew: I interwebz has flew right past me.

Peebag · 06-12-2012, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Owen Reed

Cool story, Bro.

yo mods - you know this is Vick right?

Bonhomme Richard · 06-12-2012, 09:55 AM

Who shot who in the what now?

quantum · 06-12-2012, 10:05 AM

"We're not responsible for what our users upload."?!

Megaupload says hi, dumasses!

dmitexxi · 06-12-2012, 10:08 AM

Cliff-notes version please

JStokes · 06-12-2012, 10:25 AM

Hook- can you post this in a more convenient way for me to read it?

Thanks.

_

crossfire · 06-12-2012, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JStokes

Hook- can you post this in a more convenient way for me to read it?

Thanks.

_

You want him to put your monitor on the floor?

RaoulDuke · 06-12-2012, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crossfire

You want him to put your monitor on the floor?

LMAO

frostlich · 06-12-2012, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crossfire

You want him to put your monitor on the floor?

I lol'd.

dmitexxi · 06-12-2012, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crossfire

You want him to put your monitor on the floor?

Holy $hit you guys are so wrong but so funny

06-12-2012, 06:49 AM	#1
Fishooked dealin' out shithands Hall Of Fame Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: teh interwebz Posts: 24,661	TheOatmeal.com vs the douchebags at funnyjunk.com As a PSA announcement, I hope no one spends any considerable time over with the morons over at funnyjunk.com. Read this first - link to funnyjunk.com repackaging theOatmeal's comics as their own by rebranding them - Original blog post: http://theoatmeal.com/blog/funnyjunk What should I do about FunnyJunk.com? Here's how FunnyJunk.com's business operates: Gather funny pictures from around the internet Host them on FunnyJunk.com Slather them in advertising If someone claims copyright infringement, throw your hands up in the air and exclaim "It was our users who uploaded your photos! We had nothing to do with it! We're innocent!" Cash six figure advertising checks from other artist's stolen material I first contacted them about a year ago after I found a handful of my comics uploaded on their site with no credit or link back to me. They took down the offending images, but since then they've practically stolen my entire website and mirrored it on FunnyJunk: Most of the comics they've stolen look like this -- no credit or link back to me. Even with proper attribution, no one clicks through and FunnyJunk still earns a huge pile of cash from all the ad revenue. Should I send them a cease and desist? One of my readers wrote in and mentioned that Cyanide and Happiness did that very thing, but from what I can tell it hasn't had much effect. There's still hundreds of C&H comics hosted on FunnyJunk.com, as well as thousands from other artists: The Oatmeal (926 stolen images found) Cyanide & Happiness (1000+ stolen images found) David Thorne (27blash6) (554 stolen images found) Calvin and Hobbes (1000+ stolen images found) XKCD (1000+ stolen images found) The Far Side (474 stolen images found) Amazing Superpowers (12 stolen images found) Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (78 stolen images found) Dinosaur Comics (42 stolen images found) Dilbert (64 stolen images found) Married to the Sea (24 stolen images found) Natalie Dee (58 stolen images found) Toothpaste for Dinner (17 stolen images found) FoxTrot (197 stolen images found) Hyperbole and a half (186 stolen images found) Perry Bible Fellowship (106 stolen images found) Here's their only attempt at original humor: And it's not just FunnyJunk.com, there's a small army of sites out there like this whose business model runs this way. Another one is DamnLOL.com, who managed to rack up 670,000 likes on Facebook by hosting stolen content and covering their website with "like this on Facebook" buttons. It seems like this "Host-stolen-content-until-someone-complains-meanwhile-earning-ad-revenue" business model is booming right now. It's basically the new Ebaumsworld. I realize that trying to police copyright infringement on the internet is like strolling into the Vietnamese jungle circa 1964 and politely asking everyone to use squirt guns. I know that if FunnyJunk disappeared fifty other clones would pop up to take its place overnight, but I felt I had to say something about what they're doing. Perhaps you should too update read below. *Update* The admin of FunnyJunk has responded, details here.

06-12-2012, 08:41 AM	#8
SAR I is excitedly looking forward to December22, the last home game, The Rexecution Jets Insider VIP Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 38,644	I've never heard of either of these two sites, but now that I have I'm going to visit only TehOatmeal.com because the FunnyJunk.com guys are not nice. SAR I Last edited by SAR I; 06-12-2012 at 08:43 AM.

06-12-2012, 10:08 AM	#15
dmitexxi RIP JF XXI Forever! Veteran Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Long Island Posts: 2,025	Cliff-notes version please Last edited by dmitexxi; 06-12-2012 at 10:12 AM.

06-12-2012, 06:50 AM	#2
Fishooked dealin' out shithands Hall Of Fame Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: teh interwebz Posts: 24,661	An update from their moronic site admin: An update on the FunnyJunk situation A few days ago I posted about FunnyJunk.com stealing my comics and asked my readers for advice. The owner of the site responded in two ways: 1. He sent this mass message to every member of his site: As you can imagine, my inbox and Facebook page were slammed with thousands of messages from FunnyJunk users who believed that I was trying to get their community shut down. I think they set the land speed record for the highest number of "OMG ur a gayfagness!!!11" Facebook comments in a single day. I politely responded with this letter. 2. He removed all the stolen material. This includes all the content from David Thorne, Perry Bible Fellowship, Hyperbole and a Half, and so on. Unfortunately, he only deleted posts which have "The Oatmeal" in the title. This means that all the content which was properly attributed got wiped out and all the comics that have no mention of me are still there, which is basically my entire website. To the admin of FunnyJunk: I put together a list of all my comics which you can download here and use to remove the remainder of the stolen material. To the users of FunnyJunk: I never had plans to sue FunnyJunk and get it shut down; I just wanted my stolen comics removed -- your admin is a moron who chooses his words about as carefully as a mule chooses where to take a ****. Hugs and kisses, -The Oatmeal

06-12-2012, 06:58 AM	#4
Fishooked dealin' out shithands Hall Of Fame Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: teh interwebz Posts: 24,661	(cont'd) Here is the donate link; He only wanted to raise 20,000 - so far he's raised over $93,000

06-12-2012, 07:17 AM	#5
Owen Reed Banned Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 671	Cool story, Bro.

06-12-2012, 07:47 AM	#7
RaoulDuke Son of Ham Hall Of Fame Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Paris, France Posts: 11,869	Dude, you really expect us to read all that? Bullet points and ye shall receive teh outrage.

06-12-2012, 08:49 AM	#9
jetswin stumblin mumblin butt fumblin Board Moderator Jets Insider VIP JetsInsider.com Legend Charter JI Member Join Date: May 1999 Location: Westchester Co. Posts: 35,458	funny oatmeal?

06-12-2012, 09:28 AM	#10
ComfortablyNumb Practice Squad Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 493	Inman is a genius. That is all.

06-12-2012, 09:49 AM	#11
crasherino Board Moderator Jets Insider VIP Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: NYC Posts: 16,803	Is Fishhooked teh Oatmeal? I would have pegged you more of teh Bran Flake knowing what I know about your constitution. This just confirms what I already knew: I interwebz has flew right past me.

06-12-2012, 09:55 AM	#13
Bonhomme Richard Board Moderator Jets Insider VIP Charter JI Member Join Date: May 1999 Posts: 4,082	Who shot who in the what now?

06-12-2012, 10:05 AM	#14
quantum GFY Snatchez! Hall Of Fame Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: LI Posts: 17,877	"We're not responsible for what our users upload."?! Megaupload says hi, dumasses!

06-12-2012, 10:25 AM	#16
JStokes Hall Of Fame Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Bergen County, NJ Posts: 20,126	Hook- can you post this in a more convenient way for me to read it? Thanks. _