Alex Norris, creator of the Webcomic Name, battles boardgame company that claims to own it. Oh no!

Originally published at: Alex Norris, creator of the Webcomic Name, battles boardgame company that claims to own it. Oh no! | Boing Boing

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Fucking Capitalism, :slightly_frowning_face:

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Golden Bell is banned from posting on BoardGameGeek, and banned from ever running another Kickstarter because of their terribleness in the past.

Litigious, rude, scummy.

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In trying to rob this creator of his own intellectual property, the greedpigs at Golden Bell have poisoned their own brand. This is Musk-level management.

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Please give Musk some credit. He doesn’t poison his brands, he sets them on fire. (The difference being that fire spreads, as Eli Lilly is finding now.)

My heart breaks for Norris in this. Webcomic Name is such a sweet and simple thing that has made so many people happy. I remember seeing where it inspired someone’s kid to make their own version and it was touching. How miserable they have to fight not to have it stolen now.

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My God, the language in the collaboration agreement is just pure evil.

Before you say that this is obvious, this kind of thing is only obvious to experienced eyes (I have family that are lawyers, so I’ve been brought up to catch some language, and I’ve seen people around me get conned), and people who a great at feigning down-to-earth honesty and sincerity are extremely skilled at diverting your attention at signing (oh, that’s just boilerplate, my lawyer won’t let me leave that out, you know, that doesn’t mean what it sounds like. The legal language has to say that, but we’d never do THAT to you, of course).

Those who don’t have a creative bone in their body sure are creative in the ways they steal.

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Some of their portfolio license claims seem pretty dubious.


A smattering of pre-existing franchises now licensed by Golden Bell. Source: Golden Bell Studios

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Since early 2020 I have also been engaged in a protracted legal dispute with Golden Bell over their fraudulent registration of my “Wizard Pickles” Trademark.

Even though I had previously registered my copyright in the work, there is no clear end in sight and I have been called a bully and subjected to continual threats of being sued. A few weeks ago I had to endure being deposed for 9 hours by Mr. Goldner, who is acting as his own attorney in the case.

You can read about my case by searching the USPTO TESS database for “Wizard Pickles”, and reading under “Proceedings Documents”.

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Wow! Your work is gorgeous! I hope that you are able to overcome these jerks - I assume that buying Wizard Pickles right now does not benefit you, so I hope to be able to get it someday after you win. In the meantime I am definitely going to pick something else up!

And welcome to the BBS!

ETA: For anyone that is reading this and is interested in @Chuck_Whelon 's work he has clarified that all of the copies of Wizard Pickles you can actually buy are his and he will get the proceeds. Buying a copy right now!

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(post deleted by author)

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Think “numbers station”, but in the boingboing comments…

@Chuck_Whelon I updated my post in the other thread to clarify the points you made above

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BTW you can continue talking about any closed article topic at the topic called “Follow-up”

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Direct messages also work great

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Thanks @anon52120741 - much appreciated! :pray::metal:

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