oh no

November 9, 2022 4:39 PM

Help Alex Norris, creator of webcomic.name, pay their legal expenses. More information on the lawsuit can be found at this post on /r/comics.
posted by snortasprocket (14 comments total)

Mod note: Pronouns have been corrected!
posted by travelingthyme (staff) at 5:06 PM on November 9, 2022 [10 favorites]

Golden Bell is real trash, they are top contenders in the BGG "Controversial and Fraudulent Kickstarter" list. I donated and hope they lose big in this.
posted by Sand at 5:19 PM on November 9, 2022 [6 favorites]

oh no!
posted by clockwork at 5:24 PM on November 9, 2022 [16 favorites]

I donated earlier today. It's just an impossible amount of legal fees- all to retain control of their own work.
posted by oneirodynia at 5:48 PM on November 9, 2022 [3 favorites]

Golden Bell: “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy”
posted by Windopaene at 7:26 PM on November 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

Gross. Donated a bit, always enjoyed their work and hope they get through this OK!
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:50 PM on November 9, 2022

This article is pretty thorough in explaining exactly what Golden Bell have been up to.

This kind of thing should be required reading for anyone making creative work of any kind. It's like a master class in how to scam people out of their IP.
posted by Zumbador at 1:29 AM on November 10, 2022 [2 favorites]

Mod note: Quick note on this: Yes, fundraising posts are against site guidelines (to avoid being flooded with all sorts of requests, and we don't want to be in the position of judging whose needs are okay to promote and whose are not), and this would be better if not framed / linked as a solicitation, but the actual background of what's happening is a valid news story and people have contributed more info on that, so letting this be for now. Thank you!
posted by taz (staff) at 1:52 AM on November 10, 2022 [17 favorites]

oh no

Taz, thanks for the gentle reminder… I posted this in a hurry and didn’t even think too much about the framing.
posted by snortasprocket at 4:49 AM on November 10, 2022 [3 favorites]

This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of a kickstarter-style project actually being an IP rights grab. Is this a common thing?
posted by The River Ivel at 8:06 AM on November 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

Thanks for the additional link, Zumbador. The legal paperwork about Peter Chiykowski's case linked from there is interesting: "defendant Goldner wrote that Defendants own the rights to all of Plaintiff’s future works". They sound out of their depth (the bit about Chiykowski being surprised how little they knew about printing and publishing) and very unpleasant people.
posted by paduasoy at 8:33 AM on November 10, 2022 [2 favorites]

Cole and Marmalade back online after cat lawsuit is settled
Tampa’s most famous internet cats reappear when the world needed it most, owners say.

During the lawsuit, Poole and Josephs raised $184,016 via Gofundme for the Chris Poole Legal Defense Fund. Josephs said those funds went directly into a retainer for their lawyer, and that nearly all of it had been depleted fighting the original lawsuit and another copyright suit filed in federal court.

posted by amtho at 8:55 AM on November 10, 2022 [2 favorites]

→ The board game company just filed on October 6 a counterclaim

I'm not a lawyer and I have no idea what I'm saying, but given that Golden Bell never paid Norris the advance stipulated in the contract and appeared to request then refuse to respond to a settlement that both sides agreed on, won't the new claim be seen as a (probably not the right legal term, but) "lol, no"?

The tremendously sad thing about this case is that It's clear that Golden Bell have no monetary assets, or none that can be retrieved through legal action. At best, Norris will get their IP back, and then have to fight (= more $$$) to get the dodgy trademarks overturned.

I donated, because aren't we all disappointed blobs?
posted by scruss at 9:14 AM on November 10, 2022 [2 favorites]

I see a copyright troll. Oh no
posted by nat at 10:25 AM on November 10, 2022 [1 favorite]