(Apologies if this isn’t the right place to post this—happy to remove if needed.)
With the recent DMCA takedowns and copyright claims reportedly hitting the Calvin and Hobbes subreddit on Reddit—mainly from GoComics/Andrews McMeel—I’m wondering how calvinandhobbes@lemmy.world handles these kinds of concerns?
Reddit’s C&H sub had to purge years of shared comic panels and memes due to GoComics enforcing their rights under the DMCA. Given that Lemmy is a federated, open-source alternative with different infrastructure and visibility, I’m curious:
Does this community have a stance or policy on posting actual strips or screenshots of Calvin and Hobbes? Has anyone here run into similar DMCA threats or copyright takedowns?
Would love to hear how the mods or longtime members view this—especially as Lemmy communities grow and draw more attention.
I say screw corporations. Precisely that was what Bill Watterson gently protested against.
So in his spirit, I think we should let them have it on their bum - we do what we want. When a law is unreasonable, it is time to decide for ourselves.
Let the comics stay here and don’t attract too much attention, but when they try to take it down here too, make a loud, big fat stink about it to sympathetic people (while readying another place).
It will also make our image stronger, as everyone likes Calvin and Hobbes, and getting those taken down by that guy will result in him getting a big side eye.
Bill Watterson has clearly expressed dislike for corporations and profit seeking, but there’s also no question that he’s in favor of very strong copyright protection. It’s how he enforced his vision of preventing unauthorized use of the Calvin and Hobbes characters.
I think that between corporations abusing copyright protection and us using it, he’d favour the latter, as there’s no profit motive and we still credit him.
I totally agree with you, although I personally would consider potentially looking into various avenues, and try to potentially ready myself beforehand, so that I’m not scrambling / caught off-guard when they inevitably do come.