Dear Ms. Fryrear,


We are saddened to be forced to respond to such a baseless complaint from an organization representing a man who is revered in the YTMND community. Here at YTMND, we--myself included--grew up reading the Far Side, as did many of our nearly quarter million users. Those who didn't, have come to appreciate the Far Side through YTMND, and might otherwise never been exposed to its humor.

You are no doubt well-versed in the content of Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107, and the four “fair use factors” enumerated within its hallowed pages. You are also likely familiar with the United States of America’s long held belief that using creative work as a means to create parody is a valid and legitimate use of that work. Fair use law exists so as not to “stifle the very creativity which [copyright] law is designed to foster.” Campbell, 510 U.S. at 577. We make reference to this now in the hopes that you will cease your efforts to quash the creativity of the YTMND community.

After examining the works in question, it is clear that the majority of the pages you cited were lawful and affectionate parody or commentary. As Mr. Larson states in his letter, “[t]o attempt to be "funny" is a very scary, risk-laden proposition,” and is one that YTMND users clearly struggle with on a daily basis. So although many of the YTMNDs that you have listed are not particularly droll, they do conform to the Section 107 of the Copyright Act's requirement that they accomplish a transformative purpose by adding "something new, with a further purpose or different character, altering the first with new expression, meaning, or message" to Mr. Larson's work. Campbell, 510 U.S. at 579.

All of these pages separate any commercial advertising from Mr. Larson's works and cite authorship of the comics as being written by Gary Larson; this is clearly how you found these pages in order to make your complaints. One is even used as a side-by-side comparison to show how Mr. Larson's work was possibly plagiarized by another author.

In Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., the United States Supreme Court declared that the 2 Live Crew song "Pretty Woman" "provide[s] social benefit, by shedding light on an earlier work, and, in the process, creat[es] a new one." Although one may not like these YTMNDs or find them particularly funny, this does not detract from their rights to make fair use of Mr. Larson's creative work --their additions to said work have an obvious claim to transformative value, and the site creators have, in line with fair use law, created a new work. These sites do not supplant Mr. Larson's work, and it is unreasonable to suggest that they do. If anything, they only serve to increase the popularity of the Far Side series within a youthful community that already admires Mr. Larson and his work as well as exposing it to a generation that might not previously been exposed to it.

The template letter you sent us (over ten times), included an attached letter from Mr. Larson explaining how having his cartoons on the internet affects him. Larson's letter was unmistakably written with a very different sort of use of his work in mind, and it is apparent that he has not reviewed the sites in question. We at YTMND are familiar with the reappropriations of our works and the difficulties that it can cause, but we also find it hard--impossible even--that Mr. Larson could view a site such as http://gmodfarside.ytmnd.com and not be flattered. Works such as these show incredible creativity and significant effort on the part of YTMND users, and perhaps more importantly, show what can only be described as an affectionate admiration for Mr. Larson's works.

In his letter, Larson describes his feelings in regards to his cartoons as those that a parent might feel for his children. Lukewarm metaphors notwithstanding, we acknowledge his feelings, but challenge him to examine his parenting style. We at YTMND are well familiar with the products of authoritarian parenting, those victimized offspring consigned to drift into a sea of either obscurity or wanton promiscuousness. We would ask that Mr. Larson consider, perhaps, a parenting style that does not leave his "children" locked in their rooms, destined for obscurity for all eternity, but rather, allows them to go out at night with chaperones that so clearly love them, especially now that his "children" are decades old. We see YTMND users not as kidnappers, but as Child Protective Services.

As an aside, I'd like to point out that a whole new generation of people who are hungry for easily accessible entertainment are trying to experience Larson's cartoons. Sending out blanket legal threats and attempting to control every scrap of his work may doom his work to the dustbin of history. The Far Side has not been published in newspapers for over a decade now, and a continued (and forced) lack of presence on the "social" internet will make it hard for Larson to gain new readers or fans.

In closing, we believe that pursuant to the Copyright Act of October 1976 (Public Law 94-553, 90 Stat. 2541, amending title 17 of the United States Code), effective January 1, 1978, we are within our legal rights to leave the YTMNDs in question unmolested. As I hope I have made clear in this letter, we at YTMND are nothing but fans of Mr. Larson and his work. If he would like to pursue this matter further, we would be more than happy to talk to him (as opposed to the Permissions Department of Creators Syndicate) directly.

Thank you,
-Max Goldberg & the YTMND Legal Counsel.