Litigation Cosby Threatens Waxy, You See!

I suppose it was inevitable, but I got a cease-and-desist from Bill Cosby’s legal team for hosting the House of Cosbys videos and the out-of-print “Cosby Talks to Kids about Drugs” album. (View the cease-and-desist PDF.)

I’ve removed the album (even though it’s been out-of-print for as long as I’ve been alive), as that’s within their legal rights.

But I’m not removing House of Cosbys. House of Cosbys is parody, and clearly falls under fair use guidelines. I’m not taking it down, and their legal bullying isn’t going to work. They claim that hosting these videos “violates our client’s rights of publicity as well as other statutory and common laws prohibiting the misappropriation of an individual’s name, voice and likeness and unfair competition.” Sorry, but the First Amendment protects satire and parody of a public figure as free speech. Also, the right of publicity only applies to unauthorized commercial use, and not a work of art or entertainment.

More than anything, this strikes me as a special kind of discrimination against amateur creators on the Internet. Mad Magazine, Saturday Night Live, South Park, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and countless other mainstream media sources have parodied Bill Cosby over the years (see growing list below).

But because it takes so little effort to threaten a small web-based artist (or the blogger who hosts their work), the Net is constantly targeted regardless of just cause. Justin Roiland, creator of House of Cosbys, was forced to remove the videos because he couldn’t risk the possibility of an actual lawsuit. And when Channel 101 decided to take a stand, Cosby’s lawyers targeted their ISP instead, forcing the videos offline. (Read Channel 101’s excellent response.)

But I know my legal standing, and I’m not backing down unless ordered by the court. This is free speech and creative freedom, and even though it’s just one guy’s goofy labor of love, that’s worth fighting for, dammit.

Cosby Parody in the Media

This is hardly the first time Cosby’s been parodied in the mainstream media. If you have other mainstream examples, please post them or email them to me! Scans, recordings, and video clips are highly encouraged.

* Video: Cosby on Family Guy (July 18, 2001)

* Video: Cosby on The Simpsons (WMV, May 13, 2001)

* Video: Cosby on the Simpsons (Quicktime, April 30, 1995)

* Video: Saturday Night Live’s “Celebrity Jeopardy” (May 14, 2005) – Bill Cosby has been parodied on at least nine episodes of SNL by three different cast members: Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, and Kenan Thompson. Any other clips?

* Video: The Boondocks (Episode 11, “Let’s Nab Oprah”)

* Comics: Mad Magazine appearances – Wow, Michael Hunziker compiled a collection of 12 Cosby appearances in Mad from 1967-1998!

* Video: South Park, Episode 210 (“Clubhouses”)

* Video: South Park, Episode 512 (“Here Comes the Neighborhood”)

House of Cosbys: Mirrors Clones!

Watch the original House of Cosbys at any of the sites below. We really need more mirrors, so let me know if you’ve mirrored it!

* Google Video

* YouTube

* Download.com

* CommonFlix (BitTorrent, formatted for iPod)

* EOD.com (thanks, Greg!)

* Watching Paint Dry (thanks, Alek!)

* Stroeck.com (thanks, Michael!)

* Nonstuff.com (thanks, Robert!)

* I’m Just Sayin’ (thanks, Krup!)

* 1hug.com (thanks, David!)

* Panoptican (thanks, Jason!)

* R3V.com (thanks, cls!)

* I Eat Tapes (thanks, David!)

* Kaninka.net (thanks, Pรกll!)

* Waxy.org

Updates

Stay tuned. I’m calling the EFF and House of Cosbys creator Justin Roiland today.

Update: I was just interviewed by the New York Times for an article set to appear in their Monday business section. Journalist Lia Miller also interviewed Channel 101’s Dan Harmon for the article, but was unable to get a comment from Bill Cosby.

I also spoke to Jason Schultz, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He contacted me directly, providing some great feedback and offering the EFF’s support to help fight this. Their network of legal counsel is extensive and well-versed in cases like these, and the EFF’s powerful activist community will help raise awareness should this go to trial.

No word yet from Justin Roiland, but waiting patiently. Justin, if you’re out there, call or e-mail me! I got in touch with Justin through Myspace. He’s giving me a call on Monday to discuss.

March 5: The New York Times article is out. Nice!

March 7: I spoke to Justin yesterday afternoon. I was relieved to hear he’s not opposed to what I’m doing, though (rightfully so) he’s hesitant to get involved in a lawsuit himself. He’s going to speak to an attorney and get back to me.

Also, no word yet from the Cosby legal team.

Comments

    Y’see, Theo, I’m Litigation Cosby! And I like to send cease-and-desist letters! Y’see! Because I’ve got a lawyer on retainer, y’see, who either doesn’t understand satire or has nothing better to do! Ruuudy!

    HAHAHAHAHA! That first comment AND this post have collectively made my day! I’ve never been more proud to be a Waxy reader! Rock on Ruuuuuuddddeeeeeeeeeyyyy!!!

    Dear Sirs and/or Madams, (including all transgenderers and other deviants),

    I am very nearly counsel to International House of Pancakes (www.ihop.com), or at least I eat there a lot. As you know, IHOP is internationally-reknowned in the United States for its wide range of internationally celebrated pancakes globally. We recently became aware (while surfing for porn) that you offer something called “House of Cosbys” through your website.

    As a very important cousel with a big lawyer-type firm representing the world-reknowned International House of Pancakes (www.ihop.com), I must insist that you cease-and-desist in your persistent use of the terms “House of….”. As you and everybody else in the world knows, IHOP is the only ones what is in the “house of” business and as far as Guido our receptionist knows, no-one ever called to ask us if they could call something else a “house of” anything. Bceause if they did, we’d know about it ’cause we’d say no.

    We are authorized to send you lots and lots of these types of letters on special letter head and using lots of legal references and generally make you feel small and unimportant, so you better cut it out, bub. Why don’t you call yourselves McCosby, see how far you get, huh?

    This letter does not pruport to be anything but a large selection of words loosely strung together for the intention of making you scared, very scared.

    Very truly yours

    Helum Fitznicentite, LAWYER TYPE PERSON

    Kenan Thompson practically built his entire career on Cosby impressions. Going by the “If profit, then right” set of mind he might want to set up and help defend all other Cosby impressions or he’ll eventually get sued in to the ground in some bizarre future.

    That’s it. I’m boycotting pudding pops. You should counter-sue him for all his Cosby sweaters. Yeah…

    I was sad to see Justin get pushed around the way he did. HoC on Channel101 kept me coming back every month and nothing since has been able to replace it in my book.

    I hope you win.

    Mad TV’s Aries Spears used to always do Cosby impersonations. I seem to remember one episode in particular in which he plays Cosby in a scream type movie, killing people while instilling the virtues of the Jell-o pudding pop.

    I could not find any video clips but I will keep looking to try and find one.

    The Boondocks also did a long series of Cosby spoofs about two years ago.

    First off, thanks for fighting the C&D, it’s always nice when someone in the right makes the effort to defend themselves. If you have a Grey Tuesday-like event, I’ll mirror on my server.

    I wanted to remind you of http://chillingeffects.org/ and suggest you pass your C&D on to them so that they can archive it and add it to their data points.

    Oh, and Episode 12 of the Boondocks parodies Bill Cosby, by name I think.

    You do have to laugh that they thought they could get away with it. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Us bloggers have no clue ya know.

    Haven’t these lawyers ever seen The People vs. Larry Flynt? Because it doesn’t end well for the lawyers. Keep up the fight, Andy.

    Ditto on the dropcash campaign, if litigation comes to that. I’m not sure it will, given that the lawyers really have exactly NO case on this.

    I wonder how the big C himself feels about this? Has he even seen the House of Cosby episodes? How can one not laugh at Curiosity Cosby, ya see?

    The Boondocks recently depicted Cosby as an incomprehesible, possibly senile old man who was not worth the aggrivation of his company to take hostage.

    See S01E12: “Lets Nab Oprah”

    woohoo! house of cosbys is brilliant and I’m glad you can stand up to these threats. Finally, someone who can and will use his freedom of speech.

    Since when can they order you to destroy a legitimate copy of the album (electronic, digital or other format) that you own? Assuming that you own the original LP, you do not have to destroy that. Plus copyright allows you to make a copy of that for your own use. Thus, it is not a copyright violation for you to take your LP and make a cassette recording of it for use in your car.

    Also, when a stand-up comedian does an impression, how does that differ from an animated parody? Bill’s been known to do a few impressions of celebrities himself.

    I found out about your site via the The Daily Ping. Nice to know that there are people ready to put up the good fight. Nice going and keep it up!!

    An additional thought: seems like Bill’s sort of become “The Man” himself, doesn’t it?

    What a prick.

    Wow, that’s really reaching as far as cease and desist letters go. “Misappropriation of an individual’s name, voice and likeness and unfair competition”??

    You’d think that would be enough to cancel SNL once and for all. If they wouldn’t be able to use someone’s name, voice, or likeness without their express written consent, there’s not much of a show left.

    The Grey Tuesday-like version of this would be to get everyone to change their web site to be the color of moldy pudding. Maybe that’s still gray, actually.

    Be sure to post and email if you want or need money for a legal defense fund Andy, I’ll be happy to contribute! This is fair use, fair and square. We need to show that nobody is a little guy on the internet and of all people they go after one of the most well known bloggers on the planet. Nice move.

    This will backfire horribly I’m sure.

    -Alan

    In 1997, I backed down from Walter Cronkite when he threatened me over my website “Walter Cronkite Spit In My Food,” which was also obvious parody. I wish I hadn’t… regretted it ever since. I’m thrilled to see you fight the good fight.

    Andy, this could get expensive. I don’t mean to speak for all the fans of Waxy.org, but I’d be happy to throw a couple bucks into the pot if it means beating the lawyers ๐Ÿ™‚ Good luck!

    If I can help in any way, please let me know. Thanks for standing up for amateur content creators everywhere.

    This is eriously fucked up that Channel 101 would even take the show down. Just because someone threatens a lawsuit doesn’t mean that they are right, or that even threatening the lawsuit itself isn’t illegal. I could threaten to sue this site because I can’t stick it in my ass but that wouldn’t make me right.

    For clarification: channel101.com stood its ground for several months after receiving the ceast&desist. When Cosby’s lawyers realized that channel101 was not going to fold to their bullying, they send a legal threat to channel101’s ISP who told channel101 to remove the videos or find a new ISP. Their strategy seems to be to keep sending legally baseless threats until someone finally folds. You can read the details

    here.

    I wasn’t aware of the ISP thing, but that really doesn’t change my opinion. Channel 101 is an incredibly popular site. I think forcing the hand of the ISP would have been the proper action. Everyone would notice, and it would be blood on the hands of the ISP for taking the site down over a parody issue. Supreme Court, ownage of Cosby and ISP, etc. Instead they gave validity to a groudless C&D.

    I should mention that we received a cease and desist ourselves, threatening a trademark violation because of a username on one of our forums. This ended up on digg actually. To this day I haven’t done anything, and I never responded to the email. We aren’t a huge business either, but we knew that it was baseless bullying and stood our ground.

    Burton: Did you notice that Channel 101 is actually still hosting the videos? They did the right thing by backing off until things cooled down, then quietly subverted the cease-and-desist order. They’re definitely not to blame. Channel 101 kicks ass.

    Good for you! I can’t believe these guys don’t have anything better to do. What a waste of resources.

    don’t forget that Eddie Murphy made brilliant fun of Bill Cosby in his “Raw” monologue.

    I was wondering where the hell all that video went to on Channel 101…That show is great!

    You shouldn’t be trying to claim “free speech”; although it’s true that the First Amendment does protect free speech, that’s not the issue here. The government isn’t telling you “you can’t say this because it’s Not Allowed”, which would be a First Amendment problem.

    Instead, the copyright holders (not the government) are telling you “you can’t use this intellectual property because we are the owners of it”. You should be trying to claim “fair use”, and/or the parody exemption to copyright. Copyright law protects fair use and parodies, and that’s much more relevant to your situation than the fact that the First Amendment protects free speech.

    I’m pretty sure that’s what your lawyer will tell you; I am not a lawyer.

    Wow. It’s suprising that they didn’t include the “highly offensive” Listen Up Theo music video in the C&D. Or the Recording Session for that matter.

    “Married… With Children” was started as an UnCosby Show, and is more obviously a parody in its early seasons.

    The neighbor “Marcy D’arcy” was named after Cosby producer Marcy Carsey.

    Here is the aforementioned The Boondocks episode 12, “Lets Nab Oprah” scene where two characters kidnap Bill Cosby. He is identified as Bill Cosby, and as annoying. It looks like him, and he says things the real Cosby wouldn’t. Just like HOC.

    Save House of Cosbys!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk7xpN-fPFo

    Way to go man, stand your ground- but I highly recommend you consult an attorney. Even if it’s just long enough to get a legal opinion and craft a response. Shouldn’t cost too much, and if you setup a paypal donate button I’ll gladly contribute.

    As rediculous as it sounds, they might be able to make a convincing argument. Their rationale could be that the name of the show itself contains Cosby, and the theme of the *entire show* is based on his behavior, mannerisms, etc. That, plus the nature of the content could convince a judge to take action and award damages. Could wind up a lot more expensive than a quick consultation.

    This is quite ridiculous – eliminate parody and what’s next, satire? If public figures sued every time they were the subject of parody or satire most humour would cease to exist – along with a big chunk of our freedom of speech and expression. You would think a comedian especially would understand this.

    The fact he is threatening you but not large broadcasters who have screened parodies of him to millions gives the indication that he doesn’t dare to tangle with large corporations because they have big, high-priced lawyers just as he has – easier to put pressure on someone ‘smaller’. To me this means he not only has no sense of humour but is also a bully. Best of luck with this.

    Standing up for goofy web animation is something I can get behind. How about a paypal account for donations for your legal fees should the lawsuit go through?

    This is amazing, a truely great comedian like Cosby turns into a bitter old bitty and starts up lawsuits to stop clearly legal comedic expression, it’s so sad, what does he think he is protecting? What purpose does he believe he is serving?

    His attack on Wandy Sikes was also pretty strange, he was pissed because of her slightly “urban” style of speech (despite the fact that she is obviously a very intelligent and talented person)? Like he never used anything similar in his career (Fat Albert anyone?)

    HEY HEY HEY!

    An australian skit-show called ‘Fast Forward’ did brilliant parody of Bill Cosby for years, by a white guy called Steve Vizard. THHHEEEEEEEOOOOOOO!

    Just tell him to have a coke and a smile, and shut the f*ck up!

    The “D-Generation”, an Australian comedy group did a great Crosby’s sketch in the late 80s on their album “The Satanic Sketches”.

    I can’t see much reference to it online, but the album is a hoot!

    Way to go Andy, I just wanted to say you’re doing the right thing by standing frim. I was first introduced to the Kleptones via you after Grey Tuesday, And I’ve been hooked since. I’ll throw up a mirror for the videos and post it after I get off work.

    Episode 2 of the Channel Frederator Podcast also has a parody of Cosby called “Cosbee”. I don’t have time to check who it’s by right now but I’m pretty sure they’re another independent animator. Check it here: http://www.channelfrederator.com/

    Hey lawyer people, after you’re done, sue me. I just parodied Cosby by offering my partner a Jell-O Pudding Pop while impersonating Bill Cosby. YOU WANT A PIECE OF THIS! HA HA HA!!!!!1

    Oh my God ! YOur Cosby parody is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time. I’d never heard of it or you until this evening. Keep it up, dude . Oh, and I’m old enough to say that I was one of those devoted fans of the show who tuned in regularly on Thursday nights when the Cosby show first started. hell, the guy ought to just lighten up. I still like Cosby but I like your cartoon too ! they have no right to try to censor you. Stand tall and strong !

    Yow! Lots of comments… anyway. This is pretty damn funny! First, the episodes are hilarious. I bet Cosby’s kids and grandkids would crack up.

    But the only thing I can see where they might have a “case” is that actual cosby images are used in the animation. The illustrations on the wall for example. That shit is his likeness and is taken from copy protected material.

    Now I’m all for copyright infringement. In fact it’s my favorite hobby, but it comes with consequences.

    That said, keep these files up for as long as possible.

    Love,

    beach

    I’ve had a lot of fun with links and content fron this place, and fully support you in this fight. I’d be really happy to contribute to a fighting fund – get it going and keep on keeping on!

    Thanks for taking a stand on this! Websites like yours, fighting for their rights, make the world a little more free for all of us.

    Too bad Mr. Cosby has become an ass.

    beach, because of how incidental the images are to the core of the work, I don’t think that’s much of an issue. Also, in parody, *much* more leeway is granted. From the 1994 SCOTUS ruling of Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music: “the heart is also what most readily conjures up the [original] for parody, and it is the heart at which parody takes aim.”

    In terms of copyright infringement, my layperson feeling is that those images might even be dismissed on de minimis, since they’re so incidental (I didn’t even notice them the first half dozen times I watched the original episode ๐Ÿ™‚

    In general, fair use is controversial because it’s such a grey area (the criteria sliders, the right vs defense thing), but this is so clear on all of the criteria in terms of copyright, trademark/publicity, that this is clearly just lawyerly bullying. Unfortunately, standard operating procedure for those who can afford to have lawyers on retainer and who have no sense of humor or sufficient value for the ideals upon which this country was founded. (Why does Bill Cosby hate America?)

    Um, which isn’t to say that they might not still bring suit, even though they don’t have a case. I guess that’s now pretty representative of the American way as well.

    Yeah Leonard, you’re probably right. Fair use is a sticky wicket. Bill Cosby is not a person; Bill Cosby is an icon and part of the public domain. He’s “World Famous”. This is even more so because of the recent social statements he has made. Because of this he automatically opens himself up to parody and ridicule. Much in the same way the Coz himself riduculed that poor kid Mushmouth on Fat Albert. Shameless.

    His lawyers do have a certain panache though; kind of sexy…

    You’re sad.

    Firstly, house of cosby’s is lame.

    Secondly, this PR stint to get yourself into the NY Times is lame. Stop trying to start crap just for the sake of starting it.

    It’s hardly what I’d call discrimination, it’s a letter from a lawyer. I didn’t find your response very “effective” either.

    Keenan Thompson used to play Bill Cosby on the saturday-night-live-for-kids show “All that”. I remember among others, they had a parody of Wizard of Oz called Wizard of Cos that was quite funny.

    Cosby was once a very funny man. I used to love his audio tapes of stand-up comedy, and Fat Albert. Now he’s a very sad man. If he ever had a a claim to being a part of the civil rights movement and liberation for blacks (a dubious contention) – he has totally destroyed it with his recent shenanigans.

    Not only is he a sell-out to the corporate world (has been since The Cosby Show) – he also is turning against other blacks, and retarding the freedom and respect the community has earned with his out-of-touch attacks on black youth.

    Has he gone senile?

    I say, fuck em.

    Some real giggles here, and IMO you got a right to say whatever the fuck you want about people in the public view.

    Personally I like Mr Cosby, being a good person, charming, and with good morals and all..

    Still if he doesnt like it, fuck him. He chose to be famous, deal with it.

    Remember me? I was trying to get you to add me to your buddy list awhile ago. Well i was reading the dailyping, which i have been doing for a very long time, and you are mentioned. I was like “no way is that waxpancake, no way” and it was

    AAs long ad you’re hunting down other parodies, on the show “Codename: Kids Next Door” on Cartoon Network, one of the main character’s dad (Dr. Lincoln) is an obvious cosby parody who has appeared many times. Season 2, Episode 3 – S.U.P.P.O.R.T – is a good example of this, as he speaks more than once.

    What an unbelievable story! On my podcast, The Jersey Toddshow I go off on a rant about Bill Cosby, and how from a matter of law, he has no basis for trying to stop you from posting these videos.

    Best wishes in fighting the good fight…

    Todd

    Hopfully your server is hosted by a company with greater respect for fair use. Seems like a reasonable thing to disclose, otherwise this stand doesn’t sound much different than channel101.com’s.

    I wonder if you can get HIM for sending copys of WAXY.org pages around the net?? WAXY is under the Creative Commons Share A Like Non-Commercial. Last I checked, a lawsuit is a commercial interest right? Sue him back.

    What more should one expect from the man who purchased all of the episodes of the “Little Rascals” so he could make sure that they were never played again because he was offended by Buckwheat. Keep up the fight!

    This is nothing but a publicity stunt. Bill Cosby has every right to be upset. House of Cosby isn’t even the slightest bit funny. It should be taken off. Oh, and by the way 9 times out of 10 all those shows that used the Cosby name or character had permission.

    Get you facts right before you scream that this is a violation of your first amendment rights.

    If you think Bill Cosby gave his permission to be ridiculed by the Boondocks and South Park, you’re insane. Parody doesn’t require any sort of permission, and your “9 out of 10” statistic is made up out of thin air.

    But I suppose that’s to be expected from an anonymous troll that didn’t think House of Cosbys was funny.

    At risk of sounding like a sycophant, let me say how proud I am that you’re standing up to them, Andy. I would hope I’d have the cajones to do the same, but I just don’t know.

    In any case, keep up the good fight!

    Standing ovation here for standing up to those litigious fucks. Also, kudos for continuing to mirror the Beatallica mp3 torrents, even when it looked like the shit was going to rain down on us.

    Hope the EFF comes through for you on this one. I talked to Jason Schultz too during our travails– he’s a good egg, and gave me a bunch of free advice.

    D^2

    Webmaster of Puppets, Beatallica

    http://beatallica.org

    Striking ignorance in the NYT by the way. “The creator of… received…” No he did not, dumbass. Can’t journalists EVER get anything right?

    Good for you. It’s nice to see someone stand up to these bullies.

    Over zealous copyright/trademark/patent protection is just about my biggest pet peeve so if you want to start up a legal defense fund I’d be the first to drop in a few bucks.

    Tiny Toon Adventures had a throwaway line about, “having a pudding pop,” done in a style of Cosby. The character delivering it was Gogo the Dodo, voiced by Frank Welker.

    I believe the real reason Cosby’s lawyers are sending these letters out is that their true name is being used.. Cosby Team Triosby…

    You might want to blank out the fax and phone number of Cosby’s attorney in the PDF. We wouldn’t anyone here to get in trouble for making prank calls or faxing him Goatse.

    Cosby was parodied in the animated series The Critic with Jon Lovitz. I don’t know the episode, but in it Jay plays a clip from “Rebel Without a Cosby.”

    Andy, from the time you were 8 when you wrote a letter to the City of Hollywood in an effort to get them to continue allowing our neighborhood to view fireworks for free at the local park to standing up to the Cosby team, you’ve always fought for what’s right. You continue to make your mom proud.

    I think because you named the show “House of Cosby”, his lawyers have every right to ask you to stop. The entire show is about Bill Cosby..many of them. So, it’s far from a parody. You mention other shows who have used Cosby, but fail to understand that they mearly mentioned or used his “likeness” for a few MOMENTS. You are basing your entire show on Bill Cosby’s persona and likeness.

    Therefore, you haven’t got much of a leg to stand on, I’m afraid.

    Denise is a maroon. Firstly, as far as I’ve been able to ascertain, there has never been a project entitled “House of Cosby,” let alone one attributed to Andy Baio. The show is called “House of Cosbys,” and it is NOT Andy’s.

    Secondly, supposing the basis of Cosby’s lawyers’ C&D is that the length of the footage is over X moments long or that the footage is based entirely on X’s persona is naive.

    There was once a show called “That’s My Bush” that ran in a regular, primetime, half-hour slot on Comedy Central which was an entire sending up of (then president-elect) GW. It was never C&D’d as far as I can tell.

    You WILL win against Cosby because this stuff is clearly protected by the First Amendment. Public figures have to remember that, after making their millions FROM the public, they have to sit back and allow the public to comment – even if that means enduring some “ridicule.” the US Supreme Court said so in the suit that Jerry Falwell brought against Hustler magazine and Larry Flint for a cartoon that suggested Falwell was conceived in an outhouse. Ergo, you win! Hang tough. Loved the cartoons.

    Cosby’s not gonna fight. It’s hot air. It’s TERRIBLE press for him to persist here, particularly since it’s pretty clear he’d lose. Expect this to end where it is. Winner by reality check, Andy!

    I want to see more House of Cosbys episodes. Please for the love of God, I need more. I would love to see more. If Justin Roiland is reading this, if you have made more, I would love you to send them to me.

    I got a cease and desist letter myself for making the Bill Cosby Fun Game (played by over 445,000 people), where you’re a vagrant cosby, luring people with Jello chocolate pudding and hitting them over the head with a kodak camera, dragging them back to the cosby cave, stealing their money, and dumping their body in a hole. It’s based on his alleged fondling in court a few years back. So I know how you feel.

    I’m not so sure you have such a slam-dunk case. I hadn’t realized that there were multiple, _5-minute_ episodes of this thing. That’s starting to go a bit beyond a one-off SNL spoof.

    Did you actually speak to an attorney about this, or spend 30 minutes on the net doing your own legal research? An hour of an attorney’s time is not that expensive.

    A brilliant piece of classic art my friend. I cant stop watching it, breathing it, thinking about it at work, even when I’m intimate with my partner. “House of Cosby’s” should continue damn-it! It brightens even the darkest of days. Thanks.

    In fact, I’m going to watch it again right now!

    I’m not so sure you have such a slam-dunk case. I hadn’t realized that there were multiple, _5-minute_ episodes of this thing. That’s starting to go a bit beyond a one-off SNL spoof.

    Did you actually speak to an attorney about this, or spend 30 minutes on the net doing your own legal research? An hour of an attorney’s time is not that expensive.

    posted by Stephen on September 10, 2006 08:29 AM

    One-off?? What about the X-Presidents? I think that “series” has been shown alot.

    Keep up the Cosbys! You are absolutly right about the fair use doctrine – you are not making money and the parody nature of the content is so obvious that it isn’t funny (but it is!!!!)

    I recently saw Bill Cosby speak at the University of Massachusetts. He insists upon being called Doctor Cosby. He is an arrogent, bullying, and egotistical man. When speaking aloud he does not hesitate to use his control of the microphone to demean others in the most personal of ways and the actions of his attorneys follow from this.

    I remember the cosby game. It was funny/fun. Once you saved up enough money you could do something…I forgot.

    posted by Nicholas Dippel on June 10, 2006 12:28 PM

    I got a cease and desist letter myself for making the Bill Cosby Fun Game (played by over 445,000 people), where you’re a vagrant cosby, luring people with Jello chocolate pudding and hitting them over the head with a kodak camera, dragging them back to the cosby cave, stealing their money, and dumping their body in a hole. It’s based on his alleged fondling in court a few years back. So I know how you feel.

    Ya see this is exploration ruuuudy and ya see its just so funny ya see and brings me curiosity ya see theoo

    OMG, House of Cosbys is so funny.

    The only thing that isn’t so funny is that it took me so long to find out about it. But I have, thanks to you!

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