Research Guru / Moderator
Posted:
May 15, 2008, 12:22 PM
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SpongeBob lawsuit doesn't hold water with judge
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An artist's claim to be the force behind "SpongeBob SquarePants" is all wet, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled Tuesday.
Fairfield, California resident Troy Walker failed to prove that his Mr. Bob Spongee, The Unemployed Sponge, the comic strip and dolls that he created in the 1990s, were the basis for Nickelodeon Studios' children's show, United States District Judge Susan Illston decided in a summary judgment.
Walker said that he plans to appeal his copyright infringement claim against Nickelodeon Studios Inc., Paramount Studios Inc., Viacom International Inc. and Stephen Hillenburg, the show's creator and producer.
According to Illston, Hillenburg created a sea sponge character called "Bob the Sponge" in 1989 -- two years before Walker drew his comic strip. SpongeBob SquarePants first aired in 1999.
While both characters were humanlike sponges, their features, story lines and clothing were different, she said. The judge added that Walker hadn't proved Hillenburg had ever seen his 1991 comic strip, which consisted of four black-and-white panels.
Illston observed that SpongeBob lives in a pineapple at the bottom of the sea, and that he works as a restaurant cook. The yellow guy has a pickle-shaped nose and two buck teeth. He also sports a shirt, tie and pants.
On the other hand, Bob Spongee is unemployed, Illston notes. He lives above ground in a house, goes around without clothes, and has a dot nose and a line for a mouth.
"In sum, the court holds that the similarities between the two characters are limited to the stock elements used to humanize a sponge, and that the dissimilarities are so significant that, as a matter of law, defendants are entitled to summary judgment," Illston wrote.
"What happened today was a tragedy. The legal system definitely let us down today. SpongeBob is based on my work that I created years before," said Walker, 41.
"We're very pleased with the outcome of the case," Nickelodeon spokeswoman Marianne Romano said.
According to Romano, SpongeBob SquarePants is one of the most popular series in the history of children's TV. Its Saturday morning broadcast is currently the top-rated program among children 2 and 11 years old, she added.
An artist and marine biologist, Hillenberg said in court papers that he created "Bob the Sponge" for an educational comic book in 1989, while he was an instructor and staff artist at the Orange County Marine Institute. He said he began turning Bob the Sponge into SpongeBob in 1994 while working on another animated series for Viacom.
Hillenberg pasted copies of the strip on 1,000 novelty sponges in 1992, selling his creations at shopping centers, street fairs, roadside stops and flea markets in the San Francisco Bay area. He copyrighted the comic strip in 2003.
A request by Viacom to force Walker to pay the defense attorney fees was rejected. "The court finds that this case was brought in good faith," Illston said.
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"Oh boy." -- Allan Sherman
(This post was edited by eminovitz on May 15, 2008, 12:24 PM)
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