In another “they stole my idea” moment, Gary Huck, a self-syndicated cartoonist, recently noticed one of his cartoon ideas used by Recycled Paper Greetings. According to E&P, he says they’re using his “concept” without permission.
The gag is a play on words and he’s used the gag several times:
Huck — who said Recycled used the concept without his permission — drew a cartoon featuring Jimmy Carter and oil-company logos in 1979. The Pittsburgh-based creator subsequently did other versions of the cartoon during the presidential administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. In 2003, for instance, Huck drew an oil-logo-filled cartoon showing the younger Bush saying things like: “We ‘Shell’ ‘Mobil’ize our forces in the Persian ‘Gulf.'”
I’m not a lawyer, but on the issue of copyright, I don’t think Gary’s got much of a leg to stand on – assuming the cartoon was redrawn. You can’t copyright a concept or an idea – only a work. The company is more in violation of plagiarizing and I’m not sure there is a legal remedy for that.