Drinkin’ Fun and Games
As pointed out by Jeff Rowland, (And now Allison)there is a wiki with drinks and drinking games related to webcomics. The drinks are themed for a selection of possibly more well known webcomics, and may or may not actually be for human consumption.
I think there would be hours of amusement browsing a wiki such as this. But, alas, there is more to this wiki than mere amusement:
This website is intended as a tool for the gathering and organization of information related to the publishing of a book or books for commercial purposes.
All information entered by users, whether registered or anonymous, is considered to be an uncompensated contribution to the project.
Owners of copyrighted or other content submitted through this website grant to Phillip Kahn the unconditional and unlimited use of that material for all manner of publication.
It’s a derivative work, a spinoff, a tribute. Phillip Kahn seems to be a webcomic podcaster, involved in the policy of the WCCAs, and it seems he’s trying to make a book to capitalize on webcomic success. The idea that contributions are uncompensated says that he’s trying to be compensated.
Interesting. Very Interesting.
Edit: An earlier version of this post had content that was based on mistaken assumptions; Phil Kahn was kind enough to provide further information, and Fleen regrets the error.
Phil is also a webcomic creator and a nice guy.
http://hoojiecrew.biscuitpress.com/
By mckenzee on 07.26.06 11:15 pm
Plus if he actually sold copies of a book about that subject matter then I would be like “wow.”
By jeffrey on 07.26.06 11:54 pm
Ha ha ha. Web comic drama. This comments section should get its own drinking game!
Le sigh.
By Jamie Dee on 07.27.06 1:54 am
I wonder how many copies he would sell.
I wonder if, after the book started selling poorly, Kahn would be driven to drink?
By lucas on 07.27.06 2:12 am
Phil is a responsible man. He would never drive to drink!
Hey, the disclaimer about it being a book is pretty prominant. No one is getting ripped off here, and it’s sort of a cross promotional tool. But that’s really beside the point. The point being drinking = fabulous. Anything else is tremendously minor.
Derivative? Tribute? (maybe a tribute to the fine art of drinking and making things up) What are YOU drinking?
By megs on 07.27.06 7:59 am
For the record, recipes are not protected by copyright law, so no one is surrendering any rights by posting their recipes on imjustdrinking.com (since they had no rights to begin with), nor is Phil Kahn legally obligated to compensate the recipe creators. I think the site is pretty up-front about its intentions; if you don’t want Kahn to profit from your drink recipes, don’t post them on the site. Simple as that.
Kahn does, however, have a responsibility to get permission from the webcartoonists whose comics will be cited in the book, since the book could be seen–rightly–as an effort to profit from the popularity of those comics. However, I think he’s been conscientious about that. Since before the site even launched, Kahn has emailed me regularly about the project and made sure I granted him permission, and I assume he’s done the same for other webcartoonists.
By Shaenon on 07.27.06 7:28 pm
It is worth noting, this is a responsibility based in honor, not law. Phil needs to get permission because he doesn’t want to be a dick, or seen as a dick. He’s under no legal obligation to, as naming drinks after webcomics or webcomics references is pretty obvious parody. Further, while it’s possible if someone out there’s trademarked their comic and characters he could run afoul of trademark law, you can’t copyright a title or character name, so unless he was actually reprinting art outside of the bounds of fair use he’s utterly legally in the clear.
However, doing such things without permission can get a person branded as a dick. Phil Kahn is not a dick, as evidenced by his seeking permission. So, this is all a hypothetical conversation at best. But it’s a chance for me to pontificate and use the word ‘dick’ in a sentence, so good enough.
By Eric Burns on 07.31.06 9:14 pm
The above comments are owned by whoever posted them. The staff of Fleen are not responsible for them in any way.