This is Fine: Protecting Your IP in the Age of the Internet Meme
If you’ve spent much time at all on the internet over the past few years, chances are you’re familiar with the “this is fine” meme. The image, first published in 2013, has come to be used across social media by disenchanted posters who wish to express a sense of hopelessness and dismay at the state of the world. The now ubiquitous cartoon features a small, derby-clad dog (also known as the Question Hound) who sits at his kitchen table, seemingly blissfully unaware that his house has caught fire and he will soon be engulfed by flames.
For a few examples of proper application of this meme, please refer to the brief appendix below:
Did the baseball team you love just blow a 3-run lead in the ninth? - “This is fine.”
Did your favorite contestant just get eliminated from Love Island? - This is also fine
Are sea levels rising while the Arctic burns and microplastics rain down on the Rocky
Mountains? - This is most certainly fine
Although the “this is fine” meme has become one of the web’s most recognizable and widely-shared images in our modern, dystopian times, the meme’s creator, cartoonist KC Green, has labored in relative obscurity and has largely failed to cash in on the overwhelming popularity of his work. This, however, has not prevented others from profiting from the sale of unlicensed merchandise (mugs, shirts, stickers) featuring the grinning visage of Green’s K9 creation. To make matters worse for Green, the meme has also frequently been co-opted by groups or individuals who do not share the artist’s beliefs or worldview. The most notable example of this occurred in 2016 when the Republican Party used the cartoon to poke fun at their liberal opponents on Twitter during the first day of the Democratic National Convention. Green was understandably upset with this development and was even moved to create an updated version of his cartoon featuring the GOP elephant burning alive in the Question Hound’s stead.
But in the age of the modern internet, where images can go viral overnight, what can be done to prevent artists like KC Green from losing control of their life’s work? From a strict, legal perspective, the answer is a fairly simple one - get a copyright. The basic function of a copyright is to protect creative expression and to grant creators control over the conditions under which their work can be copied or used by others. Copyrights are commonly used to cover writing, sculpture, music, and visual art.
However, while they are a good starting point, a copyright alone is often not enough, as they must be rigorously enforced to assure the successful protection of their underlying IP. It is essential to think of the protection of intellectual property as an ongoing process. Filing for copyright protection should be done as soon as possible, but it should be seen as the beginning of the process of protecting intellectual property, not the end.
An additional step that is often useful in protecting a copyright, is to have the copyright registered with the U.S. Copyright office. There are a multitude of reasons why registering a copyright is a good idea, but some of the most important include:
Creating a public record of a copyright claim
Enabling the copyright holder to sue infringers in federal court
Eligibility to sue for statutory damages (legal fees, etc.)
Protection from U.S. Customs against the importation of infringing works
Lastly, it is important to remember that it is never too late to follow a copyright claim. Thinking about intellectual property protection is often something that creatives simply do not want to do until the last possible moment. But even if your unprotected works have already been infringed upon, you may still be able to generate significant gains from filing a copyright claim. In fact, this is something that KC Green himself seems to have done following his unfortunate run-in with the GOP back in 2016, as he has since set up a successful Kickstarter campaign that generated more than $400,000 from eager fans wanting to get their hands on an officially licensed (i.e. copyright protected), “plush” stuffed animal of the internet’s favorite hound.