Penny Arcade comic: Encyclopedia II - Penny Arcade comic - Legal Troubles

Penny Arcade comic - Legal Troubles

Penny Arcade comic - American Greetings

After a strip titled "Tart as a Double Entendre" featuring character Strawberry Shortcake paddling Plum Pudding was published on April 14, 2003, American Greetings sent a cease-and-desist letter to Penny Arcade creators. They chose not to enter into a legal fight over whether or not the strip was a protected form of parody and complied with the cease-and-desist, by replacing it with an image directing their audience to send a letter to a lawyer for American Greetings [95]. However the comic is easily findable with a few well chosen Google search terms (try: penny arcade strawberry).

Penny Arcade comic - Jack Thompson

On October 17, 2005 the creators Krahulik and Holkins donated $10,000 to charity in the name of Jack Thompson [96]. The money was promised to be donated to charity by Thompson if a video game was created meeting certain criteria, but after a vaguely similar (in spirit) mod to the game Grand Theft Auto was pointed out to already exist, Thompson called his challenge satire and refused to donate the money [97], despite the fact that he had explicitly stated that the offer was genuine in a follow-up interview.

On October 18, 2005 it was reported that Jack Thompson had faxed a letter to Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske claiming that Penny Arcade "employs certain personnel who have decided to commence and orchestrate criminal harassment of me by various means" [98][99]. Holkins defended the site by saying that the harassment Thompson referred to was simply "the natural result of a public figure making statements that people disagree with, and letting him know their thoughts on the matter via his publically available contact information".

On October 21, 2005 Thompson claims to have sent a letter to John McKay, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, in an attempt to get the FBI involved. Thompson re-iterates his claims of "extortion" and accuses Penny Arcade of using "their Internet site and various other means to encourage and solicit criminal harassment". [100] Penny Arcade denies the charge of "extortion", noting that they paid the $10,000 to charity, and are asking nothing in return. [101]

So far Thompson has not clarified what he considers "extortion", but he claims the harassment of him is a direct result of Mike Krahulik's posts, which list links to the Florida Bar Association. Thompson accuses Penny Arcade of soliciting Bar complaints against him, even though Mike actually posted the opposite, asking fans to cease sending letters to the Bar, as the Bar acknowledged that it is aware of Thompson's actions, thanks to previous letters. [102]

The Seattle PD eventually acknowledged receiving a complaint from Thompson, but have commented that they believe the issue to be a civil, rather than criminal, matter. They noted that this was from initial impressions of the letter they received, and their criminal investigations bureau is reviewing the letter. [103]

On the same day, Scott Kurtz, creator of the webcomic PvP and a longtime friend of Krahulik and Holkins, used the image of the letter Thompson sent to the Seattle PD to create a parody letter in which Jack attempts to enlist the aid of the Justice League of America by claiming Gabe and Tycho to be villains of some description. [104]

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Legal Troubles", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki