Demon Parody Strip Elicits Legal Threat

The Demon, the raunchy undergraduate humor magazine, has pulled a parody of the Betty and Veronica comic strip from its website, after lawyers from Archie Comics threatened to sue the magazine for copyright infringement.

The cartoon, titled "Betty in a Wet Fret," was posted on the Web last week. It features the Betty character commenting to Veronica upon seeing a shirtless Archie, and then making a sexually explicit comment.

Lawyers for Archie Comics claimed in a letter sent to the magazine last week that the Demon's use of the characters Betty and Veronica infringes on various copyright and trademark laws and has no protection under the First Amendment right to free speech or fair use laws.

The law firm, Grimes and Battersby, L.L.P., demanded that the Demon remove the feature from the Internet and issue an apology.

Although Demon executives promptly removed the feature after learning of the letter, they said they have not yet decided whether to remain in compliance--or to restore what they term "a parody" and begin a legal battle to assert their right to publish.

The Demon, which was founded in 1995 by Joshua J. Schanker, then president of The Crimson, and Sebastian Conley, is leaning against a legal course of action.

"I don't think that we would do that, simply because we don't have the money," said Paul R. Mrockowski '00, a former Demon executive. He said that Demon members are presently soliciting pro bono legal advice from area lawyers.

Demon artists created the cartoon, which first appeared in the February 1998 print version of the Demon, by copying artwork from original Betty and Veronica comics and changing the dialogue, according to Demon members.

The placement of well-known cartoon characters in off-color situations is a common Demon device. The characters of Peanuts and Garfield have been subject to similar treatments in the magazine.

Federal fair use laws protect from copyright infringement suits all works of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research. Judges have normally given broad license to parodies.

But lawyers for Archie Comics quoted a 1994 U.S. Supreme Court decision in their letter to justify the claim of infringement.

"Courts should not accord fair use protection to profiteers who do no more than…place the characters from a familiar work in novel or eccentric poses," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the ruling.