Bluewater Productions, publishers of the Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey, Bo the Dog, and many other unauthorized biography comic books, is not even remotely close to getting sued by Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga. This is according to Darren G. Davis, the company’s publisher. We previously reported that Bluewater had received a cease and desist notice from Bieber and Gaga’s attorney, which Davis assured would go nowhere. He felt the company was 100% in the right to publish the books, as they fall within the company’s First Amendment rights; also, as the comics are biographical and not simply poster pin-ups, they avoid infringing on likeness rights as well.
Today, Davis wrote a letter to retailers, detailing that the initial reports went further than the actual truth, as Bieber’s people did not even know about the cease and desist letter.
Bluewater is NOT being sued by Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga or anyone else for that matter. What is happening is that a merchandising company that negotiated the rights to make lunch boxes, and key chains and poster books and all the knick-knacks you can buy, has sent us a cease and desist letter.
That’s it. No lawsuit.
In fact, Bieber’s and Gaga’s personal management or their attorneys had no knowledge of this letter until the “news” was leaked by the merchandising company’s lawyer.
It looks like the merchandise company and their attorney, Kenneth Feinswog, were simply looking to gain some ground and reaffirm their right to Bieber and Gaga product with the cease and desist. This cease and desist is similar to that of a YouTube takedown notice, like when Viacom asked for all Daily Show and The Colbert Report clips to be removed, including parodies of Colbert done by MoveOn.org and Second Life videos that only included Colbert’s likeness.
Bluewater is determined to continue publishing these unauthorized biographies as long as they sell. As for the comics community’s support of Bluewater after the initial story broke, Davis was thrilled to see people stick up for the company’s right to publish.
It has been gratifying to see the comic community come to my defense. Regardless of whether they like the biography titles or not; whether they like me personally or not; the community recognizes this tumult for what it is: an attack on the integrity of the medium and as a thinly disguised manipulation to control revenues because of competing products.
The second issue of Fame: Lady Gaga is still on schedule to be released this November.
(via Bleeding Cool)
Tags: Bluewater Productions, Darren G. Davis, Justin Bieber, Kenneth Feinswog, Lady Gaga
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