The Pern Plushie Incident
| Event | |
|---|---|
| Event: | The Pern Plushie Incident |
| Participants: | |
| Date(s): | 1999 or earlier |
| Type: | |
| Fandom: | Pern |
| URL: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Pern Plushie Incident took place in the 1990s when fan artist Theresa Mossberg began designing and selling dragon plushies that she called "firelizards."
While the term "fire lizard" had not been trademarked by Pern author Anne McCaffrey, McCaffrey felt that the sale of the plushies were infringing and sent a C&D notice to the artist. McCaffrey's lawyers also threatened to sue any fan who linked to Mossberg's website.[1]
"It has come to Anne McCaffrey's attention that Theresa Mossberg is marketing designs for firelizards, dragons and hatchlings through a website on the internet. Ms. McCaffrey has been advised that it is generally believed that Ms. Mossberg has received Ms. McCaffrey's permission to engage in this activity. THIS IS NOT TRUE. Ms. McCaffrey requests that those fans that have established links to Ms. Mossberg's website terminate those links. A claim of copyright and trademark infringement, unfair competition and other unlawful activity has been communicated to Ms. Mossberg, through her attorney, and it is Ms. McCaffrey's intention to take whatever legal steps are necessary to stop this unauthorized activity by Ms. Mossberg, including seeking damages. Ms. McCaffrey has, in the past, taken those steps, and obtained significant damage awards, in addition to injunctions, against those who would violate her intellectual property rights. She appreciates your voluntary cooperation in protecting her rights against those who would use the internet for unauthorized commercial or marketing activity."[2]
A similar set of plushies were designed and sold by another fan in 1999, although it is not clear whether this artist too was the subject of a C&D notice.[3] This led one fan to comment:
"It sometimes makes me curious as to why whenever anyone writes anything about Pern on their websites they get a lawsuit from Anne McCaffrey's lawyers."[4]
In later years, fans reported that Mossberg had been "sued out of existence."[5] In fact, her art website remained operational through at least December 2015 - albeit without any mention of fire lizards.[6] The fear of being sued continued to trouble fan creators especially those who might have expressed interest in creating plushies or Pern inspired sculptures.[7]
References
- ^ The URL of the website was members.aol.com/tmossberg/fantasy_in_flight.html. The site has not been archived by the WBM.
- ^ Welcome to Veridia Weyr, Archived version, Veridia Weyr
- ^ Mythical Creations Catalog, Archived version, dated 1999.
- ^ Theresa Mossberg's site? post to alt.fan.pern dated Feb 12, 1999.
- ^ Onion AV Club reviews Eragon (Archive) - The New Kitchen Table, Archived version
- ^ Green Mountain Designs Original Designs by Theresa Mossberg, Archived version
- ^ Dragon resin?, Archived version; Pern Gold Plushie by LeoEyes on DeviantArt, Archived version; Fire Lizard sculptures - A Meeting of Minds - An Anne McCaffrey Discussion Forum, Archived version