May 20, 2004
And yet there is still no mechanism in place to prosecute the many crappy ripoffs of "The Far Side"
Christ almighty, it's "Seduction of the Innocent" all over again. There's been a new law proposed which would allow parents to sue anyone responsible for publishing something "harmful to minors" if it's marketed in a way that "a reasonable person can expect a substantial number of minors to be exposed to the material".
Obviously the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is nervous about this, since most people who don't read graphic novels have no idea that there is even a difference between children's comics and grown-up comics. Equally worrisome, "[The bill] appears to allow for civil actions against any, or every, member of the dissemination food chain, from the retailer to the distributor to the publisher, of work that an individual parent may object to." As if running a profitable business isn't difficult enough already.
(Via Boing Boing.)
Posted by Francis at 02:45 PM