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Free* advertising and publicity for The Oatmeal. I found the letter quite entertaining, further embedding The Oatmeal in my mind since even his lawyer appears t

by pdubs 14y ago

Free* advertising and publicity for The Oatmeal. I found the letter quite entertaining, further embedding The Oatmeal in my mind since even his lawyer appears to have a sense of humor. *I know lawyers aren't free, but he'd be paying a lawyer regardless of the letter's style.

grabeh 14y ago
Although you are right, there would be a substantial difference between the cost for a letter of that length versus a brief rebuttal (although of course the underlying legal analysis would have still been undertaken, committing that legal analysis to paper would have taken additional time). I do take your point that it is good publicity and on a related note, it is an interesting tactic to publicly disclose the legal response. It obviously will feed into the public support that the Oatmeal is receiving. I'm not taking anything away from the letter itself - it was a good read - it's just that I don't think FJ's letter warranted or indeed deserved such an in-depth response.
blangblang 14y ago
The informal language and entertainment value of the letter seems to me to be a direct nod to the value of the Streisand effect in matters like this. The Oatmeal manages to make them look even worse in the most easily digestible format possible.
shabble 14y ago
It's possible (although I have no idea how plausible) that Mr Balasubramani could have written that letter pro bono, which would be excellent advertising given the coverage this is getting, and since he's on the Good Team, it's probably more valuable publicity than that of the other fellow. I speculate (at the risk of demonstrating my ignorance) that this letter, at 1 page of background and ~4 pages of analysis, may not actually have taken all that long to prepare, especially for someone with intimate knowledge of DMCA and libel/defamation case-law. Of course, it's a lot more complicated if he has arranged representation rather than just letter-writing, and the contact telephone at the end perhaps suggests he has, so it's quite possible I'm wrong.
- pdubs 14y ago
  Since Mr. Balasubramani has some background in writing (as mentioned above), it might just be a unique bonus to the service he offers.

by pdubs 14y ago

grabeh 14y ago

Although you are right, there would be a substantial difference between the cost for a letter of that length versus a brief rebuttal (although of course the underlying legal analysis would have still been undertaken, committing that legal analysis to paper would have taken additional time). I do take your point that it is good publicity and on a related note, it is an interesting tactic to publicly disclose the legal response. It obviously will feed into the public support that the Oatmeal is receiving. I'm not taking anything away from the letter itself - it was a good read - it's just that I don't think FJ's letter warranted or indeed deserved such an in-depth response.

blangblang 14y ago

The informal language and entertainment value of the letter seems to me to be a direct nod to the value of the Streisand effect in matters like this. The Oatmeal manages to make them look even worse in the most easily digestible format possible.

shabble 14y ago

It's possible (although I have no idea how plausible) that Mr Balasubramani could have written that letter pro bono, which would be excellent advertising given the coverage this is getting, and since he's on the Good Team, it's probably more valuable publicity than that of the other fellow. I speculate (at the risk of demonstrating my ignorance) that this letter, at 1 page of background and ~4 pages of analysis, may not actually have taken all that long to prepare, especially for someone with intimate knowledge of DMCA and libel/defamation case-law. Of course, it's a lot more complicated if he has arranged representation rather than just letter-writing, and the contact telephone at the end perhaps suggests he has, so it's quite possible I'm wrong.

pdubs 14y ago
Since Mr. Balasubramani has some background in writing (as mentioned above), it might just be a unique bonus to the service he offers.