The banging on my NoFale (TM) security door brought me back to full awakedness just as I was buying a ticket to slumbertown. The NoFale (TM) vidscreen showed the anxious face of my brother and I relaxed. He was always anxious about something: The GovMent (TM) was torturing this person, a corporation was invading that country ... he always seemed to find something wrong with the world. I let him in.
"Thank the good whatever," he said. "I may be in a bit of trouble." I made some Sparkling Tea fresh from the paradisiacal island of Sri Lanka (TM) and indulgently awaited his story. I was not at all prepared for what I heard next. "Have you heard of Chutzpah?"
The icy hand of panic caressed my heart. Chutzpah was an "independent underground magazine" as it styled itself, and "a dangerous attack on our rights and economy" as everyone else considered it. At least, everyone with power. Even to have heard of it was to draw suspicion as a dangerous rebel. So I said "it doesn't ring a bell" as he launched into his story. I was worried that he had gone so far as to purchase a copy from some hoodlum, but it was worse than that -- he had contributed.
"I did a series of cartoon strips about an elephant with a hand on the end of its trunk," he said, and catching the look on my face hurriedly explained it was a metaphor for the power of the common man -- a connection I couldn't make, myself.I wracked my brains for an infringement but nothing came to mind. Ever since the "Protection of Peoples Copyright Act" was passed in 2023 almost every creative development had been through entertainment companies. These had the resources to check for any infringement by the work being created, and of course also any infringement of the work which, due to the broad wording of the act, could be almost anything. That's why independent creation was so dangerous.
I was aghast at the irresponsibility of my brother. Without the judicious help of an entertainment corporation there was no way to ensure that his metaphorical cartoons were sanitized, securitized and, above all, legalized. "And uh, is there a, uh..." I tried to delicately enunciate my question but my brother responded to the holding-terror-in-check look on my face with equal bluntness.
"Do you remember anything about Dumbo?" he asked. I was confused. Dumbo? An old kid’s word for a stupid person? Then a vague memory floated through my mind; the demented ravings of my grandfather as he wallowed in senility, about a cartoon he used to watch as a boy...something about flying? A flying elephant? Oh no...
My mind reeled and my blood flushed hot and cold. I largely ignored what my brother was saying, rambling on about writing under a pseudonym and the unfairness of the injustice system, always trying to find a way to justify his disregard for social mores and the law. Still, he was my brother, and I considered ways to hide him from a minor company. My hands clammy with sweat, I asked him which corporation he had inadvertently attacked.
"Disney."
One word chilled me to the bone. The Wonderful World of Walt Disney (TM). No-one wanted to mess with the Wonderful World of Walt Disney (TM), which was widely believed to have convinced President Jenna Bush to nuke Brazil in retaliation for ongoing infringement of intellectual property.
I walked over to the CleerVue (TM) wallglass and gazed distractedly at the advertisements hovering outside, automatically trying to see past them to the streetscape. My skin was now cool and dry, my pulse had slowed.
"Don't worry," I told my brother. "You look exhausted, have a strong drink and go to bed, get some rest." A few hours later, my brother's profuse thanks ringing in my mind and his snoring sounding in my ears, I picked up the phone and dialed the number everyone knew by heart."Organization for the Defense of the Authors Moral Rights and the Works Underpinning the Economy of America the Land of the Brave and Free (TM). We're here to help the public, how may I service you?" said the suave voice at the other end of the line.
"I have some important information that may interest the Wonderful World of Walt Disney," I replied, hoping it would help me avoid my brother’s fate.
Posted by: Ale Constantine
Images were adapted from images in the public domain from:
http://openclipart.org/media/files/johnny_automatic/9783
http://www.copyrightauthority.com/copyright-symbol/
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