"Happy Beaver" Plagiarism (Good) News!

I just received a brief email from Eagle Printing today - they've removed all traces of Happy Beaver from their storefront and website. Hooray!

Here We Go AGAIN!

Anthony Pafford sent me this picture of Eagle Printing's storefront in Lincoln, NE. I thought about letting this one slide, until I discovered the same drawing all over their website. So I wrote a C&D email to them yesterday. I wrote to at least three people, so they can't use the "I was on vacation" excuse as easily.

I'd like to take a moment and thank Anthony (and all my other sharp-eyed friends) for bringing these incidents to my attention. Four steals in about a month! Yikes.

As you can imagine, I've submitted Happy Beaver to the copyright office, in case I need to pursue one of these problems further. Rest assured that Kumo-Kun and Jazz Boid will soon join him!

I've updated this post as I haven't heard back from Eagle Printing yet. Next step - youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com!

PS - If you want to see larger versions of this images, click here and here.

UPDATE (08/05/09) - I've just been contacted by Eagle Printing, and every trace of "Happy Beaver" has been removed. Hooray!

Happy Beaver Thievery Now On youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com!

I've posted the details of the Happy Beaver steals that were brought to my attention last week at youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com, a blog devoted to such things. Hopefully a little negative publicity can help get the Weecan pop-ups pulled from the Delta Dental website! The tiny Weecan picture on the main home page has been replaced with a picture of an apple, and there's a new notice there, too:

The WDS Web site will be down for maintenance Sunday, May 17th from 8 am to 10 am PST. You will not be able to access applications during this time.

We'll see if that means that the pop-up ads are being pulled, too. Keep your fingers crossed!

UPDATE (5/18): Not only is the Weecan still on the Delta Dental main page (both the big art and the small icon), another ad has surfaced - this one's a peelback-style ad at The Spokesman-Review. Crumbs!

UPDATE (5/19): The first two pop-ups seem to be gone, and the icon keeps appearing and disappearing. The peelback ad is still up. Stay tuned.

The Sincerest Form Of Flattery, Part Two

My friend Dennis was browsing the Seattle Times online and happened to see a pop-up ad here. It featured a character that looks an awful lot like Happy Beaver!

It's called a Weecan, and promotes a website called awholenewanimal.com, which in turn is a tie-in for Delta Dental, or Washington Dental Service. The character is mainly pictured in brief pop-up pages that are hard to reproduce, but they're there!

I've sent a couple of "cease and desist" emails to both the Seattle Times and Delta Dental, so I'll keep you informed of the proceedings!

Thanks again to the sharp eyes of Dennis DeMercer for spotting the tomfoolery.