2014-05-29
Original: 2014-05-29 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Person on the right (face partially visible, brown hair): "Sorry, I own the phrase, 'IP law is no longer serving its intended purpose.' You owe me $10,000."
(A woman with dark hair and round glasses on the left looks taken aback.)
Votey:
The woman with round glasses (now drawn in a rough sketch style): "Don't apologize. You don't have permission."
Person on the right (face partially visible, brown hair): "Sorry, I own the phrase, 'IP law is no longer serving its intended purpose.' You owe me $10,000."
(A woman with dark hair and round glasses on the left looks taken aback.)
Votey:
The woman with round glasses (now drawn in a rough sketch style): "Don't apologize. You don't have permission."
Alt text
A two-panel-style SMBC comic satirizing intellectual property law. Main panel: A person with brown hair, seen from the side, says to a startled woman with dark hair and round glasses, "Sorry, I own the phrase, 'IP law is no longer serving its intended purpose.' You owe me $10,000." The joke is that someone has trademarked even the criticism of IP law, charging for its use. Votey (small follow-up panel, drawn in a loose sketch style): The same glasses-wearing woman says, "Don't apologize. You don't have permission." — escalating the absurdity by claiming even apologizing requires licensed permission.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.