Copyright Law & Cartoon Parodies

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHT LAWS are complex! (“OK. So what else is new?” Duh!). Any measure of success requires years of study in Law School and many long hours of intense group research through networking on the golf course and stag bars: a very demanding undertaking, not for the squeamish!! Therefore, anyone attempting to summarize its relevance to this Blog – in a few paragraphs – is undoubtedly a jenous geenieus jeanious genius!

SO PLEASE BE ADVISED: This Blog uses Editorial Cartoons and Cartoon Parodies in a strictly non-commercial, editorial context, which are generally considered “a fair use” under Intellectual Property (copyright) Laws. Cartoons may be defamatory if the cartoonist has intentionally portrayed a false fact about a person or event. Criticisms of public officials falls under the protected Right to Freedom of Expression, even when they are portrayed in an unflattering light. The exception would be only if the statement was false and was made with actual malice.

We thought we’d make this clear before someone runs off crying to an ambulance chaser or a Hit Man. Or worse: Misuses his official position and does a number on us just because his feelings were hurt!

An Open Letter To S.S.P. Yadav, IPS – Director General and Inspector General of Police

OPEN LETTER TO Shayam Sunder Prasad Yadav, IPS

Director General and Inspector General of Police,Government of Andhra Pradesh State,Hyderabad

Dear DGP Shayam Sunder Saheb:

On behalf of the publication “Good Cop – Bad Cop” operating as a Blog under auspices of http://www.havepenwillwrite.wordpress.com, please accept our hearty congratulations on your recent appointment. It is an obvious show of faith in you that the CM preferred you over your two older colleagues.

We have been following your career over the years silently observing your influence on the State Anti-Corruption Bureau as Director – a Herculean undertaking! Your work nevertheless reflects vision and a promise of efficacy provided others following in your wake prove competent and dedicated to carry on this most honorable mission.

Corruption is the antithesis of everything Law Enforcement stands for. Yet it is no secret that Corruption and the Indian Police are synonymous. Other visionaries preceding you had like-minded ideals, to integrate the element of integrity and sound practices in the Indian police mission. But they stood vulnerable to buckling up under political pressure. You are just one single person spearheading the challenge of dealing with a corrupt establishment. But rest assured, within this cesspool of decadence there are other like minded people with old-fashioned values silently laboring at reviving that shine and shoveling the stubbornly adhering contamination toward its rightful destination: the commode! Even dishonest cops fear honest cops.

There’s an old Arab proverb: “An army of sheep led by one lion would defeat an army of lions led by one sheep”. Of course it’s meant to be inspirational but doesn’t make any practical sense because only an army of brain-fried sheep would follow behind a lion (maybe!), and for a hundred salivating lions to be following one fluffy sheep into battle wouldn’t even be worth the meager morsel ahead.

Nevertheless, I think you get my drift!

There are leaders and there are Leaders … Then again, there are Leaders with BALLS! We are depending on you to be the latter. You have three solid years ahead of you to make a difference, and we are rooting for you!

Our Mission is very similar: “ … high quality and transparent policing that satisfies the aspirations of the people and the society at large in creating and maintaining a State in which there is peace, co-existence and order, so as to provide a conducive environment for sustained prosperity ….”, even though our methods toward realizing our common objective may have some differences: you thru’ established protocol and personnel policies (which hasn’t worked well enough so far), and we, that run the Blog, thru’ constructive criticism and good journalism (which isn’t enough!).

We realize you’ve just barely taken over a giant organization and inherited your predecessor’s giant headaches. But count your blessings, Sir. Because the community’s headaches at the ‘mercy’ of your Police is a far cry from yours. We would like you to see us as the “pulse of the community”. We at the Blog are duty bound to convey public sentiments relative to the organization you accepted responsibility for, and we expect you to take a very personal interest in those elements within the Ranks set to tarnish your uniform.

Please feel free to comment or indicate any area of dissent. “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism”. One humble request, if you please: Just make sure it is truthful, made in good faith, and relevant. We shall be happy to make appropriate changes if warranted and/or include your verbatim response.

Again: Congratulations, Good Luck, and God Bless …

Sincerely,

Your supporters at

http://www.havepenwillwrite.wordpress.com,