THE WIMPY KID PART ONE: IN COURT

The Wimpy Kid isn't all that wimpy in his corporate identity (namely, Jeff Kinney). As reported by Tim Kenneally via reuters.com, “Wimpy Kid, Inc., the copyright holders of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, on December 20 filed a trademark-infringement lawsuit against comic-book publisher Antarctic Press, claiming that Antarctic has violated Wimpy Kid's intellectual property with its book Diary of a Zombie Kid. According to the suit, Zombie Kid, published last August, is "substantially similar" to the Wimpy Kid book line, and ‘obviously intended to confuse the public into believing that defendant's books are addition to such series.’

“In addition to depicting a backpack-carrying protagonist, the suit alleges, the Zombie Kid cover artwork bears a startling similarity to the Wimpy Kid series, including ‘distinctive striping along the spine, the hand-drawn pictures of the main character on the front and back covers, both illustrated so as to appear to be taped at each corner of the cover, and the miniature illustration of a male child's head located on the side of the book.’ The lettering is also confusingly similar to that of the Wimpy Kid series, according to the suit, with letters stylized so as to look brush-painted.”

In addition to punitive damages, Wimpy Kid seeks destruciton of all Diary of a Zombie Kid books and any other infringing materials. A few days after the suit was brought, Antarctic Press agreed to cease and desist.

There is at least one other Wimpy clone out there, something about a Dorky Kid, but it’s drawn in the manga manner so it has probably evaded Kinney’s eagle eye. Or perhaps the manganese renders the effort dissimilar enough to escape prosecution.