As it says in the tweet-within-a-tweet above, today the New York State Supreme Court dismissed all claims against our client, Logan Cook. He’s “Carpe Donktum,” and this is the infamous “toddler meme lawsuit.” It was brought under a bunch of different legal theories of misappropriation, including some rather… original ones.
There were also other defendants and the claims against them were dismissed too.
Twitter used its publication of this video (the so-called meme) as its rationale for banning Carpe. Twitter called it a “copyright” complaint. Notwithstanding the narrative, however, there was never a copyright lawsuit or copyright infringement.
Here is the meme, anyway, which you may be able to take or leave. But you can’t take it to the bank if you’re a plaintiff’s lawyer:
Here is the decision:
157550_2020_MICHAEL_CISNEROS_indiv_v_MICHAEL_CISNEROS_indiv_DECISION___ORDER_ON_75It is a bit surprising that the judge seems to have granted the anti-SLAPP motion but did not award fees. Fees seem to be mandatory under the newly-fortified New York anti-SLAPP statute. But that may depend on what the meaning of this is.
Either way, life is full of surprises, not least in my line of work (you’ll have to scroll down), you know? This dismissal of these claims was not one of them, however.