Posted by Mike, Pawtucket, RI on February 28, 2009:

Now let's be fair, Randy. I live in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the home of Hasbro, and the economy has hit them hard. In fact, according to the magazine Rhode Island Monthly, Hasbro's CEO, Brian Goldner, received only $2.25 million in total compensation last year.

Week after week you put out This is True and sell your GOOHF cards, raking in the dough, seriously dampening Hasbro's profits and causing Mr. Goldner to have to scrape by at such a pathetically low compensation. Have you no shame?

Ahh, I love Rhode Island, the smallest state in the Union, where the thinking is even smaller...

Posted by Jim - Texas on February 28, 2009:

This will be interesting. But I've always disagreed with Randy about his use of the copyrighted Mr. Monopoly (formerly known as Rich Uncle Pennybags).

Randy says since it is parody, that makes it OK to take someone else's copyrighted art and use it on your own product which you sell.

Could I make a Get Out Of Jail Free card and use Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck on the card and sell these cards? Of course not, Disney would be all over me in a heartbeat. What if I created a fishing parody card and used the Nemo character's photo? I have a feeling the people at Pixar (also Disney) would disagree.

Sorry Randy, I have a feeling you are going to lose this round. You have taken a well known copyrighted image and used it as the basis for a business model that is currently in its ninth successful year - the GOOHF cards would *not* sell as well without the unauthorized use of Mr. Monopoly, so you are taking the copyrighted work of others and using it for your benefit - without authorization from, or compensation to, the copyright owner.

I hope I am wrong and you are able to sell the GOOHF cards for another nine years.

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Of course you're wrong! You haven't looked into what "parody" is. Read the article I wrote about it that I linked to from this page -- http://www.thisistrue.com/parody.html -- for some information. Both copyright and trademark laws specifically provide openings for the purpose of parody. -rc

Posted by Meredith, St. Paul, MN on February 28, 2009:

I have a GOOHF sticker on my dashboard and have distributed dozens of cards. Love 'em! My 7-y-o twins asked who the fat guy pictured on the card is, so I told them all about playing Monopoly when I was a their age, and how my brother used to let me rot in jail while all the older kids scooped up the hotels and railroads. Now, a new generation of our family is enjoying the classic board game. They do know the doggie is Mom's! So, to the anal-retentive legal department of Hasbro, lighten up and thank Randy et al for the free publicity!

Posted by John Nye - Glenside, Pa on February 28, 2009:

So, that's where that little guy's from. I thought he looked familiar. In the capitalistic spirit, You should be demanding payment from Hasbro for the free advertisement. I should think that GOOHF is much more recognized around the world than MR. Monopoly. Who is representing Hasbro? Dewey, Cheatum & Howe? Give 'em Hell Randy!

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I appreciate the vote, but I do believe Uncle Pennybags is better known than the GOOHF card. -rc

Posted by Andara; Long Beach, CA on February 28, 2009:

I refuse to think of the character as "Mr Monopoly." He'll always be Rich Uncle Pennybags to me.

In this case, I particularly like the audacity they have to ask you to do their discovery for them. Then again, there are probably a number of people who would give them the information they want without much reflection, too.

In addition to a Twitter link, you should add a Facebook link, too.

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There is a Facebook GOOHF group, here. -rc

Posted by Scott, in Killeen, TX on February 28, 2009:

Randy, did you "goofh", or did they (and you didn't notice so that you could "[sic]" 'em up)?

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The Hasbro attorney put it in as goofh when it should have been goohf. I didn't notice it until I was sending out the Friday issue, and the approval copy displayed it as a link. So I fixed it for the issue so people wouldn't click it and get to the wrong site, and just now linked it to the correct site, and put in a hover comment as an effective "sic". -rc

Posted by rewinn, Mercer Island on February 28, 2009:

If Hasbro were smart (...and at times, its management HAS shown a great deal of smarts...) it would offer Randy a deal to license the character for a nominal amount to be donated to an appropriate charity.

That way, everybody gets good publicity, Hasbro preserves its claim to the character. While I'm confident Randy & his lawyer have their law of parody claim down tight, I understand Hasbro might want to tightly protect the borders of its possessions.

I'd love to see Randy & Hasbro collaborate on a This Is True game ... complete with GOOHF card.

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Your suggestion is mature, intelligent, and business-like. It would mean I could take the disclaimer off the card too. It would be interesting to get such a common-sense approach rather than their laughable blustering. -rc

Posted by Les in NC on March 2, 2009:

Love the cards. You should have had the "VOID" cover 2/3 of the card when you sent it to Hasbro. The fact that they did not pursue this since April 2001 should probably get this thrown out by any "competent" judge. Plus the fact that it is obviously a parody. I think they may have gotten a new attorney (fresh out of school?) if they expect you to do their discovery process. Keep up the good work.

Posted by Ken in Los Angeles on March 2, 2009:

After reviewing the March 2, 2009 WSJ Market Watch article article "Trading Strategies - Adopting a Bunker Mentality" online myself, I searched the page for any copyright references and didn't find any. I just had to wonder if WSJ applied for and got permission from Hasbro to use a parody of MR. MONOPOLY® in the illustration accompanying the article, or is Hasbro only hassling you, Randy? I would assume Hasbro would have the same issues with WSJ as they apparently have with you.

BTW I also completely agree with the comment posted by rewinn, Mercer Island on February 28, 2009, and your reply. It really would be a Win-Win solution!

Keep up the great work with This Is True!

Posted by Rene (Austria) on March 3, 2009:

Well, big companies and banks have just proved that they seemingly cannot be trusted to earn money by being sensible and thoughtful or we would not have this "economic crisis" on our hands...

This, though, is even worse than building shoddy (meaning ever since the 70s we knew oil was limited, still none of the big manufacturers in the world have real alternatives yet, after more than 30 years since the first oil crisis) cars or losing billions in gambling on the financial markets. I'd imagine you could probably get some very bad publicity going for Hasbro, if you wanted...