The Tobermory Cat-Troll

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Susan Coffin

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He hides behind the curtains covering the front door and leaps out at you as you walk past. Mind you, it took him months to learn that he needed to *hide* for it to work. It's hard of course for a cat to know whether his tail's sticking out....

My cats have a whole obstacle course in the house. They have a kitty condo, then connected squares and tubs made out of crunch material, and of course the corners around the recliner chairs. As if Buddy can not see Oliver when he "hides" ready to pounce. :D

We've veered this conversation way off course by talking about the.....

Absolute Write Cats.
 

thothguard51

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I actually like Debi's work, I could see benifits from working with them - but not for them. I have suggested ways to work with them, they pay a small percentage to our village Hall, true, I get nothing but as a maker of things, I expect some reward. 2.5% gross from all sales does not sound excessive.

The publisher asked you several times what you wanted. He was trying to work with you when the truth is, he did not have to even approach you. I call that professional courtesy which is more than you have shown...

And when you met Debi, you did not exactly tell her you liked her work, but now you claim you do. That's called back peddling out of the dung pie you stepped in...

Look, you obviously are a talented artist and somewhat creative. You have your own version of the Tobermory Cats and their stories. Find a publisher and pitch your ideas to them. There is nothing to stop you...
 

Polenth

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Is anyone else finding that with every post, "Tobermory Cat" is making it more and more clear that he hasn't got even the vaguest hint of a claim?

For me, that's the point of replying to him. He's a lost cause, as if he was going to listen to anyone, it would have happened months ago. But some of the people he encouraged to attack the author will also be reading this, and they're not lost causes. By posting here and replying to people, he's confirmed that he's read the thread. So he knows the older references to the cat exist and predate his birth.

He can chose to ignore that all he likes, but it's the other people I hope read it and take note of it. They've been manipulated into becoming a mob, by having some of the facts concealed from them. Most importantly, that this local legend has been around for a long time and was not created by the Facebook page owner.
 

RedWombat

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*sigh*

Sweetheart, have you not realized by now that sometimes people just plain have the same idea? And then one of them publishes it and you, having been going around thinking "Hey, what a neat idea I have!" run across it and go "...well, damn. Guess I shoulda moved quicker."

And heck, you're an artist--haven't you ever done a painting and somebody else says "Hey, that looks just like X!" and you go and look at X and...well, crap. Great minds think alike. There is nothing new under the sun, and the sun's starting looking pretty derivative. (I'm still occasionally apologizing to Mormons for apparently doing a painting very similar to a classic piece showing Joseph Smith visited by angels, even though there's no way a non-Mormon would have tripped over it, and furthermore mine involves a squirrel and a flying pear. And they're all so NICE about it. I wouldn't feel the need to apologize, if they weren't so nice...)

Point is, that's just life. Whipping up internet mobs to go yell at people? I expect that from teenagers--hell, "STOP COPYING MEEE!!1" is practically a rallying cry--but adults are expected to handle things with a good bit more delicacy.
 

Bookewyrme

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Is anyone else finding that with every post, "Tobermory Cat" is making it more and more clear that he hasn't got even the vaguest hint of a claim?
I found his posts extremely difficult to read (he seemed to be writing in rather poor English?) so I may be wrong. But he seems to be saying his only objection is that Gliori used the title "The Tobermory Cat" for her story? And that all his work has going for it is the title (which seems a weird thing to claim) so by using the same title she's infringing on his rights?

Which is a bit...silly, as others have pointed out that you can not, in fact, copyright a title. Particularly a title that has been used before!
 

Deleted member 42


In fact even my mom had a ginger tom.

leo_01.jpg
 

DreamWeaver

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In fact even my mom had a ginger tom.

leo_01.jpg
Great internal rhyme! In fact, that sounds like a great line for the first verse of "The Ballad of the Tobermory Cat Troll". Or possibly the first line of the chorus: :D

In fact even my mom had a ginger tom,
And a ginger cat can be short or long,
But the title role for most internet pull
Belongs to the Tobermory Ginger Cat Troll.
 
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Susan Coffin

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I wonder what Dewey Readmore Books would think about this? I'm sure he would say you can't trademark a real cat, and you certainly can't copyright any ideas regarding this lovely cat.

Unless Tobermory Cat had one human owner, he belonged to the people of Tobermory. Same with Dewey, he belonged to a library in a town.

To the poster Tobermory Cat: your art and literary works of the Tobermory cat are yours, but you do not have any ownership of this cat, or even the idea of using the cat in any story. How could you? It's not even your cat.

Anybody else can write about this cat, draw pictures, paint portraits, and even take photos and have them published.

It seems to me you are trying to ruin another writer's reputation because you truly believe you own the idea of the Tobermory Cat. That's what is saddest of all.
 

buz

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Cat pictures on the internet without funny misspelled captions???

*mind blown*
 

James D. Macdonald

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I have a dozen questions for Tobermory Cat:

1) Did you, or persons encouraged by you, post on Facebook that Ms. Gliori is a thief, or words to that effect?

2) Did you, or persons encouraged by you, post messages to libraries where Ms. Gliori was scheduled to appear, on the subject of copyright and theft of intellectual property?

3) Did you, or someone encouraged by you, Tweet to the Edinburgh Book Festival on the subject of copyright or theft of intellectual property?

4) Did you, or someone encouraged by you, post defamatory material on Amazon discussion pages of Ms. Gliori's books?

5) Did you, or someone encouraged by you, attempt to destroy Ms. Gliori's livelihood?

6) Did you, or someone encouraged by you, threaten violence against Ms. Gliori?

7) Did you, or persons encouraged by you, call Ms. Gliori's publisher on the phone to make threatening and/or obscene suggestions?

8) Did you, or persons encouraged by you, edit the Wikipedia page concerning Ms. Gliori?

9) What is your understanding of the term "cyberstalking"?

10) What is your understanding of the term "trolling" as it relates to the Internet?

11) What is your understanding of the term "cyberbullying"?

12) What is your understanding of the term "extortion"?
 

amergina

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I have a dilute ginger tom. (And a chocolate tom):

287259_original.png


(The towel in the back is trademarked, BTW.)
 

blueobsidian

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Great internal rhyme! In fact, that sounds like a great line for the first verse of "The Ballad of the Tobermory Cat Troll". Or possibly the first line of the chorus: :D

In fact even my mom had a ginger tom,
And a ginger cat can be short or long,
But the title role for most internet pull
Belongs to the Tobermory Ginger Cat Troll.

Great, now I'm going to be up all night composing verses, since I seem to have gotten some rhymes stuck in my head:

Only in his mind was it one of a kind
Although the facts were quite clear.
Even my mom has a ginger tom,
But the internet troll would not hear.
 

calieber

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I guess every Harry Potter has to have its Legend of Rah.

Incidentally, if I win NaNo this year with Robin Hood, I expect the checks from the estate of Howard Pyle to start arriving in time for Christmas. Also Sir Walter Scott.
 

Bicyclefish

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When did you apply, and was the trademark granted?


So, this was after the vendetta against Debi began? (I apologize if I have the timeline incorrect. Please correct me if I do).

Was the trademark granted?
I found the trademark information: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/tm/t-os/t-find/t-find-number?detailsrequested=C&trademark=2615277

Note the TC conflict started long before. Though I'm sure the worst posts were deleted from the Facebook page, it's mentioned in December 16, 2011:

The Edinburgh publishers who we call Gog McWong and Co Inc ( because it sounds like an Edinburgh rip off of the very talented TV makeover designer Goc Wan) claim they are the creators of the Tobermory Cat character. We try to be positive. We are flattered that they like our creation. We note they have had an illustrator following Tobermory Cat on facebook for months. They intend to merchandise what we consider to be our creation by producing a kids book based on our Tobermory Cat. For commercial reasons T.C. Management really doesn't want to go anywhere near Balamory – we preferring to work amongst the more playful adult demographic and don't want our creation dragging off to play school. They think otherwise. Forgive the lack of posts but Gog McWong and Co Inc are killing the fun.
 

jjdebenedictis

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Acrimony dissolves into cat photos and silly poetry?

My faith in humanity is restored. :)
 
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