The plaintiffs in the case, Charles Schmidt and Christopher Orlando Torres*, are the creators of Keyboard Cat and Nyan Cat, respectively. They allege that Warner Bros’ use of the characters in various Scribblenauts games amounts to copyright and trademark infringement. The game’s developer, 5th Cell, is also named in the suit.

Here’s what Schmidt and Torres are accusing Warner Bros of:

Plaintiffs accuse Warner Bros and 5th Cell of including, without any licenses or authorizations, the Keyboard Cat and Nyan Cat characters in their original Scribblenauts videogame released in 2009, the 2010 Super Scribblenauts, 2011 Scribblenauts Remix, and the 2012 Scribblenauts Unlimited. Defendants are accused of shamelessly using identifying “Nyan Cat” and “Keyboard Cat” by name to promote and market their games. Plaintiffs claim that Warner Bros and 5th Cell’s trademark infringement was willful and intentional and are requesting an award of treble damages

Maybe the best part of this whole thing is the lawyers’ descriptions of the memes. Especially Nyan Cat:

“Nyan Cat is a cartoon. Nyan cat, a character with a cat’s face and body resembling a horizontal breakfast bar with pink frosting sprinkled with light red dots, flies across the screen, leaving a stram of exhaust in the form of a bright rainbow in its wake.”

The lawsuit explains hows both videos were viral sensations, Keyboard Cat being named to many “greatest viral videos” lists and Nyan Cat winning the 2012 Webby award for “meme of the year.”

Both Schmidt and Torres have copyrights for their memes registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. Schmidt has two pending trademark applications and Torres has one.

*It’s important to note that Torres created the Nyan Cat animation, but is not the one to set it to that famously annoying music and throw it up on YouTube.

[Milord & Associates via Ars Technica]

The image, which is being called a “hate filled post targeted at Muslims,” features an older man in a cowboy hat aiming down the sights of a long-barreled shotgun. “HOW TO WINK AT A MUSLIM,” says the caption. Here’s a screencap of the post, courtesy of The Daily Dot. West has since deleted the post:

West says that he didn’t actually create the image, but he did share it. He also said that it was meant to be humorous.

“Why am I being singled out?” he asked.

“I’m prejudiced against anyone who’s trying to tear down this country, Muslims, Mexicans, anybody,” he told The Tullahoma News. “If you come into this country illegally or harm us or take away benefits, I’m against it”

“I just showed it to somebody else,” he continued. “If you’re going to harm this country, I’m not in favor of you…I don’t appreciate people trying to tear down this country.”

Concerned with a recent string of anti-Muslim acts in Middle Tennessee, The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro had this to say:

“This does not only incite hatred but also violence against law-abiding citizens of our great country. Mr. West obviously lacks in wisdom and judgment and, therefore, cannot be trusted as commissioner. I wonder what would Mr. West’s response would be if the same photo was posted by someone with a caption that says: ‘How to Wink at Mr. West, a Coffee County Commissioner?’”

West is also drawing criticism from groups on Facebook, like the Christian Left.

“Coffee County, TN Commissioner Barry West (D) posted this on his facebook page on Saturday. This is a hate filled post targeted at Muslims and is not acceptable from anyone, let alone someone holding a public office!
Tell Commissioner Barry West this is NOT acceptable and that he needs to apologize to the Muslim community immediately,” they say in a post.

Coffee County Mayor David Pennington has released a statement distancing himself from West:

“As the Mayor of Coffee County I apologize to the Muslim people. I have no control over what the commissioners do outside of public meetings. I personally wouldn’t have done it, I have a great relationship with the Muslim community.”

Although polls show a substantial (90% according to some) support for this measure among Americans, the Senate was unable to pass it through.

President Obama called it a “pretty shameful day for Washington.” You know all of that. Ok.

Well, it appears that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is basking in his victory with Facebook memes.

Here’s what was posted to the official Mitch McConnell Facebook page in the aftermath of the vote. It shows Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) asking for some “gun control,” being denied by McConnell, and in the end hanging his head in defeat.

“We love the memes you send us! Keep them coming!” reads the post. So it looks like a supporter created the 5-panel graphic and Team McConnell decided to share it with their 32,000+ followers.

“Shame on you! You have sold out on the children of Newtown,” says one commenter.

“Shame on every senator who voted against background checks–supported by 90% of Americans. Do you represent us or the NRA?” says another.

The post is generating a lot of buzz with over 3,000 shares and over 5.600 comments. Team McConnell has a history of using the Facebook page to generate support with memes (just take a look at their past activity), but it seems they may have stepped in it here by posting such a flippant gloat over an issue which many Americans would consider of grave importance.

Watch Brie imitate more popular internet memes below, and accept the terrible fact that she’ll never be your girlfriend.

[MadeManDotCom]

No? That’s not a thing? Either way, I’ll be willing to bet that there’s still a fairly large contingent of you out there whose heart still flutters with the mere mention of BSB. You know who you are. And this is for you:

Benjamin Blouin fully admits to hacking the network, but he says that he only did so to illustrate its flaws.

Anyone trying to access the FSU Wi-Fi on March 1st was redirected from the FSU homepage to a “video of two men having sex.” To denizens of the internet, that redirect led everyone to the infamous shock video known as “Meatspin.”

Meatspin, a meme from the mid-2000s (SFW), features a close-up of two men having sex with the Dead of Alive song “You Spin Me Round” playing in the background. It actually comes from a porno film from 1985.

Apparently, Blouin says that he has been trying to bring the issue of network insecurity to the school’s attention for over a year. I guess he just needed something a little more shocking to get it.

“Anybody’s identity, while they’re logged onto that network, could be at risk,” said our hacktivist.

According to the report, FSU has shut off public access to the Wi-Fi network to “implement system upgrades.” Apparently, they will not require everyone to login to use the Wi-Fi.

All I can say is that this is the most successful use of meatspin that I’ve ever seen. And boy, are they some pretty great comedic opportunities associated with meatspin (risky click of the day award goes to…).

[News Herald via BetaBeat]

Ah hell, you can send me hate email. Fine.

[MiamiHeat]

From what I can tell, here’s how we got to what you’re about to see:

First, a two-minute compilations of goats screaming like humans went viral a couple of weeks ago. At some time after that, someone stuck a screaming goat into the Taylor Swift song “I Knew You Were Trouble.” That revitalized an older meme – the “goat edition.” After that, people began putting screaming goats into other songs. As of right now, thousands upon thousands of “goat editions” are searchable on YouTube.

But in the last few days, the attention has turned back on Taylor Swift. People began to replace the screaming goat with other things – like a motion-activated paper towel dispenser or Nicolas Cage’s “not the bees” bit from The Wicker Man.

Other popular inserts included a screaming bunny and the best cry ever, an old meme from the TV show Intervention.

All of that leads us to what is hopefully the end of all of this. Watch it and you’ll see why.

Who am I kidding? It’s the internet – this sh*t is probably just getting started.

[via reddit]

It’s the “Goat Edition” mashup, and it’s taking the internet by storm.

People have been making “Goat Editions” of popular songs and throwing them up on YouTube for a while. For instance, this goat-screaming mashup of Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “Niggas in Paris” first hit YouTube back in December of 2011. And you can go even further back in the archives to find the same goat singing alongside Usher back in 2009. But ever since the Taylor Swift “I Know You Were Trouble” Goat Edition blew up over the weekend, YouTube has started to fill up with various Goat Editions of popular songs.

It seems the internet reignited their love for goats yelling like humans nearly two weeks ago when a two-minute long mashup of various screaming goats went viral.

Thanks to the revived fascination, we have plenty of new Goat Editions to bring you. Here are some of the best:

“They’re dry-humping air.”

“This is an absolute mockery of what it was.”

These are actual quotes from actual residents of Harlem, said after watching Harlem Shake videos on the internet. You can keep doing your 30-second videos and throwing them up on YouTube, sure, but remember: you’re not really doing the Harlem Shake.

[Schlepp Films]