It’s rare for a genius to truly get satisfaction in his own time. Picasso was unappreciated until much later in life and Van Gogh died before receiving the notoriety he deserved. And so we meet Joel Comm, creator of iFart Mobile, who finds himself so decidedly under-appreciated and misrepresented in the realm fart programs for the iPhone that he is suing his closest competitor, Pull My Finger.
Mr. Comm, a well known web-marketer, describes how the company that makes Pull My Finger, Air-o-matic, asked for $50,000 for using the tagline “Pull my finger!” in some of his PR materials and on a YouTube video representing iFart Mobile. Long story short, now Comm is asking a judge to find that “pull my finger” is part of public domain, essentially shutting Air-o-Matic up with the legal system. His court documents are here.
Now I’m no lawyer, but this whole thing sounds like people pissing – or farting – into the wind. “Pull my finger” is pretty common and I’m fairly certain it’s been used before in marketing, if only for some gross-out junk from the 1980s. As for iFart and Comm, well, homeboy got lucky. The Orlando Sentinel and a few other papers wrote about Comm and iFart, pointing out that Comm basically saw a hole and filled it. I’m of two minds when it comes to applications like iFart – it dumbs down the app store yet proves that you can make big money with the right idea – but this is kids in a slap fight.
I agree…this is silly and pointless, and casts the creator of iFart (if its possible) in a worse light than the other company. He must have a lot of money to throw around to engage in goofy legal battles like this one.
Joel is going to get sooo clobbered on this! Read HIS court documents! wow. what a fool. He should accept the 50K offer and pay it, because he will lose so big on this one, it’s not even funny. It will quickly be a 6-figure loss for him if he continues to fight.
What is the world coming too? lol
I love it! I don’t trust anyone that doesn’t think farts are funny.
I’ve always like Joel Comm’s products, however after reading this article, I may never going to buy any of his products again. I think this lawsuit is ridiculous. It is a waste of time, money and effort.
These guys got stupid-lucky, in a way, by capturing a moment of interest with a dumb app and making tons of money. There’s some kind of weird poetic justice that they are finding equally stupid ways to piss the profits away…
I think the creator pull made finger is mad at ifart for becoming a successful app because I believe pull my finger was the first known fart app to be developed for the iphone (and was rejected at first).
I haven’t used any of the fart apps but I believe ifart mobile is the most successful because of the name. People don’t want to wade through the all the apps just to find what they want. It’s easier to type what you want in the search box and pick the first choice. This is why I believe the “solitaire” app is the number one card game app on the market.
Wait so color me confused here. Mr Comm is asked for $50,000 by Air-O-matic because he used the phrase “pull my finger”, he fights this and he’s the bad guy here?
Josh, I would like you to give me $50,000 for the use of the phrase “color me confused” in your comment.
People can ask for whatever they want. If you decided to sue me for asking you for it, that would be analogous to what Comm is doing. Ridiculous? Extremely.
Doesn’t anyone read? It’s not a lawsuit, it’s a Complaint for Declaratory Judgment. Comm just wants PMF to go away and stop threatening lawsuits over use of the phrase “pull my finger” as a “tag.” PMF’s the aggressor here, Comm’s just fighting back.
I would think that he should counter sue for not only the cost of legal expenses, but also for punitive damages caused from the frivolous lawsuit itself.
someone else pointed out that the lawyer for Joel Comm was promoting his book on the law website. I have confirmed this is true. Also, this lawyer has Adsense all over his website. Is this some kind of joke?
Another post also made a good point that Joel Comm is using blogs to get lots of free marketing exposure with this b.s. case. Looks like its working.
If there is one thing that has become apparent is that this Joel Comm guy is cheesy with no shame.
For whatever reason, the USPTO granted “pull my finger” as a live trademark to Air-O-Matic. Perhaps they were burning some rope that day. Or perhaps they need to get out more – I don’t quite know how that comes about and just speculation as I’m no lawyer but it is now a trademark case – the issue at hand being whether or not the trademark issued is actually valid.
Isn’t it awesome that the iPhone can get this kind of publicity from two of the stupidest apps ever conceived?
John, you are an idiot. You can’t write a sentence, let alone an entire news-worthy article. Stick to the camera reviews. They aren’t timely or helpful, but they’re better than this.
In related news, Air-O-Matic has stated that they also intend to pursue legal action against Beavis and Butthead as well as countless other teen litigants.
ROFLZ!!!1!!!one!
man, that stinks…
On that note: http://go2.me/ns
“Picasso was unappreciated until much later in life..”
uh, i’m sorry, but have you heard of art history? what are you talking about?
Dave, he didnt heard or tried to find about it :)
But it could be a catchy phrase there, unless completelly nonsense. lol
such a stinky situation
I hope they don’t blow it way out of proportion…
“Comm basically saw a hole and filled it.”
Snigger…
Some of you are missing the point of Joel Comm’s lawsuit. He and his attorney are seeking a declaratory judgment in Colorado courts. They are obviously expecting Air-o-Matic to file a lawsuit (seeking monetary damages and an injunction) and are trying to short-circuit this by getting a Colorado – hometown, BTW – judge to accept jurisdiction over the issue and render a declaration that iFart is NOT infringing. This is an entirely appropriate and prudent legal strategy.
Hi guys!
I’m Sam, the guy who made Pull My Finger. We reluctantly posted our response here http://air-o-matic.com/.
I formally apologize to the human race for dragging it down a notch.
Thanks,
Sam
Sam,
Funny, I didn’t even have to see the video to take your side. I read the court filing. Infomedia is shady. Their tactics of bringing light to the situation is only digging them a deeper hole. They are very good at marketing and its becoming clear that there attitude is to use “black hat” marketing tactics and deceive. It sucks that you guys have to now hire a lawyer in Colorado to put this to rest. There only objective was to have you spend money. I would suggest that you consult your attorney and file in your home state and have them waste some money on attorney fees as well.
Wow, Joel Comm aka “Infomedia” is one dirty web marketer. I hope he loses this court case and his app in the Apple store.
The headline was too good to pass.
iPhone fart apps are lame. Sure farts are funny, but putting them on an iphone and selling the app is so middle-American lame. A beaver that turned into a vag – now that would be a funny app.
This is a marketing scheme, i say and it’s too obvious
Hey screen sleuth,
Joel Comm does actually have lots of xXx $ gUaP $ xXx to throw around like that. That’s the man that talks about making mad paper off of Google AdSense. He even gives you a sneak peek of his house a little bit on YouTube, and even the mini movie theatre he has too. So yeah, this legal battle is putting $$ in his pocket, one way or another !
The judicial system is bent, and broken beyond all proportion, when something like this can even make to a hearing.
Suing to avoid being sued, calling it proactive offense in advance of a reactive defense in order to preserve venue. Any judge would have to ask the real question; Are you all nuts?!
After several exchanges on Twitter yesterday with iFart’s legal representative I concluded that this is all a bunch of gas and hot air!
@DDGriffith
That means you have a legal system that is working. That it takes time and money for frivolous suits is prbably annoying, however in countries like South Africa where you cannot sue for this kind of stuff it has deeper implications for seemingly unrelated stuff. Not being able to sue anyone for not providing the service they promised or at least it becomes a horrendously expensive thing to have to do. I got a new mobile phone contract with one of the Local yokels here called MTN, who are largly owner by the govt. The govt does not care about the people so the MTN company does not either. So be thankful you have the legal system you have,
Hilary,
While completely sympathetic to your situation, and having lived in several countries with differing social, cultural, economic and legal systems, I fail to see any connection whatever to my comment. On a slightly larger scope, I fail to see any relationship to the situation I commented on either.
I think I would’ve skipped most of pages 2-6 in the declaratory judgment; unless the judge skipped the fifth grade he or she will understand.
Pardon the pun but Air-O-Matic’s claim stinks: the judge should grant this, along with fees. Between this and the AP claim against the freehand drawing may be based on one of their photos (which might or might not be owned by them) of Obama at a public rally I’m tired of seeing over-reaching IP claims on what are clearly people trying to usurp IP in the public domain.
lawsuits = free publicity and mentions on techcrunch. both parties win! That’s just smart marketing. Congrats to both!
Exactly!
Favorite part of the court document is the CAPITAL LETTERS TYPO on page 10:
PULL QOUTE: “This app is a work of art, it’s pure genius! the UI is great and easy
to use….
Joel is going to get sooo clobbered on this! Read HIS court documents! wow. what a fool. He should accept the 50K offer and pay it, because he will lose so big on this one, it’s not even funny. It will quickly be a 6-figure loss for him if he continues to fight.
His court filing is clearly a last grasp, an act of desperation. Maybe he can get lucky if the judge is asleep.
Even if “that phrase is so common, [Joel's] been using it since [he] was a kid”, like he says on his blog comments, that does NOT preclude someone from naming their product with the name, and using trademark protection for this specific use.
Otherwise, I may as well name my computer company Apple ComputerS because the words Apple and Computer have been around since i was a kid. (giant duh!)
Yes, you CAN trademark common phrases for specific trade uses. Joel loses. bummer.
“… Van Gogh died before receiving the notoriety he deserved.”
no·to·ri·e·ty (nt-r-t)
n. ill fame; the state of being known for some unfavorable act or quality
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/notoriety
Ok, I don’t really care. What I want to know is; Who can I sue for people spending creative time and money on applications such as iFart??
The whole thing leaves a rotten taste in my mouth about Joel Comm.
In fact, I’ve always had that bad taste….. What a shocker.
What a bad case and bad pres for the iStinker.
That’s press not pres.