A fellow named Galcik hit upon the idea of using the same panels that Bil Keane uses and having readers submit "alternate" captions. There are usually a few good ones, although most of the submissions are neither funny or insightful. Many are in bad taste.
Still, Galcik has been doing it since 1995, and I would have thought, this being America, he could do it as long as he wanted. The cartoons are properly attributed to the syndicate that owns the features and there is even a link to the official page from his site. There is a very clear clause in copyright law that states that quoting from a person's copyrighted work for the purpose of criticism is valid and requires no permission from the person who owns the copyright. Makes sense because, otherwise, free speech would be affected badly.
Well, Galcik recently got a lawyer's notice to shut down his web site on September 20. Is it worth his time and money to fight this thing in court? Probably not. Galcik complied. The web site is shut down.
Every one keeps claiming that the Internet is going to revolutionize communication because even ordinary people can have their say. That is not going to happen as long as it is possible to scare someone with legal tactics.
What we really need is, in the case of First Amendment issues, that if the person alleging copyright violation loses, he pays huge money to: a) the person accused b) a trust fund that will pay to defend other people so accused.
The next time you see Bil Keane's cartoons, say this to yourself: thug.
