The Judge Owned One Lamp

Origin Woody Woodpecker was created by cartoonist Walter Lantz in 1940. Lantz claimed that when he created Woody, he did not know woodpeckers were real birds. “I based Woody off of a falcon. A falcon that hated trees,” he said in a 1953 interview with Bird Monthly Magazine. When Lantz was informed that woodpeckers were real birds, he initially sued the species for intellectual property theft (Lantz v All Woodpeckers On Earth), claiming they stole his idea with their existence. The case was thrown out when the judge claimed, “If we let people sue birds, what’s next? People suing lamps? I own several lamps and do not want them sued.” Many years later it was discovered the judge lied. He only owned one lamp. Walter Lantz shortly before being arrested for illegally hanging up his own paintings at the Louvre

A screenshot of a mock Wikipedia-style article about the origin of Woody Woodpecker, accompanied by a photograph of Walter Lantz standing beside paintings. The absurd joke claims Lantz sued real woodpeckers for stealing his idea, while the judge dismissing the case supposedly lied about owning several lamps and actually owned only one. It is shared as a surreal parody of trivia articles and deliberately fabricated historical facts.

• @memetutorial / 14633 2021-05-17