One of my favorite things about the holiday season is my annual viewing of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Thurl Ravenscroft’s  voice on You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, combined with Dr. Seuss’s lyrics, makes it an all time classic, and not just great for Christmas music. So, when I read about a recent copyright lawsuit over a play set as a parody follow-up to the Dr. Seuss classic, I immediately wanted to write a blog post about it.

Playwright Matthew Lombardo grew up as much of a fan of How the Grinch Stole Christmas as I am. But instead of just watching, he decided to write a play about Cindy Lou Who, and what she would have been like in later life. Unfortunately, however, the Seuss estate was none too happy with the play, and tried to stop it by claiming copyright infringement. 

But when I sat down to blog about the case and Lombardo’s eventual victory by fair use, I noticed a new post at the excellent website, Plagiarism Today, that does the job better than I ever could. Jonathan Bailey summarizes the whole case in a Seussian-style poem! Check it out; it’s worth every second of your time.