In the Harms vs. David Lillie / Vivid Publishing lawsuit, there is now a definitive outcome. The Plaintiff had their literal day in court, and court subsequently decided that a single day in court was quite enough.
“Why shouldn’t I dismiss this case?” the judge essentially asked during a hearing on Thursday August 07, 2025.
Despite the Plaintiff’s strange hunger for a trial, no legally coherent answer to the judge’s question emerged from his floundering counsel, and the remainder of the lawsuit was thrown out on jurisdictional grounds.
Entirely.
It is over. We won on absolutely everything. Victory to Vivid and the good guys.
We feel an ocean swell of gratitude and pride in our unstoppable team at Front Range Legal Services, the formidable Mr. Arsenault and Mr. Peterson, for their patience in capably wrangling the years of antics splurting from the opposition. And, of course, we owe COLOSSAL thanks to every last backer of our Legal Defense Fund. ( https://www.givesendgo.com/FreeTheArt ) Your steadfast support and goodwill carried the day.
It’s incredible just how badly some people DO NOT WANT YOU OR ANYONE to be able to enjoy Vivid’s work, to the point where they will expend untold resources(?) and start a literal federal lawsuit aiming to cut you off from our art.
But we fought for us, and for you, to keep the shining loop of creation alive.
Thanks to this battle, Vivid is stronger than ever. Before we had no legal contacts, and now we are connected to incredible talent in the field of copyright, IP, and litigation. Readers rallied to the cause, solidarity came from unexpected corners, and our support has never been higher. The ripple effects of this triumph go beyond us:
We hope this precedent serves to protect all independent artists.
If a creator has drawn every last line of art and written every single word of story, they should be allowed to post it. (ESPECIALLY when another party signs a contract explicitly granting the artist permission to share their work forever!) At no point should an artist be at risk of getting dragged into federal court over simply showing you, freely, what they themselves made.
Because we fought and won, hopefully nobody will do this to any other innocent artists, ever again.
But it’s not quite accurate to say everything is over.
While the lawsuit targeting us is toast, the law itself may not be done with the Plaintiff and his counsel.
The Plaintiff went a little wild, using this lawsuit as a vehicle to subpoena internet companies, a furry convention, the personal information of totally unrelated convention attendees (well, unrelated to us, one of the targeted attendees seems to have quite the interesting personal history with the Plaintiff’s attorney) the contents of the e-mails of their own friends / witnesses, social media companies, you name it.
Representing some of the 3rd parties harassed by these proceedings, another attorney has alleged that the Plaintiff’s lawyer should be sanctioned for his conduct. If the court agrees, the Plaintiff’s attorney will be forced to pay potentially up to $12,000 in sanctions.
And that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
According to multiple attorneys we’ve consulted, the Plaintiff’s actions may have done more than enough to merit a counter-suit. In addition to a steaming pile of fraudulent DMCA claims, the Plaintiff violated their contract with us repeatedly, and this doesn’t even begin to touch on ‘tortious interference with a business,’ which we’re told makes for a rock-solid cause of action in this circumstance. To make matters worse, they admitted under oath during a deposition that their actions were colored by political motivations. And exacerbating their liability even more, they did ALL OF THIS while being fully advised and informed by their legal counsel, which removes the brightest defense they might have retreated to, that of clueless ignorance.
They had none of this potential liability in their life until they seemingly abused the law to attack us, on the advice of their counsel. If I were in their shoes, I’d be googling “legal malpractice.”
Amazing to consider what the alternate branch of possibilities was. For years, the Plaintiff was happy at the prospect that together we’d publish this book with a crowdfunding campaign. Hand-painted figurines, glossy hardcovers, color prints, with no effort needed on his part, and profits being shared with him, all for the glorification of…
Well, I guess we can’t really call it fully ‘his’ character anymore, because legally the graphic novel is ours. When he suddenly wanted us to cancel the crowdfund, we were disappointed but honored his request. But he decided that wasn’t good enough, and initiated all of… this.
So what happens next?
If we decide to pursue the Plaintiff with a lawsuit of our own, fleet members will be the first to know. (Well- the third to know, after our legal team and the parties being served.) Could be very soon, or years from now. We’ll keep our eyes open so we can make the appropriate decisions.
But for now, let’s all toast to a flawless victory.
Independent creativity, art, and story carried the day.
Viva la Vivid.
