I’m saying this not because I dislike lawyers, but because when I try to find the hysterical Chick parody tract entitled “Who Will Be Eaten First?” all the links lead to one page which reads
Now, it’s entirely possible that the folks who manage Lovecraft’s estate are the ones who are responsible for the “legal stuff,” but considering the kind of stuff Lovecraft wrote about, I seriously doubt that the kind of folks willing to manage his estate would be the kind of humorless bastards who’d want to go after a website which skewers Chick and his tracts so well.
No, given Chick’s proclivity for racisim, ant-Catholicism, and well, just his hatred for all things not Jack Chick, I’d have to say that he was the guilty party. So fuck you again, Jack Chick.
Parody is protected speech, isn’t it? I only read the Cthulhu comic once but as far as I recall it never mentioned Jack Chick by name. He wouldn’t have legal grounds in that case to order it pulled, would he?
Legally, Chick wouldn’t have a leg to stand on, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t threaten to sue if the image wasn’t pulled. Since the artist probably doesn’t have the means to fight it out in court, he’s got no choice but to pull the image.
After Lovecraft died, his pal August Derleth acquired the rights to most of his work. Derleth is largely responsible for the fact that so many folks today read HP’s stuff. However, he also made sure nobody else used any terms he now had legal right to. I believe that Chaosium and Arkham House continue this practice.
I’ve read some detailed and convincing arguments that very nearly all of Lovecraft’s writing has passed into the public domain. However, Cthulu, The Necromomicon, etc and their distinctive likenesses remain the protected trademark of the above corporations. They pretty much have to sue folks for infringement every now and then. If they didn’t, they’d lose the trademark.
Derleth, HPL, Mockingbird (nee Hastur) or one of the Dopers with a law degree can tell you more.
Re-Chick
As has already been said, the only way he could successfully sue is if the Cthulhu tract used actual Chick artwork. He won a case against another Chick parody site because they used his art and only changed the text. The site was down briefly. Since then, they use original art drawn for the express purpose of mocking Chick.