''Keep On Truckin'' is a one-page

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American artist who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contemporary American c ...

, published in the first issue of ''

Zap Comix ''Zap Comix'' is an underground comix series which was originally part of the Counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the late 1960s. While a few small-circulation self-published satirical comic books had been printed prior to this, ''Zap' ...

'' in 1968. A visual burlesque of the lyrics of the Blind Boy Fuller song "Truckin' My Blues Away", it consists of an assortment of men, drawn in Crumb's distinctive style, strutting across various landscapes. The cartoon's images were imitated and much displayed during the

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

era.

Copyright and licensing issues

The image has been imitated often without permission, appearing on

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a '' crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shir ...

poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...

belt buckle A belt buckle is a buckle, a clasp for fastening two ends, such as of straps or a belt (clothing), belt, in which a device attached to one of the ends is fitted or coupled to the other. The word enters Middle English via Old French and the ...

s, mudflaps, and other items. During the early 1970s, Crumb's lawyer started threatening lawsuits against anyone using the image without permission. Crumb and A.A. Sales, a producer of unlicensed ''Keep On Truckin'' merchandise, reached a settlement of $750 for the past usage, but A.A. Sales continued to sell unlicensed products after the settlement without paying additional fees. In 1973, Crumb's case was accepted by

United States District Court for the Northern District of California The United States District Court for the Northern District of California (in case citations, N.D. Cal.) is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, De ...

, and was heard by Judge Albert Charles Wollenberg, who had previously ruled against use of Walt Disney's characters in cartoon parodies by the cartoonists for the Air Pirates cartoons. A.A. Sales claimed the work was in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

, because Crumb had not included the

copyright symbol The copyright symbol, or copyright sign, (a circled capital letter C for copyright), is the symbol used in copyright notices for works other than sound recordings. 17 U.S.C. The use of the symbol is described by the Universal Copyright Conv ...

on the work, although he had done so in ''Zap'' #1 as a whole. The work was protected by the terms of the

1909 Copyright Act The Copyright Act of 1909 () was a landmark statute in United States statutory copyright law. It went into effect on July 1, 1909. The 1909 Act was repealed and superseded by the Copyright Act of 1976, which went into effect on January 1, 1978; ...

, and any omission of notice was considered to cause the work to be public domain. The drawing had also appeared on the business card of Crumb's publisher without the copyright symbol. Based on that, Wollenberg granted A.A. Sales' request for

summary judgment In law, a summary judgment, also referred to as judgment as a matter of law or summary disposition, is a Judgment (law), judgment entered by a court for one party and against another party summarily, i.e., without a full Trial (law), trial. Summa ...

, and ''Keep On Truckin became public domain. In 1977, the U.S. Court of Appeals reversed that decision, and it returned to copyrighted status. Crumb was offered $100,000 by Toyota to reproduce the image for a ''Keep On Truckin'' advertising campaign, but refused it. Crumb has sued various entities to defend the copyright, including

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...

in 2005.

Crumb's notions

Crumb used the cartoon as an example of what caused the discomfort he claims he felt with his sudden fame during the late 1960s, saying: In 1972, Crumb published a one-page self-parody of ''Keep On Truckin, which introduced a variety of new poses and slogans, including "Keep On Rollin' Along", "Keep On Chunkin, "Keep On Toodlin, and so on. The strip was covered in copyright symbols, and ended with an ironic suggestion that readers buy "Keep On Shuckin merchandise.Crumb, Robert. "Keep on Trucking'?" ''ZYX Comics'' (Kitchen Sink Press, June 1972).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keep On Truckin' (Comics) Comics by Robert Crumb Underground comix Counterculture of the 1960s Short comics Humor comics 1968 comics debuts 1968 comics endings Walking art Comedy catchphrases Quotations from comics 1968 quotations 1960s fads and trends