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Description
I've noticed a few people going on about how Cuphead somehow "stole" the 30's cartoon style idea from Bendy and the Ink Machine, so I figured I'd put this out there.

First off, some context.

The Inkblot cartoon style originated in the Silent Age of Animation(1900's-late 1920's), and is often associated with "rubber hose animation"(read: animating a characters limbs like they are joint-less tubes, like hoses).

Common features include four fingered hands, big white gloves, pie eyes, and usually a black body with a white or partially white face.
Most of these features helped to either make animating easier or make it easier to see what a character is doing.
(Remember, these would be black and white cartoons with no audio- barring the occasional use of speech bubbles, body language is key to getting anything across to the audience.)

Now that we all know what in the hay I'm talking about, allow me to explain why this accusation is ridiculous.

1: YOU CANNOT COPYRIGHT AN IDEA

Copyright only protects an actual work- not an idea or concept just floating nebulously in your head.
If you don't at the very least scribble it down in a notebook or slap it into Word or something, you can not claim someone stole your work if they come up with something similar, as you literally have no work.

For example, if you were to try to publish one of the Harry Potter books under your name, you'd get sued for copyright violation. Ditto for actively copying most of the work and/or significant parts of it.

However, if you were to write about your own wizarding school, however, you would have nothing to fear, as "wizarding school" is an idea anyone can use- which is why we don't see Rowling suing the Magisterium Chronicles(I highly recommend the Iron Trial- but back to the topic at hand.)

In short, you can't steal what can't be copyrighted, and "inkblot cartoon style" is only an idea, and thus ineligible for such protection.
(As are all tropes.)

2: Inkblot Style Was Used by Basically EVERYONE In the 30's

Yes, Disney used this style- but at the time he was a young man getting inspiration from older animators' works

Max And Dave Fleischer were the inspiration for both the young Disney and the visuals for Cuphead, and were some of the most prolific animators of their time.
There were also countless other lesser-known artists making content at the time, but success varied, and given that the span of the Silent Age bumps up right against the 30's (and thus The Great Depression) meant that some just didn't last all that long.
Given that Disney and Fleischer had great respect for each other, they clearly didn't mind having a similar style- and neither should we.

Accusing people of stealing from another work solely on the basis of inkblot style makes just as much sense as saying Avatar: The Last Airbender is a rip-off of Sailor Moon just because it used an anime style.

3: You Can't Accuse Someone of Stealing From Another Work If Their Work Actually Came First

BATIM came out in 2017-so did Cuphead.
However, Cuphead was first announced in 2014, and was first conceptualized in 2010.
To clarify, that means Cuphead predates Bendy by a MINIMUM of at least THREE YEARS, before adding the time for development.
The total difference in time is seven years- that's almost a decade before BATIM.

Needless to say, if Bendy's creators were to try to sue Cuphead for "stealing" (,which would pretty much never happen, as it would be a pointless money pit with no benefits for anyone that neither indie team could realistically afford,) it would result in a "Rah and The Muggles" situation.

For reference,N.K. Stouffer, the author of the aforementioned book tried to sue Rowling(I sense a theme here) in 1999 over her use of the word "muggle", and for using common fantasy elements that Miss Stouffer delusion-ally thought were her intellectual property.
Her case was laughed out of court, any potential writing career was basically ruined due to the frivolous suit, and said book not only couldn't sell even with the controversy, the publishing house that tried to cash in on the fiasco actually TANKED.

Naturally, no one wants that.

4: Bendy and Cuphead are NOT the first to use the Inkblot Style

They are predated by Peacock from Skullgirls, who is predated the Timeless River in Kingdom Hearts II, which is predated by early designs of Sonic which are in turn predated by the design of Pac-Man.

And that's just me going off the video game examples on the TvTropes page for "Inkblot Cartoon Style"- there's still the sub-tropes like "Pie-Eyed", Rubber Hose Animation, the one for the gloves,and so forth, probably a few on Retraux amongst other throwbacks, and more, to say nothing of games not even mentioned on that site.

They are most likely the first to make it the entire theme of the game, but they are not the first to use it in general.

5:The Inkblot Style is Basically the ONLY Thing Bendy and Cuphead Have in Common

One is an episodic horror game, in first person, with 3d graphics, and a limited color palette, in which you explore an abandoned animation studio and are pursued by ink demons while trying to solve puzzles.

The other is a boss run with a few extra levels,in third person, with hand-drawn art that is quite colorful, in which you (and a friend, if you have one,) play as a pair of brothers collecting souls for the devil so he doesn't take yours by run-and-gunning across platforms to defeat your fellow contract-ees.

Other than a demonic antagonist, the inkblot style, and being an indie game, Cuphead and Bendy have nothing in common, and what they do have in common is not grounds for a lawsuit.

6: Even If Somehow The Inkblot Style WERE Copyrighted, It Would Have Most Likely Defaulted to Public Domain by Now

An intellectual property is automatically copyrighted to its creator, for the duration of the creator's lifespan, plus fifty years after they die.
(Unless they sell or waive the rights to someone else, but that's another topic entirely.)
After that, it becomes Public Domain.
Just about everyone who made cartoons in the Silent Era is long dead, so most of the cartoons are in the Public Domain.

What this means is that anyone can use it for whatever and that said work is no longer copyrighted, thus you don't need to credit or anything.
(Although claiming you made it would still be in bad taste.)

Now here's the important part: although you can copyright your version of a Public Domain character/story/whathaveyou, and could copyright your additions to the work (edits, footnotes, designs, your interpretation of a character, etc.), you CANNOT prevent anyone else from using that Public Domain thing, whatever it may be.

Once something becomes Public Domain, it can never be copyrighted again, and anything that predates copyright law is Public Domain.
This is why we can have so many different Lokis and not just the Marvel one. Ditto for things like holiday figures, mythical creatures(especially dragons), legendary heroes (especially Heracles/Hercules), and many, many other things.

In short, you can't steal something that's Public Domain.

In conclusion, the inkblot style is an idea, thus ineligible for a copyright, even if it did have one it would have defaulted to Public Domain by now, and a similar style is not grounds for a lawsuit and, as demonstrated by precedent, an accusation of theft based solely on this would NEVER hold up in a court of law.

Trope Pages Mentioned in This Description:
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php…
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php…

Description
I've noticed a few people going on about how Cuphead somehow "stole" the 30's cartoon style idea from Bendy and the Ink Machine, so I figured I'd put this out there.

First off, some context.

The Inkblot cartoon style originated in the Silent Age of Animation(1900's-late 1920's), and is often associated with "rubber hose animation"(read: animating a characters limbs like they are joint-less tubes, like hoses).

Common features include four fingered hands, big white gloves, pie eyes, and usually a black body with a white or partially white face.
Most of these features helped to either make animating easier or make it easier to see what a character is doing.
(Remember, these would be black and white cartoons with no audio- barring the occasional use of speech bubbles, body language is key to getting anything across to the audience.)

Now that we all know what in the hay I'm talking about, allow me to explain why this accusation is ridiculous.

1: YOU CANNOT COPYRIGHT AN IDEA

Copyright only protects an actual work- not an idea or concept just floating nebulously in your head.
If you don't at the very least scribble it down in a notebook or slap it into Word or something, you can not claim someone stole your work if they come up with something similar, as you literally have no work.

For example, if you were to try to publish one of the Harry Potter books under your name, you'd get sued for copyright violation. Ditto for actively copying most of the work and/or significant parts of it.

However, if you were to write about your own wizarding school, however, you would have nothing to fear, as "wizarding school" is an idea anyone can use- which is why we don't see Rowling suing the Magisterium Chronicles(I highly recommend the Iron Trial- but back to the topic at hand.)

In short, you can't steal what can't be copyrighted, and "inkblot cartoon style" is only an idea, and thus ineligible for such protection.
(As are all tropes.)

2: Inkblot Style Was Used by Basically EVERYONE In the 30's

Yes, Disney used this style- but at the time he was a young man getting inspiration from older animators' works

Max And Dave Fleischer were the inspiration for both the young Disney and the visuals for Cuphead, and were some of the most prolific animators of their time.
There were also countless other lesser-known artists making content at the time, but success varied, and given that the span of the Silent Age bumps up right against the 30's (and thus The Great Depression) meant that some just didn't last all that long.
Given that Disney and Fleischer had great respect for each other, they clearly didn't mind having a similar style- and neither should we.

Accusing people of stealing from another work solely on the basis of inkblot style makes just as much sense as saying Avatar: The Last Airbender is a rip-off of Sailor Moon just because it used an anime style.

3: You Can't Accuse Someone of Stealing From Another Work If Their Work Actually Came First

BATIM came out in 2017-so did Cuphead.
However, Cuphead was first announced in 2014, and was first conceptualized in 2010.
To clarify, that means Cuphead predates Bendy by a MINIMUM of at least THREE YEARS, before adding the time for development.
The total difference in time is seven years- that's almost a decade before BATIM.

Needless to say, if Bendy's creators were to try to sue Cuphead for "stealing" (,which would pretty much never happen, as it would be a pointless money pit with no benefits for anyone that neither indie team could realistically afford,) it would result in a "Rah and The Muggles" situation.

For reference,N.K. Stouffer, the author of the aforementioned book tried to sue Rowling(I sense a theme here) in 1999 over her use of the word "muggle", and for using common fantasy elements that Miss Stouffer delusion-ally thought were her intellectual property.
Her case was laughed out of court, any potential writing career was basically ruined due to the frivolous suit, and said book not only couldn't sell even with the controversy, the publishing house that tried to cash in on the fiasco actually TANKED.

Naturally, no one wants that.

4: Bendy and Cuphead are NOT the first to use the Inkblot Style

They are predated by Peacock from Skullgirls, who is predated the Timeless River in Kingdom Hearts II, which is predated by early designs of Sonic which are in turn predated by the design of Pac-Man.

And that's just me going off the video game examples on the TvTropes page for "Inkblot Cartoon Style"- there's still the sub-tropes like "Pie-Eyed", Rubber Hose Animation, the one for the gloves,and so forth, probably a few on Retraux amongst other throwbacks, and more, to say nothing of games not even mentioned on that site.

They are most likely the first to make it the entire theme of the game, but they are not the first to use it in general.

5:The Inkblot Style is Basically the ONLY Thing Bendy and Cuphead Have in Common

One is an episodic horror game, in first person, with 3d graphics, and a limited color palette, in which you explore an abandoned animation studio and are pursued by ink demons while trying to solve puzzles.

The other is a boss run with a few extra levels,in third person, with hand-drawn art that is quite colorful, in which you (and a friend, if you have one,) play as a pair of brothers collecting souls for the devil so he doesn't take yours by run-and-gunning across platforms to defeat your fellow contract-ees.

Other than a demonic antagonist, the inkblot style, and being an indie game, Cuphead and Bendy have nothing in common, and what they do have in common is not grounds for a lawsuit.

6: Even If Somehow The Inkblot Style WERE Copyrighted, It Would Have Most Likely Defaulted to Public Domain by Now

An intellectual property is automatically copyrighted to its creator, for the duration of the creator's lifespan, plus fifty years after they die.
(Unless they sell or waive the rights to someone else, but that's another topic entirely.)
After that, it becomes Public Domain.
Just about everyone who made cartoons in the Silent Era is long dead, so most of the cartoons are in the Public Domain.

What this means is that anyone can use it for whatever and that said work is no longer copyrighted, thus you don't need to credit or anything.
(Although claiming you made it would still be in bad taste.)

Now here's the important part: although you can copyright your version of a Public Domain character/story/whathaveyou, and could copyright your additions to the work (edits, footnotes, designs, your interpretation of a character, etc.), you CANNOT prevent anyone else from using that Public Domain thing, whatever it may be.

Once something becomes Public Domain, it can never be copyrighted again, and anything that predates copyright law is Public Domain.
This is why we can have so many different Lokis and not just the Marvel one. Ditto for things like holiday figures, mythical creatures(especially dragons), legendary heroes (especially Heracles/Hercules), and many, many other things.

In short, you can't steal something that's Public Domain.

In conclusion, the inkblot style is an idea, thus ineligible for a copyright, even if it did have one it would have defaulted to Public Domain by now, and a similar style is not grounds for a lawsuit and, as demonstrated by precedent, an accusation of theft based solely on this would NEVER hold up in a court of law.

Trope Pages Mentioned in This Description:
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php…
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php…