<p>Clothing and accessories maker Life Is Good Inc. got a happy ending to 2012 following a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruling that a cartoon on its products doesn't infringe a poster maker's copyrights.</p><p>The unanimous panel ruling Dec. 27 in Blehm v. Jacobs affirmed U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch's September 2011 summary judgment for the company.</p><p>The dispute centered over the copyrighted posters created by plaintiff Gary Blehm featuring cartoon characters called "Penmen." The Penmen are stick figures with "round heads, disproportionately large half-moon smiles, four fingers, large feet, disproportionately long legs, and a message of unbridled optimism."</p><p>Blehm registered copyrights for six posters featuring Penmen between 1989 and 1993. He sold his posters through a national chain from 1990 to 2004. In the early 1990s, he expanded into other stores in the Boston area, where Life Is Good and creators Albert and John Jacobs, who are brothers, is based. Blehm also sold Penmen T-shirts, a book and a comic strip.</p><p><a href="http://www.dailyreportonline.com/PubArticleDRO.jsp?id=1202583043387&Clothing_maker_wins_copyright_appeal_">Keep reading...</a></p>