Sorry, but I don't see what the pityful part of the story is.
And I've filed suit for copyright infringement on some of my published work.

Dealing with the internet, you'll find that the term 'derivative works' applies to images published in the public domain.

The bottom line and I guess the point of the OP was to show us something funny, and it is.

Sometimes we all have to take things as they are and stop over-analizing everything.