Confused about the copyright issue.

Saturday, November 15, 2003 by crissy14 | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk

Let me start by saying that my intention is not to single out or point the finger at anyone. I just want to be clear on this copyright thing. I see submissions being uploaded (in a lot of the libraries, but especially the bootskin library) that contain images that I would think would be copyrighted. Cartoon characters, movie stars, etc. I think I may have even violated the copyright law by using the microsft flag logo. Can someone please clarify for me what is violating this copyright law and what is not?
And, if some of these submissions are in violation, why are they being accepted?
[Message Edited]
35 Reply 3 Referrals
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Tech-Cat
Reply #21 Sunday, November 16, 2003 12:17 AM
I do not know if Warner Brothers does or does not encourage fan art. I just know for a fact that Nintendo does since I am a big fan of Nintendo that visits Nintendo sites and reads Nintendo Power magazine.



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joetheblow
Reply #22 Sunday, November 16, 2003 12:24 AM
They have fan art websites. Superman, Batman... they have images and everything... and it would seem the only way to become an official fan site is to create one (as in Go Live with it) and then contact them.

Bugs Bunny (loony Toons) and the lot.

Unless they changed their policies in the last 2 months since i looked at those sites.

kongit
Reply #23 Sunday, November 16, 2003 12:26 AM
i am betting that most entertainment companies encourage fan-art because it is a free way to advertise their products. It would kind of be stupid for them not to.

yrag
Reply #24 Sunday, November 16, 2003 12:27 AM
The legal baseline states that any material created by 'x' is owned and protected under the various International Copyright Laws ( the U.S. is party to the International Copyright Conference) and cannot be used my anyone else excluding permission. Most countries have added amendments to those laws. Many Companies (and persons) have reasons for allowing (all self-serving) such infringements if it enhances their exposure to the pubic and such and will simply 'overlook' it. That in itself does not in any way relieve the 'user' of such protected property from legal liabilities covered under copyright laws.





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crissy14
Reply #25 Sunday, November 16, 2003 12:32 AM
Thanks for all your input everybody, however, I'm still not clear on the issue. I will read over the Copyright law that oSoShameless provided (thank you). But from what I have read so far and because WC does seem to be accepting submission without apparent copyright permissions, and because nothing that I upload here is for sale anyway, so I will not be profiting from anything ,then I'm not going to worry about too much. Does that make sense? I'm tired

yrag
Reply #26 Sunday, November 16, 2003 12:33 AM
Does that make sense? I'm tired


I like it...sleep tight



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crissy14
Reply #27 Sunday, November 16, 2003 12:35 AM
Night all. And thank you

Jafo
Reply #28 Sunday, November 16, 2003 12:43 AM

I think the first thing that MUST be considered/done is to include links to the source of any and every image, etc used and intended as 'fan-art' to provide a formal record  to distinguish what is being claimed as original work and what is not.

An acceptable concept of 'fan-art' fair use is NOT the plagiarizing of one person's wall image of Donald Duck being re-distributed under another person's nick.

In an 'ideal' world, NO image would exist on the Internet UNLESS uploaded by the original copyright holder, or be present in modified form without accompanying permission/s from the original copyright holder.

Website admins are charged with an impossible task....which is largely disputed, if not just plain thankless, but generally the idea is to protect as well as is possible/workable.

It is the bane of our existence that such a concept of 'fair use' even exists, but such is life and we're all in it for the living...


RadialFX
Reply #29 Sunday, November 16, 2003 4:58 AM
I think that I can help clear this up. My son has a band and we have one of the biggest managers and biggest attorneys in the music/entertainment business. There is one word that starts drawing the line, "COMMERCIAL". Our songs are protected by the copyright laws just like art, however, once it's recorded and published it becomes public. Meaning we can't stop anyone from singing it or completely changing it or whatever as long as it is used personally. They can pretty much do what ever they want with it (even record it) as long as they don't use it "COMMERCIALLY" or mis-represent it. Commercial is also a broad term also and doesn't have to imply money.

It can mean advertising, promotion, marketing, etc... If they do, they first have to have permission and in the case of a situation that is non-profit for them, they have to negotiate a fee with us.

I think the confusion we have here and a real tough question to answer is this. Anyone can "Play" our music at a party or something but they can't duplicate it and give it away (although we don't care). Which I think is the issue here. We can actually use any art from anywhere for anything for ourselves but we can't re-distribute it. However, the reason we really don't see any real problems is because even though it's being used it's not being used in a commercial fashion.

It's one of those things that we can put Jafo in charge of monitoring and trying to keep the obvious ones out and for the others, when someone yells, you simply take action first and study later to determine if their request is justified.

Stumpy
Reply #30 Sunday, November 16, 2003 5:41 AM
I also uploaded a Bootskin that was rejected, I don't know why, but some that have got through are surely copyright protected, I won't mention any of them because I'm sure you can see for your self which ones they are

I would also assume that it also depends on the Mood of the Moderator at the time



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Tech-Cat
Reply #31 Sunday, November 16, 2003 5:54 AM
It might be a good idea to ask an admin why it was rejected. If they think you used any images without permission and you didn't, then that is something you should get cleared up.



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Stumpy
Reply #32 Sunday, November 16, 2003 6:16 AM
I'm not really that bother about it

And I know why admins do not send out rejection emails

It was made to please my nephews and they insisted I upload it Kids



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Anaxis Reaxis
Reply #33 Monday, December 8, 2003 2:33 PM
Two words: "fair use".



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ErRoR5o1
Reply #34 Monday, December 8, 2003 3:26 PM
#30, last sentence, yeah, i think that youre right *realizes why lots of walls and logons have been rejected* hahaha. no, j/k. yeah, even though we think that the moderators are bots that will do anything we ask, we gotta realize that theyre people with lives. (jafo)

paxx
Reply #35 Monday, December 8, 2003 3:52 PM

There is a lot of case-by-case issues. For example, we know from experience that some companies make a lot of money out of selling promotional material, or selling the right to use their trademarks. These companies are quite strict about the illegal reproduction of thier own trademarks.  One example of this is sports teams. Ever wander why we have so little sports themes here? Because that is one major source of revenues for the NHL, NFL, etc.  The SELL the rights to use the teams logos, they don't give it away.

BTW: I know this first hand, by an email from a NHL lawyer.


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