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copyrights
14 years ago
ok, I went to a class last night on this subject, given by an attourney who represents only fine artists, and the whole class was bent in that direction.
first off, since 1991, if you make a work...its protected. registration of course gives you better protection and makes it easier to fight theft, but is not required, thats $65 for each piece of work.
our current law is taken from the French and German law developed at the 1989 Berne convention.
1. this gives the artist the right to with hold or to not disclose work if they choose. what that means for you, if you dont like what you did, you dont have to share it with whom paid for it, however, you the artist still owe what was agreed upon with the client.
2. the right of repentur, to withdraw from publication
3. paternaty, and 4. integrity
US law, section influenced by the Berne convention, VARA, is the visual arts rights act, and gives us among other things atribution and integrity (I didnt catch all of what she said here)
what is art? who is an artist?
the artist creating the work is the "author" of said work, and the art work, is:"an expression of an idea in a fixed form." you cannot copyprotect an idea alone...it must be in a fixed form, ie a painting, or in words.
*****heres another tidbit...moral rights are retained by the artist unless "assigned" or "licensed" in writing to the buyer.
remember that line...Ill come back to it in photography and printshops.
in general, our US copyright law protects the artist automaticly, since 1991. nnow, those of you who get prints made, (****) here is one place the above refrence is important...if you get MORE then 200, individually signed and numbered prints made, it no longer is an original piece of art work, and is now comercial, and not protected the same way. also, unless you discuss and sign forms on the subject of "assigned " or "licensed" rights...the print shop OWNS the rights to your work and they can do as they please with it. read that again...
now, if you do manage to retain your rights to your work, any printshop in the country will charge you an extra $200 per printing.
now that youve printed more then 200 copies of your work, youve made it commercial, and no longer an original, so anyone can print and copy this piece as they wish...and you cnat do anything about it ,unless they start selling it, and claiming it as their original work. here I can touch on the dreaded tracer...IF the tracer is using your work as educational material, you cant say anything, but, if they claim it as their own, or begin to sell it (as their own) then you have a case. Ill come back to fair use which is what that is.
photos of a work. if you hire a photographer, and make him or her an employ of yours, sign non disclosure paper...then you have retained you rights to your work. if you goto a photographer, and do not sign anything, THEY own the rights to your work...in photo form, as that is now an original piece of work. read that again...a photo is an original work of art, and the photgrapher owns that work unless they sign over those rights to the painter whose work they just photographed. now we get into fair use...
FAIR USE
the originator or author of a work has the right to
sell, copy,publish or create dirivitive works
anyone can copy this work for:
critisizm, comment, reporting, teaching or in classrooms, in scholarship research
four factors of fair use:
1. purpose and character of use, to determin if its commercial or non profit/ education
2. nature of the copyrighted work
3. the amount and substantiality of the whole verses the portion taken ( the heart of the work)
4. effect of the use on the potential market or value
last thing Im going to touch on..you people out there who want those copyrighted characters as a personal fursuit costume...those are trademarked (more protections from being commercial property) and copyrighted characters....what that means is, without a written permision to use said character, you are looking at BOTH the maker and end user, being fined, sued for damages, and DESTRUCTION of the "original" (the fursuit you just spent $2000 on).
I can answer some questions, but this was just a 2 hour class....but I have refrences from the papers she handed out...
art law attorney Gale Elston
galepelstonpc.com
galeelston[at]yahoo.com
first off, since 1991, if you make a work...its protected. registration of course gives you better protection and makes it easier to fight theft, but is not required, thats $65 for each piece of work.
our current law is taken from the French and German law developed at the 1989 Berne convention.
1. this gives the artist the right to with hold or to not disclose work if they choose. what that means for you, if you dont like what you did, you dont have to share it with whom paid for it, however, you the artist still owe what was agreed upon with the client.
2. the right of repentur, to withdraw from publication
3. paternaty, and 4. integrity
US law, section influenced by the Berne convention, VARA, is the visual arts rights act, and gives us among other things atribution and integrity (I didnt catch all of what she said here)
what is art? who is an artist?
the artist creating the work is the "author" of said work, and the art work, is:"an expression of an idea in a fixed form." you cannot copyprotect an idea alone...it must be in a fixed form, ie a painting, or in words.
*****heres another tidbit...moral rights are retained by the artist unless "assigned" or "licensed" in writing to the buyer.
remember that line...Ill come back to it in photography and printshops.
in general, our US copyright law protects the artist automaticly, since 1991. nnow, those of you who get prints made, (****) here is one place the above refrence is important...if you get MORE then 200, individually signed and numbered prints made, it no longer is an original piece of art work, and is now comercial, and not protected the same way. also, unless you discuss and sign forms on the subject of "assigned " or "licensed" rights...the print shop OWNS the rights to your work and they can do as they please with it. read that again...
now, if you do manage to retain your rights to your work, any printshop in the country will charge you an extra $200 per printing.
now that youve printed more then 200 copies of your work, youve made it commercial, and no longer an original, so anyone can print and copy this piece as they wish...and you cnat do anything about it ,unless they start selling it, and claiming it as their original work. here I can touch on the dreaded tracer...IF the tracer is using your work as educational material, you cant say anything, but, if they claim it as their own, or begin to sell it (as their own) then you have a case. Ill come back to fair use which is what that is.
photos of a work. if you hire a photographer, and make him or her an employ of yours, sign non disclosure paper...then you have retained you rights to your work. if you goto a photographer, and do not sign anything, THEY own the rights to your work...in photo form, as that is now an original piece of work. read that again...a photo is an original work of art, and the photgrapher owns that work unless they sign over those rights to the painter whose work they just photographed. now we get into fair use...
FAIR USE
the originator or author of a work has the right to
sell, copy,publish or create dirivitive works
anyone can copy this work for:
critisizm, comment, reporting, teaching or in classrooms, in scholarship research
four factors of fair use:
1. purpose and character of use, to determin if its commercial or non profit/ education
2. nature of the copyrighted work
3. the amount and substantiality of the whole verses the portion taken ( the heart of the work)
4. effect of the use on the potential market or value
last thing Im going to touch on..you people out there who want those copyrighted characters as a personal fursuit costume...those are trademarked (more protections from being commercial property) and copyrighted characters....what that means is, without a written permision to use said character, you are looking at BOTH the maker and end user, being fined, sued for damages, and DESTRUCTION of the "original" (the fursuit you just spent $2000 on).
I can answer some questions, but this was just a 2 hour class....but I have refrences from the papers she handed out...
art law attorney Gale Elston
galepelstonpc.com
galeelston[at]yahoo.com
I...can't have a Renamon suit?! *cries* Kidding. I'd commission a custom suit if I could ever afford one. I believe that if you make the suit yourself for personal use then its ok. Copyrighted character or not. I remember reading something like that about the MLP suits that were at AC. Please correct me if I'm wrong though.
at any rate, i take it, and hope, right clicking is ok, as long as it is for personal nonfeduciary use/enjoyment, and isn't sold, traded, or given away.
(although i don't entirely understand the objection to giving away if its not for gain and no authorship is claimed)
(the letter i understand just fine. what i mean is the morality of the cultural perspective behind it)
what really bothers me though, is the idea of everything having to be owned and begin and end with little green pieces of paper instead of the kind of world it creates.
not that i'm against anyone making a living, but it still bothers me, and what i see around me in this part of this world as a result of it, bothers me even more.