Do we have any legal experts in the house?
I am looking to refresh my awareness of US copyright laws of both physical and digital content. Examples of situations for me would include 3d printing a character who’s likeness resembles a popular icon, or adding music to a homemade film. I have no intention of selling anything, but I’m curious about that too.
Ultimately, I want to ensure that my makes are developed based on sound legal principles, and that I’m using the Space ethically and morally.
Hi Rani,
As a rule of thumb, Legal advice is usually worth as much as you have paid for it. As you are asking for free legal advice here, what you will likely get is something worth less than nothing. This isn’t a dig against you or our community, it is just the troth.
I work as a designer and have been sued for infringement in the past. What I found out from the situation is that you can be sued for pretty much anything, this is especially true when it come to college copyrights and trademarks. The question is often not if you were correct in your use, but rather are you willing to pay in the $10+K to try to prove you were correct in your use. As most of the the items we make are not worth this amount up front, you will just give up at that point rather than fight for use in the case of a claim.
My rule of thumb is be original. If you get a claim and your not making money on the item, just let the item go.Lastly, don’t use content that you do not own while trying to make money. Many artist blur the line on the last item and never get burned, this doesn’t mean it is legal, it just means they didn’t get in trouble.
Nick,
Fortunately, I am not being sued and do not need a lawyer. I remember my high school history teacher giving us a lesson on the topic for awareness. An informative discussion on the shared knowledge would be beneficial as a basis for projects planned in the future.
Furthermore, I think the class could benefit from hearing about your experience. Maybe it is a class that could have helped you.
If these are for you own personal consumption and not given away or sold, then you are fine. Anything else is subject to copyright / trademark / patents. There are “fair” use cases such as satire but you would have to be ready to defend that use legally.
P.S. - My only experience with copyright and “fair” use have to do with two courses of Mass Media Law for my degree. And that was a long time ago.
As @Nick said legal advice is worth what you pay for it, or typically less. I think you can get a fair understanding here: https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/, https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-getting-started/trademark-basics, https://www.uspto.gov/patents-getting-started/general-information-concerning-patents
A solution would be to find an attorney that practices Intellectual Property law that would provide the lecture in hopes of getting business.
I doubt a high school awareness class would have helped much at all.
I was sued by the College Licensing Company, a group which holds the Trademarks and Copyrights for much of the college in the nation. They have case law behind them that allows them to effectively claim anything including original content as a violation of copyright or trademark. Many will claim this is BS without looking into the facts, those individuals are incorrect.
I was particularly sued for a fully original set of designs that were made for a group in Denton to show city love. They feature Denton History and Regional Terms like North Texas. The designs were 2 colored and printed on green shirts. The case was brought against me for infringing the CLC trademarks and copyrights for the use of the colors Green and White. This was due to the Case Law around the SMACK Apparel, which the CLC proved that they could trade mark the use of colors. Here is a link to the case to read.
It is an absurd ruling that the CLC uses all the time to stop 100% Genuine and Original artists from being able to make money. The best thing you can do is never get on their radar. I did work in an area which had a CLC college. My work got on their radar. They sued me for it. No real wrong doing on my part, I had a lawyer that was confident he could win the case in my favor. But, it would not only take a lot of time to win, it would also be very costly to me. So I chose to cut my losses and just drop the issue. Just an example again of how we have a LEGAL System rather than a justice system.
And that is why they sued you, they won with a couple of letters
I am a strong defender of copyright laws when they protect original material
The problem comes when original material shares links with copyrighted work
Sometimes this is because as humans we all use the same hardware, our hands,
and the same software, our brains (thank you for that illustration Mistress Athena)
The Celts and the early Chinese both used spiral to indicate a lion s mane
Other times it can be because both look to a similar time or style, I used to have folks tell
me that my jewelry looked Victorian, Since I was not a big lover of Victorian jewelry, I puzzled over them,
until I realized that I was being inspired by the the same styles that the Victorians were
The thing is that copyright is an ever changing beast and pretty much relies entirely on the most recent precedent. What was true for IP/Copyright (at least in visual art) 10 years ago no longer applies. Heck, what was accurate four years ago isn’t even valid anymore and cases are still pending that can change it further. For example the common misconception that you can change an image by a certain percentage and still use it without written consent. While that used to be true it didn’t actually hold up since an “average person” can’t tell you shifted the Pantone by six color spots therefore it wasn’t usable in court. Now if a “reasonable person” can tell the image was used as the source it’s no bueno. Add in the varaible of whether it’s educational purpose, work for hire, etc. and it’s a right mess. This doesn’t even touch webcrawl services like iStock that steal from artists then charge a fee making their clients have an erroneous impression they’re covered by a fake license. @Nick is spot on. No lecture is going to keep you “safe”.
Rule of thumb…if you’re asking yourself can I get sued for this you’re probably doing something you need to stop.