"Copies?! I Don't Need To Make No Stinkin' Copies!"
Zobovor
Dan the Art Guy wrote:
> But I never sell any work with any copyrighted names on it, or
>pretend to. I make a point to keep within the generous Botcon
>guidlines.
Not to start kibbitzing, but--while I've noticed you don't splash the
Transformers logo all over your work, which is a good thing--copyrighted
*images* can get you in just as much trouble as copyrighted names and logos.
And technically, the distinct likeness of each and every Transformers character
you (and everyone else) draws is a copyright of Hasbro, even if they haven't
taken the time to register each and every character with the copyright office.
Simply applying the (™) symbol to the character's name ensures their
ownership in the interim. My Legal Guide for the Visual Artist (1989, Allworth
Press) explains copyright infringement to be "whether an ordinary observer,
looking at the original work and the work allegedly copied from it, recognizes
that a copying has taken place." I take this to mean that if your drawing
looks like TM2 Cheetor to me, then it's a violation.
The only things that cannot be copyrighted are *ideas*--meaning you can come up
with your own transforming robots called... oh, "Meka-Changers," and as long as
the characters themselves don't resemble any specific Transformers, you're in
the clear. :)
Rest easy, though--I don't think anyone is out to report you to Hasbro. If
they did, they'd also have to get me and the hundreds of other artistic
Transfans out there...
>When I produce original art for a customer, I first start with
>pencil/ink art. Once the black and white art is done, I scan it into
>the computer and color it digitally. When I send the artwork to the
>client there is: A) The original black and white pencil art and B)
>original prints outputted straight from a Zip disk. With the very
>nature of computer produced prints what separates the one print I
>give to the original client from the others in the edition I produce?
>Answer: Nothing. Not one thing. ALL my prints are original full color
>art, not copies. As I've stated lots of times...
Honestly, I don't see what this has got to do with it. Even producing the
original art is using someone else's characters. At that point, it shouldn't
matter whether you reproduce it on a computer, a Xerox machine, or not at all.
The result is the same, yes?
>If I put the prints on a color Xerox machine and made copies and
>sold 'em...sure, then I'd be making and selling 2nd generation
>copies. But I'm NOT doing that. I'm printing straight from the file
>each and every time and with a print run each print is as valid as the
>next.
Just to split the hairs a little finer, how would you say that differs from
what I do? I draw the original art in pencil, photocopy it, and then color the
copy (instead of coloring the original and messing up the pencil lines). Since
the copy is hand-colored, and limited to one copy (plus possibly an additional
one for my records), is that a copyright violation? As I understand it, the
term does not refer to how many photocopies you get to make; it's a matter of
copying another person's or corporation's works of art.
Zobovor, whose secret agenda is to get Dan to continue posting something to ATT
other than advertisements for his fabulous artwork. :)
ZobTrivia of the Day (8/28): In which BW episodes is the word "Transformer"
used?
Answer for 8/27: U.S. #36 featured a TV appearance by Slege Hammer ("Trust me,
I know what I'm doing.")
Zob's Multi-Faceted TF Site!
http://members.aol.com/zobovor/