When Willith The Mouse Awaken?
C Five
Man, it is too late to be on this stupid computer ......
Hello,
I was hanging out over in the Star Trek newsgroups (better
coffee), and about half of the postings had to do with
Paramount's (which produces Star Trek) recent crackdown on
fans' websites. Paramount (and most media corps) seems
particularly upset with the pictures, sound bytes and movie clips
that some people are putting on their sites. "Copyright," you
know. I also noted an Associated Press article from early December
in one of the newsgroups. Normally I try not to copy these things,
but it seemed relevant (Disney "owns" Home Improvement):
"... Disney, known for zealously guarding its trademarked
property, appears to have adopted a laissez-faire attitude
towards Web replication, permitting even such extensive
copying as ``Christy's Disney Images Page'' with its sketches of
everything from Aladdin to Winnie the Pooh. The studio itself
refused to comment.
Conversely, Paramount has cracked down on ``The
Unofficial Brady Bunch Page,'' demanding the creator remove
some images and sound clips, and on numerous Star Trek fans
for printing synopses of the plot of the just-released, latest
installment in the film series.
The studios' stern reactions to what are largely fan
memorials have left some Web site creators complaining
publicly. Jeanette Foshee, a fan of the Fox TV show ``The
Simpsons,'' received a ``cease and desist'' letter from the network
after executives noticed her Simpson icons scattered across
various Web sites.
``The letter was pretty aggressive and hostile,'' Foshee, of
Boone, Iowa, wrote in an e-mail posted on ``The Simpsons
Archive'' Web site. ``I was giving them free publicity. But I
guess this is part and parcel of the way things are done today ....''
Paramount obviously has something up its tail. But what about
us? Will the mouse awaken? Is Mickey gonna git ya? Those
with HI websites should consider all the angles. Disney might
not want to be buddies forever. And, I suppose, the media corps
do have a case.
five (now available in lemon-scented!)
M. Edward Soulsby
> jive...@ix.netcom.com(C Five) writes:
> Paramount obviously has something up its tail. But what about
> us? Will the mouse awaken? Is Mickey gonna git ya? Those
> with HI websites should consider all the angles. Disney might
> not want to be buddies forever. And, I suppose, the media corps
> do have a case.
Well, yes and no. It just seems to me that they would try to usurp all the free publicity
they could get rather than play bulldozer. Keep in mind, they pay PR consultants and
web designers MILLIONS to do what so many of us are doing for free. Technically,
yes, they do hold the rights to their image. But I jsut can't shake this notion that they are
using the web to gauge fan input.
What they have to ask themselves is: if their images are so restricted, why are they in
such free flow?
:)
Marcus