Jeanette's Legal Runaround with FOX about Her Cool Icons
addies
This is the Actual Letter from Jeanette Foshee, about her legal runaround
with FOX Ordering her to destroy all copies, and hand the original icons to
FOX on Disk.
( Maybe there going to Market them and Sell them as there own ), I sent my
Protest to FOX...@DELPHI.COM, send yours as well.
Heres my Letter of protest I Sent to BIG BROTHER ( FOX ).
You can't expect a " Simpson's " Image or any other form of Graphical Body
to be put on the Internet without it being copied, shouldn't the copyright
laws be
re-written so if you sell the creation, then the copyright laws should be
engaged, or at least can we ask for the permission of using the publication
or material for a non-profitable use.
I have a question for You! " Why did they invent VCR's with record ? ", you
not going to come around and check everyones house to see if they have "
Taped " marterial of the Television. It's not like Jeanette was going to
sell her creation, but she created something for herself and wanted others
to know about it.
Tristan Addie - Australia
Here is the Actual Letter Posted on " The Simpson's Archive "
goto -=- http://www.snpp.com/icons.html
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From Jfos...@aol.com Mon Oct 23 12:01:38 1995
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 11:03:20 +0100
To: o...@digimark.net
From: Jfos...@aol.com (Jeanette Foshee)
Subject: All good things must come to an end.... *sigh*
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Well, I have some bad news for you. There won't be a Volume 5. Friday I got
home to find an overnight letter from Twentieth Century Fox. It was from
their legal counsel saying that my icons were copyright infringement, and
it issued a cease and desist order, and said my icons were to be deleted
everywhere, and they'd look into recovering whatever profits I'd made
(which will be $0.00, as I never asked for money).The letter was pretty
aggressive and hostile, and even though I knew it was a form letter, I was
disappointed at the extremes to which some companies feel they must go in
order to protect animated characters. Somehow I don't think that 25 years
ago such greed and overprotectiveness would have been present.I've sent
back a letter stating my cooperation and I've already sent e-mail to
info-mac and AOL to remove my volumes. Compuserver and eWorld will have to
follow suit, once I determine where to send the e-mail. I'm also going to
put a message on the Simpsons newsgroup letting folks know of the news. I'm
telling you this because you'll need to get rid of my icons on your
homepage, or at least terminate the connection to ftp sites. I'm trying to
let people know as soon as possible, to avoid any possible trouble with
Fox.I share your keen disappointment, and I haven't been good company to be
with this past weekend. I've had mixed emotions of loss, disappointment and
just plain being stunned at the vehemence of the letter. Obviously they
want to terrify me into swiftly complying with all of their demands. Which
wouldn't have mattered, I'd had done it anyway.I try to keep my spirits up
by reminding myself that there is a whole world of icons out there to make,
and that now I can devote my energies to them. I've been making some
miscellaneous icons, and I can complete that collection and upload it. When
I do, I'll call it something like FosheeIcons_Vol.1 (or Grp1). I figure
most people will recognize the last name and perhaps download them. And I
will still put my pic in. So I suppose that in some ways things haven't
changed. Except, of course, the major one. *Sigh* We all had such fun with
my icons, and it wasn't harming Fox in any way. I didn't earn money or
deprive them of any revenue. In fact, I was giving them free publicity.But
I guess this is part and parcel of the way things are today. There's not
much room for a nice person who gives away for free the results of her
enthusiastic fandom.I've asked for a response to my letter, letting me know
that Fox is aware that I'm complying with their demands. I guess the next
step is up to them. In the meantime, I've got to make contact with people
who have featured my icons on their homepages, and ask them to take them
off, so they don't get into any trouble. In the letter, Fox wanted the
names of individuals who had my icons, but I didn't know anyone in person,
just major archive sites. Sorry to end this on a sad note, but I guess it's
true. All good things must come to an end.... On a slightly optimistic
note, perhaps this is just the beginning of lots more interesting,
non-Simpson icons for me. You never know....Jeanette
OB
As much as I agree with you, that these icons were not for profit (as well
as well-made) and that Fox is going overboard, your letter (though Im sure
you didnt know at the time you wrote it) completely disregards and
misinterprets laws effecting intellectual property (such as trademarks and
copyrights--both of which pertain to the icons). If FOX does not issue a
cease and desist order, then there will be an experience known in the
coporate world as "dillution", which is international in scope, and not just
applicable in the US. As much as we all love the Simpsons, and as much as I
believe that FOX has made plenty of money of their cartoon and its follow-up
merchandise, they cannot be blamed for wanting to protect their investment.
As for your request to re-write copyright laws, that will never happen to
your asking as there already exists something called the "fair-use"
doctrine. This ideal is a threshold question that can only be legally made
by a court handling any litigation. If Jeanette wants to claim that her
icons were a "fair use", it can only be done in a court of law, though I
doubt it would be a successful defense. Your analogy to VCR's would also
fail since any redistribution of anything taped from TV IS illegal, unless
solely for personal use. I agree that most would download the icons for
their personal use, but the difference is that when you tape the Simpsons
off TV, you are doing so from a licensed channel that pays royalties to air
that show. Downloading these icons would only be possible if done from an
officially licensed Fox website. Though this may be the sad truth, its the
truth nonetheless. And without any protection of intellectual property
concerns, especially over the internet, FOX would lose billions worldwide,
and the Simpsons would no longer be profitable, and would be
cancelled--sounds harsh, but its true--these are NOT opinions, but legal and
economic facts. I too have a nice set of the icons, and I love them, but in
all honesty, in order for laws to exist and protect the kinds of things we
all agree deserve protection, we cannot pick and choose the stuff we want to
exist in contrast to those laws. Believe me, I wish there could be a
different solution here, but there isnt.
OB
Luc Landry
OB <o...@bigfoot.com> wrote:
> And without any protection of intellectual property
> concerns, especially over the internet, FOX would lose billions worldwide,
> and the Simpsons would no longer be profitable, and would be
> cancelled--sounds harsh, but its true--these are NOT opinions, but legal and
> economic facts.
Billions? No longer profitable? Cancelled? I can't hardly admit that
these are FACTS!
The primary source of profits of the Simpsons business is the selling of
publicity generated by the show, don't forget it... :-)
--
Luc Landry
__________
lla...@saglac.qc.ca
Frederic Briere
(I'm not sure if Jeanette's icons is still news after all this time,
but...)
OB <o...@bigfoot.com> wrote:
> applicable in the US. As much as we all love the Simpsons, and as much as I
> believe that FOX has made plenty of money of their cartoon and its follow-up
> merchandise, they cannot be blamed for wanting to protect their investment.
My beef is not against Fox wanting to protect its property (which can be
expected of any copyright owner), but against the harsh and blind way it
has chosen. Many companies have realized the power of fandom, and the
need to offer some support and recognition to those people who, after
all, are what makes your copyright profitable in the first place. Fox,
on the other hand, has closed its eyes on the subject, demanding
absolute and unanimous control of every aspect of their property. The
only sign of opening we've seen is its promise of some Fox/fan license,
which has been in the works for so long that it's laughable. (I believe
this is more of a red herring than anything else, meant to calm our
anger for the time being.)
> doctrine. This ideal is a threshold question that can only be legally made
> by a court handling any litigation. If Jeanette wants to claim that her
> icons were a "fair use", it can only be done in a court of law, though I
> doubt it would be a successful defense. Your analogy to VCR's would also
I don't think Jeanette's case would constitute fair use either, but this
doesn't matter much. If Fox ever decided to issue a C&D to Digimark for
hosting the Archive, who would pay for our legal defence? Probably
noone. Being right does not help much if you can't afford to prove it in
court.
> truth nonetheless. And without any protection of intellectual property
> concerns, especially over the internet, FOX would lose billions worldwide,
> and the Simpsons would no longer be profitable, and would be
> cancelled--sounds harsh, but its true--these are NOT opinions, but legal and
What we're asking is merely for Fox to loosen its grip, and allow some
room for fandom expression. They haven't got much to loose, and a lot of
recognition, respect and public awareness to gain.
"I have prepared a statement for you on behalf of the network.
[clears throat] ... F[bleep]k you.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. If there are any questions, you may
direct them to that brick wall over there." [SP-106]
--
<*> Frederic Briere <fbr...@abacom.com> (hyrule.ddns.org)
alt.tv.simpsons FAQs can be found at http://www.snpp.com/
"Fear not, those capsules will turn up within this century!"