jacc@tekigm2.TEK.COM (Jonathan A. Colby) (08/06/87)
Sorry folks, visual works of art are copyrighted just like written ones. Changing the medium or size makes no difference. And believe me, visual artists are no happier about people ripping off their creative work than, say, software developers? But because visual art has been around for a few millenia, the copyright laws are a lot clearer. All those neat computer images of popular art works almost always violate a copyright if the work is still covered. Copyrights last for something like 99 years and are renewable for some period; they can also be transferred. (And please, folks, at least have the decency to credit the artist - the name will almost always appear at the bottom of the picture from which you copied the work - Electronic Arts, et al, please take note.) Portland recently comissioned a sculpture for its city hall - "Portlandia". The artist retained all rights to ALL COPIES. So if you want to do little brass replica's, get permission from the artist or get sued (even if you were to give them away). I have not seen Leo's demo - but it sounds fantastic. As long as his demo remains only a 'comment' on the Pixar demo, he's probably ok. That is, if his primary purpose is to show that the Amiga has the capability to perform the Pixar demo. But by distributing his demo in any fashion, Leo would probably be violating Pixar's copyrights. Leo would probably be on safe ground if he were to parody the Pixar demo - say by having a rolling ball juggle three unicycles. The point is that if Leo uses the same or similar images as Pixar, he must make a new and overridingly different visual 'statement' with his version of the demo. Disclaimer - I am not a lawyer, and Tektronix doesn't ... Jac Colby jacc@tekigm2.TEK.COM Tektronix Inc Personal Engineering Products MS 02-386, PO Box 500 Home: 5529 SW Patton Rd Beaverton, OR, 97077 Portland, OR 97221 (503) 627-4534 (503) 292-1609
robinson@renoir.Berkeley.EDU (Michael Robinson) (08/07/87)
In article <2033@tekigm2.TEK.COM> jacc@tekigm2.TEK.COM (Jonathan A. Colby) writes: >Sorry folks, visual works of art are copyrighted just like >written ones. Changing the medium or size makes no difference. >And believe me, visual artists are no happier about people >ripping off their creative work than, say, software developers? The copyright on "Red's Dream" gives Pixar the right to prevent unauthorized copying. However Leo's Creation (does it have a title?) is not a copy of "Red's Dream." It is an original work. According to Leo's account, he was working entirely from memory, and had not intended to duplicate the movie when he saw the pre-screening. Copyrights do not grant ownership of such broad concepts as juggling unicycles in a circus ring. >Disclaimer - I am not a lawyer, and Tektronix doesn't ... Neither am I, which is why I recommended to Leo that he talk to one. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mike Robinson USENET: ucbvax!ernie!robinson ARPA: robinson@ernie.berkeley.edu