On Dec 12, 1995 15:55:50 in article <Re: Copyright and images on the web>,
'Arthur Harris <[log in to unmask]>' wrote:
>I have not heard such argument in regard to original creative works, and
it
>would seem that any argument based on inferior (low resolution)
occurrences
>would be doubly doomed.
>Comment?
what about these lo-res rip-offs?:
pirated tapes, both of live concerts and of recordings
a copy of a published literary work done on a 300dpi printer
copies of copyrighted artwork on a webpage were the page-owner is seeking
to have visitors employ him/her/a company or buy a product? [that's what is
actually happenning and as dave barry says, i'm not making this up]
use of someone else's art on a web page or lo-res printout that promotes a
religious/political stance or guns or liquor or anything that the artist
finds highly objectionable
etc., etc., etc.
if you let people get away with this kind of stuff, you lose your rights.
suppose you find at least one use of your art to be, in your mind, an
infringement of your copyright. you go to sue that party, who then presents
lots of cases of which you were aware but did nothing. i think -- and, yes,
i may be wrong -- that, by allowing free use of something that is
copyrighted, just as with trademarks, you give up control. remember that as
soon as you write the first letter, put the first daub of paint to canvass,
press your shutter release, etc., your work is copyright. you can also
indicate by [tm] that something is your trademarked item. in both cases,
you can, but don't have to, file that claim. let's stick w/ copyright for
this; it's similar for [tm] -- which, when registered, becomes [r].
if you catch someone illegally using you work, the first check is to see if
you've indicated the copyright nature of the work: no notice, and nothing
is done [say, by a court] other than to ask the violater to stop. the
notice on a paiting may be on the back. on the web, it's on the web page,
and i would suggest that, as with books, it appear very near the top.
if the [c] notice appears [it *must* be either the word spelled out or the
c in a circle -- no brackets or parens -- followed by the year and the name
of the [c] holder], a court can not only stop the miscreant from continuing
but can award you any profit he/she may have made. if, in addition, you
have registered it w/ the copyright office -- easy and inexpensive -- you
can be awarded damages, which can be quite high.
much as you may want the inet to be a place of free exchange of info, etc.,
you must protect what you own. in one case, i allowed an author to quote
one of my books only by submitting a request and paying a fee: $1. [it was
a small quote, but more than 'fair usage,' and it was for a small-circ
publication.] at he very least, if you want to allow lo-res copying, i
strongly suggest getting a request and a fee, no matter how small, and
issuing a letter of permission that clearly outlines what you mean to
allow. what is lo-res to that person who wants to dupe your work may be
hi-res to you. you can buy a 2400dpi color scanner for under $400.
btw, i can download any image on the web with my provider's proprietary
browser [pipeline's internaut] and then move it to my page. actually, since
i can d/l the source code, i can find the url of the image and use that as
a link in my page to grab the image. hmmm. and then i can make lo-res
images on t-shirts. or does the lo=res privelege end if i make money? how
much money?
please also note that so-called free-ware software insists that you include
the copyright notice if you share the software with your friends.
i don't mean to sound so paranoid, but that's what i get for wanting to be
a publisher.
--
Brian A Padol, RECAP: Publications, Inc.
[log in to unmask] <=> [log in to unmask] <=> http://www.inch.com/~rpi/
http://www.users.nyc.pipeline.com/~rpi/
Book publishers, producers, and agents. If you have a book or book idea or
need advice or help with a book project or DTP, or just want to email or
chat, let me know.
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