Re: Copyright infringement (was Re: Could someone make me decals?)

At 07:51 AM 1/27/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>-MWS- wrote:
>> 
>> You have obviously not had to deal with this issue, and no I am not
kidding
>> you.  The potential statutory fines for willful copyright
infringement are
>> up to $100,000 according to Section 501.C.2 of Title 17, and the last
time
>> I looked the fact that it's for "personal use only" doesn't exempt
one from
>> liability.
>
>Can you clarify that a bit?
>
>For instance, how about the following set of circumstances:
>
>1) I draw Beavis and Butthead on a piece of paper
>2) I draw Beavis and Butthead on a computer and print the page
>3) I draw Beavis and Butthead and ask a friend of mine to print it
>4) I draw Beavis and Butthead and pay Kinkos to print it
>5) I draw Beavis and Butthead and pay XYZ decal company to make decals
>
>Where is the line drawn between somebody minding their own business and
lawsuit
>potential?
>
>Tom

If you are not using the drawing for Parody or News Commentary/Review
(the
two main catagories of "Fair Use"), then the line is drawn at #0 - all
of
the above are infringements.  Whether you make the copy by hand, or by
other means, doesn't matter - it's still considered to be a copy if it
is
recognizably the same.	Your chances of being taken to court, however,
vary
widely by the circumstances and the disposition of the copyright holder.

Example: There was a daycare center in Los Angeles (?) that had made
some
hand drawings - made by the staff and kids - of Mickey Mouse, Minnie
Mouse,
Donald Duck, et al, and was using them as decorations in the main play
room.  Disney successfully sued them and had them removed as copyright
infringements.	Disney got a lot of bad publicity over this, but they
*were* within their rights as copyright holders to do so.

Example: I contacted Five Rings Publishing / WOTC a couple months back
in
order to get permission to use the "Clan Mons" for decals on my Clan War
miniatures - specifically I wanted to be able to decorate any sashimono
banners on the figures.  While I got a legal blanket approval for
*anyone*
to do so, it was with the restriction that it would be for personal,
non-commercial use only.  Because of the "personal use only" part of
that
permission, I can print up my own decals using Clan mons, but I cannot
give
anyone else any of the decals - whether I charge for them or not. 
Someone
else could print them up for their own use, but they could not ask me to
do
it for them.

============================================================
Mark "Hauptmann" Shurtleff
 email: hauptman@sfcmd.com
 StarFighter Command Homepage: http://www.sfcmd.com/
============================================================