You Can’t Copyright Style

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You Can’t Copyright Style

Shortly after Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out, something happened that no one could have possibly predicted: people started making fan art. Shocking I know, but in a world where Donald Trump is the leading Republican candidate for President, I’m not sure anything’s a surprise anymore. Anyway, among those artists was Disney and Marvel illustrator Brian Kesinger. But Kesinger wasn’t interested in your run of the mill fan art. He wanted to do something special. The result of his labor: a series of adorable illustrations of Kylo Ren, Han Solo, Leia, and Darth Vader from The Force Awakens done in Bill Watterson’s inimitable style. Kesinger not only nailed the famed Calvin and Hobbes look, he also got Watterson’s voice.

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Copyright Versus Trademark: What’s the Difference?

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A few weeks ago, Taylor Swift (yes, her again) filed for trademark protection (again) for various catchphrases related to her latest album, 1989, such as “This Sick Beat” and “Swiftmas.” Even though musicians do this all the time for merchandising purposes, for some reason it’s particularly newsworthy when Swift does it. But what grabbed my attention this time wasn’t the inexplicable backlash she got (if Ed Sheeran had done it, would people have been so quick to judge?), but the factually inaccurate headlines that went along with it.

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I’m Thankful For YouTube Protecting Its Users From DMCA Takedown Notices

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There’s no arguing the internet has changed the way we find, process, and regurgitate visual and written content. It's occurring at an exponential rate, and regular people (and artists) need protection from copyright holders who have the power and ability to dictate policy merely because of their deep pockets.  Well the good news keeps on coming (for once!) because YouTube’s owner, Google, is promising to protect regular users if and when they need legal help.

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Copyright's Crazy Couple of Weeks: Happy Birthdays, Batmobiles, and Dancing Babies, Oh My!

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Between the migrant crisis in Europe, Congress' inevitable rush towards a government shutdown, and all things Pope, it's been a news-heavy couple of weeks. The world of copyright law has been equally busy; in the span of ten days, federal courts in California unveiled three headline-grabbing opinions, some of which have shaken copyright to its very core.

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When Politicians Use Music Without Permission It’s Not a Copyright Issue, It’s a Trademark Issue (But It Doesn’t Matter Anyway)

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Do you remember the time Donald Trump played “It’s The End of the World as We Know It” at a campaign rally and REM told him not to use their music "for your moronic charade of a campaign?" Or that time John McCain used “Running on Empty” in a TV ad bashing Obama and Jackson Browne sued him? Or that time Rand Paul used “Tom Sawyer” during his Senate run and Rush said that it was obvious Paul “hates women and brown people?"* It seems like every time there’s an election, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a band upset at a politician for using its music. And with a year left before the general election, it’ll happen a few more times at least.

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Graffiti Is Art Worth Suing Over

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Last week, graffiti artist Joseph Tierney, also known as Rime, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against fashion designer Jeremy Scott and his house Moschino for that exact infraction. Moschino took Rime’s design entitled “Vandal Eyes" and placed it one a dress, recently modeled by Gigi Hadid at the Met Gala (a sentence I never would’ve understood 10 years ago). 

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Will A New Copyright Act Strip Artists Of Their Copyrights? And If So, Would It Really Be So Bad?

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An "orphan work" is a work of art whose owner is not known and not findable, thus making licensing or purchasing of the rights impossible. The new Copyright Act will ostensibly 1) encourage artists to register their works to avoid orphaning, thus decreasing monetary recovery if the work is infringed, and 2) force users to file a “notice of use” with the Copyright Office with a description of the work, a summary of the search they conducted to find the copyright owner, the source of the work, and a description of the how the work will be used in order to facilitate communication between owners and users. In large part, the Act would limit the financial liability of someone who infringed the work after making a good faith diligent attempt to find the owner.

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Why I Think Using Social Media To Call Out Infringers May Be A Good Idea After All

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You will be infringed at some point; it’s almost a statistical certainty, so you might as well know how to deal with it. There are many strategies you could employ to do that, but since none of you are paying me, I’m not giving them all away here. There’s one in particular, though, that I think is worth discussing here: using social media to rally public opinion around your issue to leverage your bargaining power. The internet can be a really amazing tool for change in that way.

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You Should Consider Licensing Your Work To Your Infringers

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When you find out that someone is using your work without your permission, the urge to satisfy your vengeance upon the infringer will feel overwhelming. Sending a threatening letter can be a powerful salve because it indulges your righteous fury. But you should fight that urge because I think being nice can often reap you greater benefits.

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A Brief Review of Important Matters: Copyright vs Actors, Godzilla vs Nacho, and DC vs Rihanna

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Toho Studios, the owner and creator of Godzilla, is suing Voltage Pictures over a monster movie it is producing starring Anne Hathaway. The film, entitled "Colossal," will feature Hathaway as a woman whose mind is connected to a giant lizard that is destroying Tokyo. Haha what??!! You kind of have to respect the audacity to run with an idea that sounds like it came from someone's drug-induced fever dream.

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