Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 22:24:48 -0800 From: "Ted Mittelstaedt" <tedm@toybox.placo.com> To: "Dan Strick" <strick@covad.net>, <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: RE: Copyright Issues Message-ID: <LOBBIFDAGNMAMLGJJCKNMELCEPAA.tedm@toybox.placo.com> In-Reply-To: <200411231657.iANGv8Ps000709@mist.nodomain>
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> -----Original Message----- > From: owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org > [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org]On Behalf Of Dan Strick > Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 2004 8:57 AM > To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org > Cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org; dan@mist.nodomain > Subject: Re: Copyright Issues > > > On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 14:34:11 +0000, Mick Walker wrote: > >> > > ... > > Now, getting to the point, I was shocked when I went into the toilet > > facilities in the pub, and found one of those vending machines that sell > > novelty items of a sexual nature, featuring on the design something that > > looked remarkably similar to the BSD Daemon. > > ... > > The company that supplies these vending machines is called Naughty Vend > > (http://www.naughtyvend.com/). I have checked their site, and I find no > > reference to and copyright credits to the original artist. To the best > > of my knowledge, the BSD Daemon is copyrighted by Marshall Kirk > > McKusick. > > Is this a case of copyright theft? As obviously they are a profit making > > company. Or have i got totally the wrong end of the stick. > > ... > >> > > (I suggest this thread be moved to the chat mailing list.) > > It is not clear that copyright law applies here. No, it IS clear that copyright law applies here. See: http://www.mckusick.com/beastie/mainpage/copyright.html Copyright applies to images, that is why you can't use an image of Micky Mouse on your stuff. > I doubt that the concept > of a cute demon is copyrightable. Correct. The definition of a "cute demon" is very broad. > In order to be a copyright violation, > it might have to be obvious that the *only* way the vending machine daemon > could have been composed was to intentionally copy a daemon image whose > copyright is held by Kirk McKusick. (This one does look an awful lot like > some versions of the BSD daemon.) > That is not true. All that is required is that it closely resembles the image, I believe the language is something along the lines that if it is likely consumers would confuse the images then it's a violation. This of course is where the pedal meets the metal. The image on the condom dispenser is an infringement - in my opinion. The difficulty is convincing a court of law. > > A further complication is that Naughty International Limited is a European > company and the alleged property rights violation occurred in Europe. > Doesen't matter. All countries in Europe that are members of the EU had to modify their copyright laws to bring them into compliance with the Berne convention, just to join the EU. And all signatories to the convention (which is just about every civilized country) are obligated to adjust their laws to match. Failing to do so automatically recinds copyright protection for anything created in that country - for example if Nigeria didn't sign, any books written in Nigeria by a Nigerian resident would not be uncopyrightable, etc. > These issues are a bit subtle. If you really care about them, you should > ask a lawyer who works with intellectual property rights law. > No you shouldn't. You ask a lawyer to file a lawsuit, but you can do basic research on copyright law on the Internet very easily. You have a lot more money than I do if you ask lawyers for answers anytime you have a legal question. In this instance Kirk has nothing to lose by sending the infringers a cease-and-desist letter. I'm sure it's very easy for them to get someone to draw another image, and they probably didn't realize the image was copyrighted. As long as they respond and change the image for future vending machines, that is enough to preserve Kirks control over the image. Besides, I am amazed this company hasn't already had problems with theft, if one of these condom dispensers showed up around here, I can think of a dozen people who would be trying to figure out how to steal it. Ted _______________________________________________ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"
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