MetaFilter posts tagged with copyright and art

Artist vs. Copycat

Marky — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:44:23 -0800

Sculptor creates, copycat copies. We'll settle this in court! Bizarro world court that is... (via Consumerist) Sculpter John Ungar makes firepits from recycled propane tanks. Rick Wittrig copies them. Wittrig sues Ungar to strip him of his copyrights because...

"Defendant's Fire Pits are functional, utilitarian and useful articles that are not subject to copyright protection."

(from Federal Court Filing)

Obey the Law

CheeseDigestsAll — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:56:47 -0800

Anthony Falzone and the Fair Use Project have dropped Shepard Fairey's case after he admitted he lied and submitted false evidence in his suit against the Associated Press. (Previously).

C'est la vie, says the old folks, it just goes to show you never can be too careful

hypersloth — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 04:03:53 -0800

The Tarantino Mixtape from Eclectic Method is not the first mashup to cross the audio/video copyright streams, but they are pretty good at it.
via the always excellent giavasan Biography Lock Up Your Videos ^

Polyvorous

divabat — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 01:42:56 -0800

Polyvore is a website that lets you mix and match online images to make fashion sets and collages. While it has received favour from Web 2.0 pundits, fashion bloggers, and major craft blogs, it has also drawn massive ire from artists that claim copyright infringement and use of personal photos. The anti-Polyvore pressure mainly comes from Etsy sellers, with some support from artists on DeviantArt, Red Buddle, and independent artists - all coming together on Flickr. We Heart It and Ffffound! are also seen as suspect. While Polyvore tries to assuage copyright fears, amidst growing pressure to shut down, many of Polyvore's current users are counter-petitioning for the site to stay.

picturing childhood

nickyskye — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:29:33 -0800

FairyTaleFilter: SurLaLune Fairy Tales features 49 annotated fairy tales, including their histories, similar tales across cultures, modern interpretations and over 1,500 illustrations, 1,600 folktales & fairy tales from around the world in more than 40 full-text eBooks. Fairy Tale timeline. l Women Children's Book Illustrators l The Evolution of the Illustrated Children's Book l Some really beautiful free graphics and clipart from Grandma's Graphics. Rare 1923 edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren. Three More Early Tenggren Books Samples of images: exotic, dream-like, odd, fun, charming, cool, avatars. Previously

Colorful Theft

billypilgrim — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:45:45 -0800

Illustrators up in arms. Darren De Lieto, owner of Little Chimp Society, recently received word that his work and the work of 93 other illustrators has been used without permission in a dubious 350-page book entitled Colorful Illustrations 93ºC, being sold online and in bookstores for $100. With the rise of copyright-shaky China and the revitialization of the Orphan Works Act, are artists rights becoming more precarious? (Via Drawn!)

Shepard Fairey, Plagiarist?

dhammond — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:58:09 -0800

Most well known for his "Obey Giant" street posters, Shepard Fairey has carefully nurtured a reputation as a heroic guerilla street artist waging a one man campaign against the corporate powers-that-be. Infantile posturing aside, Fairey’s art is problematic for another, more troubling reason - that of plagiarism.

Cash rules everything around me

Blazecock Pileon — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 00:29:49 -0800

CASH is the Coalition of Artists & Stake Holders, a project conceived and initiated by musician Kristin Hersh. CASH is "read-write" — more than consumption; a collaborative online effort — helping make music ownership more of an interactive affair facilitated through Creative Commons licensing.

the tighty whiteys are funny

ZachsMind — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 09:12:58 -0800

"Zuda takes the Web publishing aspect out of the creators' hands, freeing them up to focus on writing and drawing the story. But to get Zuda to publish your comic, you first have to win a competition..." A major player enters into the fray of web comics publishing, previously populated mostly by independents. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Zuda's owned and operated by DC Comics. You can submit one to the contests yourself if you're artisically inclined (but know your rights before you do), or you can just read what others have submitted. I guess the winner is the reader, because for the moment at least, it's free. Yay free. One that caught my eye was Alpha Monkey but it's hard to find a favorite. I thought this one was a bit too bloody, but one's trash is another's treasure and all that.

Can photographers be plagarists?

Meatbomb — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 07:57:12 -0800

Can photographers be plagarists?

The problem with music, redux.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 14:16:20 -0800

While Courtney pulled an Albini, Jeff handed out the bread. Are the peasants acting like emperors, or do they still want something shiny, aluminum, plastic, and digital? Debacle or cage, something's got to give (pdf). Alternatively, you can just roll your own.

Images in the Public Domain

brookeb — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 05:20:27 -0800

A list of sites with public domain images was just posted by a DailyKos user and seems very useful.

When art is outlawed, only criminals will have brushes

dejah420 — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 07:51:44 -0800

Illegal Art: Should artists be allowed to use copyrighted materials? Where do the First Amendment and "intellectual property" law collide? What is art's future if the current laws are allowed to stand? Questions asked by Stay Free! in their ongoing multimedia exhibit.

sunny day...

amberglow — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 06:49:52 -0800

Ernest and Bertram --short film, formerly one of the best films you can't see after debuting at Sundance in 2002, with Sesame's lawyers then cracking down and forcing it to be pulled--now on youtube.

break it down like this

loquacious — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 00:48:17 -0800

Can I get an amen? An installation featuring an acetate pressing of a well worded spoken piece about copyright law, creative commons, culture and even advertising from the perspective of the history of the now ubiquitous Amen Break featuring audio samples of songs and artists from the well known to the unusual. Please feel free to use this archive.org mirror of the video indicated on the project description page with the entirety of the audio of the acetate at archive.org. (34MB MP4/Quicktime, majority of video portion consists of various views of the turntable, but the audio is quite good.)

'We are the Gay Men's Radical Singing Caucus!' the lead singer yelled in his exquisite tenor.

amberglow — Thu, 23 Dec 2004 07:56:22 -0800

Tis the Season -- a new short story from China Mieville, just in time for the Holidays™ ... Don't get me wrong. I haven't got shares in YuleCo™, and I can't afford a one-day end-user licence, so I couldn't have a legal party. I'd briefly considered buying from one of the budget competitors like XmasTym, or a spinoff from a non-specialist like Coca-Crissmas, but the idea of doing it on the cheap was just depressing...

Disney's x-rated fare

mathowie — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 14:53:11 -0800

The original plates for the famous parody work (that was never sued over) Disneyland Memorial Orgy, is on sale at eBay. Here's the whole story on the piece, which ran in 1967 in a small underground newspaper and was created by Paul Krassner. I bet a copyright/trademark lawyer with a sense of humor buys this to mount over his desk soon.

Bring on the lawyers, SOM allegedly steals student's design

plemeljr — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 08:10:37 -0800

Thomas Shine, a former Yale student, is suing David Childs for copyright infringement Mr. Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill for copyright infringement over the design of the Freedom Tower located at Ground Zero. Shine alleges in his lawsuit that the proposed Freedom Tower was "strikingly similar" to his "Olympic Tower" design for the proposed 2012 Olympic Games in New York.

Copyright Infringement Like Nothing Else!

brownpau — Mon, 03 Mar 2003 19:00:10 -0800

The Future of Copyright? Spoof GUI alerts from new media artist Perry Hoberman. Wry, yet creatively chilling satire . Also be sure out the rest of the "ACCEPT" exhibit, especially the OK/Cancel dialog boxes and My Life in Spam. Hey, has anyone here seen this exhibit in person?

Artists Rights Coalition

cedar — Fri, 17 Jan 2003 17:11:48 -0800

The Artists Rights Coalition has decided that it is their mission to enforce copyright law. It doesn't matter whether or not it's their copyright -- they're gonna enforce it anyway. An example of the community policing itself or of online vigilantism?

jeremias — Fri, 11 Oct 2002 14:12:57 -0800

HEY! That's illegal! Aw, yeah the motherlode of illegality. The organizers of this exhibit seem to get it all right. The website doesn't skimp on the source material either. Wanna see George Bush wreak havoc on the Teletubbies bunnies? It's here . Wanna see Wally Wood's (Of The Realist and Mad ) version of a Disneyland orgy? It's here . Public Enemy sampled the Beatles but pulled the song because the licence fees were insane, listen to it here . Also, don't skip over the "contract" that pops up when you enter the site, it's classic.