From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Jul 20 18:04:45 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 404C416A41F for ; Wed, 20 Jul 2005 18:04:45 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from nalists@scls.lib.wi.us) Received: from mail.scls.lib.wi.us (mail.scls.lib.wi.us [198.150.40.25]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D7AB043D4C for ; Wed, 20 Jul 2005 18:04:44 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from nalists@scls.lib.wi.us) Received: from [172.26.2.238] ([172.26.2.238]) by mail.scls.lib.wi.us (8.12.9p2/8.12.9) with ESMTP id j6KI4hG1066878; Wed, 20 Jul 2005 13:04:43 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from nalists@scls.lib.wi.us) Message-ID: <42DE9195.4020205@scls.lib.wi.us> Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 13:01:57 -0500 From: Greg Barniskis User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.5 (Windows/20050711) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-questions References: <200507201111.42450.bob89@eng.ufl.edu> <126eac48050720102610336c2f@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: "Chad Leigh -- Shire.Net LLC" Subject: Re: Demon license? (copyright myths) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 18:04:45 -0000 Chad Leigh -- Shire.Net LLC wrote: > > On Jul 20, 2005, at 11:26 AM, Josh Ockert wrote: > >> >> No I disagree. I'm fairly certain that an independently drawn >> personified mouse would not be copyright infringement. >> >> Calling it "Mickey Mouse" may very well be trademark infringement, >> however. >> > > > As long as the "independently drawn personified mouse" didn't look like > Mickey at all you would be ok. But an independently drawn personified > mouse that bore resemblance to His Mouseness would probably land you in > hot water. Again, IANAL-AIDPOOTV. Unless of course you made it clear that the resemblance was intentional and your use of the copyrighted image was as part of legitimate social commentary (e.g. satire, or critique). You'd get in trouble if you tried to pass it off as an independent work. Thus the infamous "Beastie F'ing Tux" image is probably not an infringement of either the Beastie or the Tux image copyrights, because it's a parody. Only a federal judge could tell you for sure. Copyright is both clear cut and a murky gray area, at the same time. The only sure protection for an "infringer" is to have a written approval from the copyright holder for use as a "get out of jail free" card. IANAL, but IAAL (I am a librarian ;) and have spent more than a few hours on the subject. Anyway, this thread is getting way OT for -questions. The OP's question was answered I think. The rest of us should go to -chat, or in my case, -lunch. -- Greg Barniskis, Computer Systems Integrator South Central Library System (SCLS) Library Interchange Network (LINK) , (608) 266-6348