![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
http://www.sethpolanskylaw.com/2016/06/10/intellectual-property-the-wrath-of-cons/
Just read it. Go ahead, it's not long. Well, OK, here's the salient points.
1.Artists/vendors are selling items that clearly infringe the copyrights of others.
2.Artists/vendors often do not understand how IP rights work, and more troubling, often don’t understand the risk they’ve taken on by selling potentially infringing items at a convention.
3.Artists often rely on selling such work to make ends meet.
4.Convention organizations, with few exceptions, turn a blind eye to their vendors’ sale of infringing material.
5.IP rights holders aren’t enforcing their rights – or perhaps not even paying attention to the issue.
6.Consumers (that is to say con-goers) either don’t understand that what they’re doing is supporting theft, or they don’t care.
===
I regularly hear uneducated arguments, often citing “fair use”, but in 99.9% of the situations I’ve encountered these arguments are utterly inappropriate.
They often go something like this:
•One-of-a-kind, original drawings and paintings of someone else’s IP are okay.
•Since everyone does it, copyright holders must not care.
•If I only sell it at conventions, and not online or in stores, it is okay.
•If I’m not making a profit, it is legal to draw someone else’s characters.
Each and every one of these is false. Let me repeat that. Each and every one of these is false. Any questions?
In any event a claim of fair use is always a question of law and artists/vendors can potentially be dragged into costly litigation over their mistaken belief that there is some sort of legal precedent that allows them to violate someone else’s IP rights.
This actual lawyer type guy details exactly what's been troubling me about conventions and artists alleys and the blind eye conventions turn towards IP theft, the handwaving fans and artists do to try to weasel out of taking responsibility for their actions, and how I feel about table fees from these artists being used to fund the parts of the convention I actually enjoy and am a part of (not great about it, is how I feel). I'm really pleased to see someone with concrete knowledge stepping up to the plate and tackling these issues.
Just read it. Go ahead, it's not long. Well, OK, here's the salient points.
1.Artists/vendors are selling items that clearly infringe the copyrights of others.
2.Artists/vendors often do not understand how IP rights work, and more troubling, often don’t understand the risk they’ve taken on by selling potentially infringing items at a convention.
3.Artists often rely on selling such work to make ends meet.
4.Convention organizations, with few exceptions, turn a blind eye to their vendors’ sale of infringing material.
5.IP rights holders aren’t enforcing their rights – or perhaps not even paying attention to the issue.
6.Consumers (that is to say con-goers) either don’t understand that what they’re doing is supporting theft, or they don’t care.
===
I regularly hear uneducated arguments, often citing “fair use”, but in 99.9% of the situations I’ve encountered these arguments are utterly inappropriate.
They often go something like this:
•One-of-a-kind, original drawings and paintings of someone else’s IP are okay.
•Since everyone does it, copyright holders must not care.
•If I only sell it at conventions, and not online or in stores, it is okay.
•If I’m not making a profit, it is legal to draw someone else’s characters.
Each and every one of these is false. Let me repeat that. Each and every one of these is false. Any questions?
In any event a claim of fair use is always a question of law and artists/vendors can potentially be dragged into costly litigation over their mistaken belief that there is some sort of legal precedent that allows them to violate someone else’s IP rights.
This actual lawyer type guy details exactly what's been troubling me about conventions and artists alleys and the blind eye conventions turn towards IP theft, the handwaving fans and artists do to try to weasel out of taking responsibility for their actions, and how I feel about table fees from these artists being used to fund the parts of the convention I actually enjoy and am a part of (not great about it, is how I feel). I'm really pleased to see someone with concrete knowledge stepping up to the plate and tackling these issues.
