I know it's early, but the Dune bros thing is the funniest shiz that's happened all year. My dudes. You really bought a 3 million dollar art book for no reason.
I'm going to interject, if you don't mind, to tell you that your Star Wars example is backwards. :) The author owns the original copyright. The author always owns the original copyright with no exceptions even in a product such as Star Wars. What happened upon publishing is that the author gave a copyright license to the publisher to "lease" that copyright for a specific amount of time. Then why do authors need to have a license to write a Star Wars story? Because the author licensed off of a trademark (permission to use the Star Wars brand), wrote a novel, and then licensed the author's copyright back to the publisher (the publisher has a license to publish the novel). It's also a bit more complicated than that, but that's the basic version, and I suspect that the publisher actually owns both the trademark and the copyright license.
Thank you for drawing attention to this! I work in a school so I see and hear this all the time both from students and teachers. They'll play long clips of videos or songs in their projects without proper permissions, or teachers will even (although not as much anymore as we have migrated to mostly online platforms due to the pandemic) photocopy full chapters of books without contacting the publisher for permission. There is so much misunderstanding around this issue and what constitutes "fair use" (because how is stealing someone's IP or getting around buying books by photocopying them "fair?"). It's a massive problem for authors, composers, and other content creators.
Gary I too work in schools and I COULD NOT AGREE MORE. There is this myth that schools exist in a magical bubble and copyright does not exist there, which we both know is not the case. I have given presentations on this topic and it is one of my favorite points to make!! Thank you Kate for writing this - I couldn't appreciate it more
Perfect! You don't have to be a lawyer; just a keen observer of foibles and obvious blunders. The story of the 'Dune' dudes cracked me up. A case of too much money, too few brain cells. I'd love to know: where are they now? Still crying in their beers?
I saw when this tweet viral and I was FLOORED by this. Like??? Just Google IP laws????
I know it's early, but the Dune bros thing is the funniest shiz that's happened all year. My dudes. You really bought a 3 million dollar art book for no reason.
"Not a meritocracy"... thank you for the reality check (from another piece by you).
I'm going to interject, if you don't mind, to tell you that your Star Wars example is backwards. :) The author owns the original copyright. The author always owns the original copyright with no exceptions even in a product such as Star Wars. What happened upon publishing is that the author gave a copyright license to the publisher to "lease" that copyright for a specific amount of time. Then why do authors need to have a license to write a Star Wars story? Because the author licensed off of a trademark (permission to use the Star Wars brand), wrote a novel, and then licensed the author's copyright back to the publisher (the publisher has a license to publish the novel). It's also a bit more complicated than that, but that's the basic version, and I suspect that the publisher actually owns both the trademark and the copyright license.
Also, copyright is a constitutional right.
P.S. If I could be so bold, I did write a bit about fair use when the entire Bad Art Friend came about: https://www.blawggers.com/agony-dorland-larson-bad-art-friend-explained/
I guess this is technically true but when it is a work made for hire, the author has no claim to copyright from the get-go.
Yes, the contract for the license ... either the trademark or the copyright ... is probably air-tight. I mean, it's Star Wars, amirite?
Thank you for drawing attention to this! I work in a school so I see and hear this all the time both from students and teachers. They'll play long clips of videos or songs in their projects without proper permissions, or teachers will even (although not as much anymore as we have migrated to mostly online platforms due to the pandemic) photocopy full chapters of books without contacting the publisher for permission. There is so much misunderstanding around this issue and what constitutes "fair use" (because how is stealing someone's IP or getting around buying books by photocopying them "fair?"). It's a massive problem for authors, composers, and other content creators.
Gary I too work in schools and I COULD NOT AGREE MORE. There is this myth that schools exist in a magical bubble and copyright does not exist there, which we both know is not the case. I have given presentations on this topic and it is one of my favorite points to make!! Thank you Kate for writing this - I couldn't appreciate it more
Perfect! You don't have to be a lawyer; just a keen observer of foibles and obvious blunders. The story of the 'Dune' dudes cracked me up. A case of too much money, too few brain cells. I'd love to know: where are they now? Still crying in their beers?