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Warner Bros. Sued By Meme Creators Over Copyright Infringement
Krazy Kanuck sends this quote from the BBC: "Warner Bros is being sued for the alleged unauthorized use of two cats that have achieved internet fame. ... The complaint alleged that the cats were used without permission in Scribblenauts, a series of games on the Nintendo DS and other platforms. Court documents alleged that Warner Bros and 5th Cell 'knowingly and intentionally infringed' both claimant's ownership rights. 'Compounding their infringements,' court papers (PDF) said, 'defendants have used "Nyan Cat" (designed by Christopher Torres) and "Keyboard Cat" (created in 1984 by Charles Schmidt), even identifying them by name, to promote and market their games, all without plaintiffs' permission and without any compensation to plaintiffs.' "
That escalated quickly.
nyan cat is watching you litigate!
... How do you like them poptarts?
Well -- we all knew they were up to something -- now we now it really was world domination, just not the way we all expected.
Can we all just agree that idea of "copyrighting" characters is ridiculous? Trademark is one thing, but characters created without trademark should be considered travelers within the realm of culture, IMO. Actual direct digital copying of DRAWINGS of said characters, of course, falls under copyright.
All kings is mostly rapscallions. -Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
are the submarine patents of culture.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
I don't want to defend Warner Brothers, but this suit is stupid. These characters are totally pervasive on the Internet - de-facto public domain, so to say. They're also quite old. Extremely few of the people who use them have a clue that they're copyrighted.
If you create a meme and plaster it all over the Internet, you can't expect to keep people from using it, for profit or otherwise. That's just beyond ridiculous. If the creators of Hello Kitty were to sue every small clothing maker who used images, we'd have millions of stupid lawsuits like this under way.
If it was a character with a strong brand association, say like Mickey Mouse or Mario or anything from a cereal box, there might be a case. These characters exist solely for the purpose of sending people LULz everywhere on the webs, so it's really not the same thing, as they aren't commonly associated with any known brand or company.
These media conglomerates salivate in their sleep while dreaming of litigating the crap out of anyone they can get away with so that they can maintain a stranglehold on culture.
I am totally in favor of culture biting them in the ass, using the very laws they weas^H^H^H^Hchampioned.
Doesn't Nyan cat use the image of a Pop Tart as the body of the cat?
"I was under the impression that once something becomes a meme, it is essentially public domain since it's extensive public use would forfeit any intellectual rights the creators may have had.
"
You don't seem to understand copyright at all then, sadly. Everything you just said is wrong. .
Clearly the creators are confused. When big media takes something and uses it, that is just fine and everyone should look the other way. But if they (the big media maffia) even accuse anyone of taking something of theirs (or even that they would like to be theirs but really isn't) then that person is guilty and owes them irrational amounts of compensation.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Oh, good. let's start a Mickey Mouse meme, then.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
a character with a cat's face and a body
resembling a horizontal breakfast bar
with pink frosting sprinkled with light red dots,
flies across the screen, leaving a stream
of exhaust in the form of a bright rainbow
in its wake, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born.
I was under the impression that once something becomes a meme, it is essentially public domain
Just because you want it to be true doesn't make it so.
Legally, no it doesn't work that way at all.
Culturally, the only thing that any self-respecting netizen would advance as a meme isn't created by corporate influences or anyone that has the money or means to try and... you know... "own" a meme. As much as the PR department of Folgers Crystals would love to have their product become a meme, that shit just ain't happenin. But companies are certainly trying. I mean, that thing with the Old Spice guy is pretty well known.
Most memes are created and spread by, well, the poor. Poor in comparison to companies that own "brands", at least. The poor by and far do not enjoy the legal rights that people with lawyers do, and so the vast majority of memes are thrown about without worrying about being sued.
So when you say "essentially in the public domain", you're actually kinda right. Any copyright owned by the poor probably isn't going to be enforced, which is almost equivalent to being in the public domain.
If that seems unfair to you.... YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHH how about that suit against Warner Bros.?
they were actually making money off of someone else work without compensation.
Which is irrelevant in determining fair use.
How so? The first factor in a fair use determination under U.S. law (17 USC 107) involves whether or not the "purpose and character" was commercial.
Sorry, the Buy More was a fictional store in the TV Series Chuck.
So you can't do that either. But you can Purchase More if you like!
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
It's just that the rich don't need to sleep under bridges, whereas the poor sometimes do. So laws against doing things that those without means must do (sleep outdoors, urinate in the park behind trees and shrubs, beg for money) are applied equally to those rich enough that they wouldn't have to break that law in the first place. Sigh.... exasperated sigh....