Among other things and pursuits, I am a science
fiction/fantasy/anthropomorphic artist. I have an online web comic and
have work appear in various comic book titles. I have a series of
characters that I draw often of my own creation. I also must make sure
that only those I authorize use the works I make available or else I'll
risk the chance of losing control over my own creations. I don't take
kindly to folks plagerizing my work or even using it to base something of
their own from by tracing it. It's one thing to do so for yourself, but to
then turn around and sell it as your own- well, that's just cheesy.
Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes) does not have merchandising of his
characters. None of those back window stickers of Calvin piddling on this
or that auto label are legal. All are outright copyright violations of the
character. Bill Watterson makes no money on any of that, nor does he have
any input or control how people use the images. It's theft, plain and
simple.
For a small club, it wouldn't be such a bad thing, but it's also the sort
of thing that only takes one eager lawyer to completely destroy the
organization. If the T shirts were sold to other folks at a car club
meeting or event, then the car club is legally liable as well. It's
happened before to science fiction conventions where an animated cartoon
from Japan (anime) was bootlegged and sold at a dealer's table. The studio
who produced it found it on sale and knew it wasn't authorized and forced
the shut down of the convention, then turned around and sued not only the
dealer who was selling it illegally, but the convention for allowing the
sale of stolen merchandise- they didn't police the dealers sufficiently and
got caught unaware. It destroyed the convention and bankrupt them. Even
the dealer who was selling them didn't know they were illegal dubs. It was
an innocent mistake, but it affected far greater numbers of people.
Just contact Haynes and ask for permission, or have someone else draw a
similar drawing- it would be so much easier.
---------------------
This message has been sent by Dan Canaan, aka Flinthoof. All content is
copyrighted by this individual for better or for worse, especially if there
is mint involved. We thank you for your support. Please give mint to your
local Mint Cross Center.
/// spitfires@autox.team.net mailing list
/// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
|