Pooh copyright?

[dayle2]

A friend of mine (NOT ME!) is wanting to have various Pooh characters embroidered onto a shirt. This is for PERSONAL, ONE-TIME usage, NOT for sale / monetary gain. The images she's collected were NOT copyrighted, but so far, she cannot get the shirt done unless she has PROOF that the copyright has expired. She'd seen somewhere that it HAS, but she cannot remember WHERE.

Can anyone help find PROOF about the copyright?

Thanks!

 

[bicker]

Different renderings of the Pooh characters have different copyright expiration dates. Disney's renderings of the Pooh characters won't enter the public domain until 2026. The status of the rights to the illustrations from pre-Disney publications of Pooh is a good question. A quick review of the web shows that several people are looking for that information.

 

[jfulcer]

Most embroiderers have machines that can do Pooh characters either from being built in or an add on card. Of course, you can't use the image your FOAF has found, but she can still pick from some.

Of course, the kick is that those are copyrighted also and you're not allowed to do it for money. I'm not sure I understand why they sell them, but alas that's not my concern.

Good luck!

 

[bicker]

If they're legit, they're working off of licensed patterns, and so they're effectively paying royalties.

 

[dayle2]

She actually found the images ON a Disney website! She did a "save as" but there was nothing saying she couldn't save them; anything she saw said that they're ok for personal use.

 

[bicker]

From the Terms of Use on Disney's website:

All materials contained in any WDIG Site are the copyrighted property of Disney Enterprises, Inc., or its subsidiaries or affiliated companies and/or third-party licensors.

Since that's the standard practice on the web, it's more than sufficient to establish and assert intellectual property rights.

 

[pjlla]

I thought that it was all fair if it was for personal use. Otherwise, wouldn't we all (potentially) get sued every time we made a MM t-shirt (see the homemade t-shirt thread), or had MM tattooed on our bodies (see the thread about that tattoo guy)? I thought that the copyright laws only applied if we were trying to sell something? Maybe I'm just being a dumb blonde, but this was what I have always thought.....P

 

[bicker]

No. Copyright applies regardless of whether there is money changing hands or not.

Copyright is a protection that covers published and unpublished literary, scientific and artistic works, whatever the form of expression, provided such works are fixed in a tangible or material form. This means that if you can see it, hear it and/or touch it - it may be protected. If it is an essay, if it is a play, if it is a song, if it is a funky original dance move, if it is a photograph, HTML coding or a computer graphic that can be set on paper, recorded on tape or saved to a hard drive, it may be protected. Copyright laws grant the creator the exclusive right to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute, perform and display the work publicly. Exclusive means only the creator of such work, not anybody who has access to it and decides to grab it.

...

Public domain - not! When visiting a web site, it is so easy to click and save with a mouse button when one sees a graphic image that one likes, or to view the source code and copy part of or all of the HTML coding because one "likes the way this or that was done" or one "wants a similar layout", or to copy original writings because "that person expresses this or that so well". The general (and incorrect) notion is that anything that is on the internet is public domain and may be taken without permission from the creator/owner. Some people actually think (incorrectly) that just because bits of web pages may be stored in one's cache, or because certain browsers allow one to do "file save as" moves or anything similar one may use such material as one wishes. This is false.

http://www.whatiscopyright.org/

 

[Keli]

I thought that it was all fair if it was for personal use. Otherwise, wouldn't we all (potentially) get sued every time we made a MM t-shirt (see the homemade t-shirt thread), or had MM tattooed on our bodies (see the thread about that tattoo guy)? I thought that the copyright laws only applied if we were trying to sell something? Maybe I'm just being a dumb blonde, but this was what I have always thought.....P

I thought I had read that Disney's position on personal use of their characters was to pretty much allow people to do it. I thought I specifically read this in regards to the tattoo guy. I don't suppose there is a lot of difference between putting an image disney owns on a shirt or on your body under the shirt as far as copyright infringement goes as long as you aren't selling the shirt.

 

[bicker]

or selling the body?

Unfortunately, no. Disney has never made any statements allowing personal use of their copyrighted characters.

 

[dayle2]

Well, seems to me that if Disney has NOT made a statement re: personal use of its characters, then does that not mean it's OK?

Wishful thinking?

Funny thing is, I can easily create a cross-stitch pattern with these characters (I have adaptation software - enter a jpeg and it prints out the pattern and colors thread), but they just won't look as good...

 

[Free4Life11]

I'm willing to get that someone, somewhere would be willing to embroider images of Pooh onto a shirt even if they are copyrighted. Why not just find someone willing to do it?? Or maybe she could use one of those programs to create a design like someone mentioned, then give the design to a friend or someone.

 

[Geoff_M]

As others have pointed out, profit motive (or lack thereof) doesn't make a difference in the eyes of trademark/copyright law. If "personal use" without charging made it "OK", then the recording industry wouldn't be able to pursue people for copying music for free. I think people are also confusing the "license" that Disney grants on authorized fabrics containing Disney characters. The wording printed on the edges of each fabric bolt grants the purchaser the right to use the fabric for personal "non-commercial" projects. This isn't the same as granting a blanket (oh, bad pun) authorization for people to use their characters on any project as long as it's for private use... In the case of the printed fabric a royalty is built into the price of material.

I've had indirect dealing with a few embroidery companies. Some are more ethical than others in this area. The ethical ones will require written authorization from the rights holder before they will reproduce copyrighted/trademarked designs. The larger more professional operations usually are in this category.

"Will I get caught?" is another question entirely. The answer is probably "no"... nor will your bootleg Pooh shirt likely be impounded if you try to enter WDW while wearing it.

I thought I specifically read this in regards to the tattoo guy.

I know a guy who has a Sorcerer Mickey tattoo on his ankle. He was employeed as a CM at WDW when he got it. It took him some time to find a tattoo artist in the Orlando area that would be willing to do the job... and only under terms of secrecy (lest Disney sue the artist). At work, my friend had to make sure it was covered at all times, otherwise his employment at WDW would have been jepordized if it was revealed.

 

[Feralpeg]

If she were to embroider them or transfer them onto a shirt for herself, no one would say anything. No company is going to do it for her because they would be getting paid to do it and could get in trouble.