A copy right question

[Martin Boekers]

So what you are really engraving is a reproduction of an original caligraphic artwork.
The point is the beauty of the art : the words, their source and their meaning are a minor consideration.

(Just love muddying the waters)

Ahhhh then it really doesn't have to be those words then. (The water is not only muddier but deeper too)

[John Barton]

You may want to try that and see for yourself. Kinkos wont copy that for you if the tell them it's translated lyrics to a copyrighted song.
You may "sneek" it by them on a "you Pay" copy machine, but they do try to monitor that. They usually have a copyright warning posted.

If you don't believe that about Disney, call them up and ask if they would have an issue painting MM on your house. They could outlast any
one of us finacially if you really would like it to be heard in a court. Disney cares more about branding than whether you make $10 for engraving
that's why they put up the fight. The want to control the perception of MM.

Hmmmmm just another doohickey sold. Good luck, sometimes these things tend to catch up with us.

Well, I will take my chances. I don't have a lot of faith in the law, it's not there to protect everyone equally. I am not going to advertise that I do "Disney" plaques but I am not going to refuse a customer who comes to me and wants a picture of Mickey Mouse on their case.

I lost $120,000 in orders in three days when neither the "law" nor my own industry association would stop the infringement of my trademark. In order to get an injunction I would have had to post a $500,000 bond. That was not possible. And my industry association said they couldn't get involved. BUT when a company showed up with a COPY of the Billiard Rule Book that the association publishes and sells it was pulled from the floor in minutes.

So call me jaded but as long as I feel that am not harming the copyright owner by putting a representation of their work on a piece of leather then that's what I will do on a customer's request.

You won't see me putting up a bunch of logos and advertising that I make "Harley" gear etc....

And before anyone wants to tell me that I'd feel differently if the shoe was on the other foot I have lost over ten million dollars due to knockoffs of my cue case designs (which were not under copyright). I have had to send out my own C&D letters to people who plagiarized my ad copy and to people who miused the images of my cases.

I spent $50,000 defending my trademark only to get a weak agreement from the infringers. I deal with going after infringers who counterfeit our pool cue designs and sell them on Ebay.

So I understand the difference between the intent of the law and the letter of the law. You won't find me making a line of Mickey Mouse pool cues without securing the licensing.

In fact, we bought a portfolio of designs from a prominent tattoo artist and album cover designer to have exclusive use of for pool cues and other billiard supplies. A year after we came out with pool cues with those designs a company here in China stole the designs and did laser engraved versions. So I understand it from both sides.

Here's one I just did:



Laser engraved and hand colored.

[John Barton]

You may want to try that and see for yourself. Kinkos wont copy that for you if the tell them it's translated lyrics to a copyrighted song.
You may "sneek" it by them on a "you Pay" copy machine, but they do try to monitor that. They usually have a copyright warning posted.

If you don't believe that about Disney, call them up and ask if they would have an issue painting MM on your house. They could outlast any
one of us finacially if you really would like it to be heard in a court. Disney cares more about branding than whether you make $10 for engraving
that's why they put up the fight. The want to control the perception of MM.

Hmmmmm just another doohickey sold. Good luck, sometimes these things tend to catch up with us.

Yes I know, I do a lot of business with Kinkos. They make you sign a form where you state that you have permission to reproduce the work you are asking them to copy. That absolves them of liability because they informed you of the law.

It is not Kinkos responsibility to verify the authenticity of any customer's "permission". They are not even required to inform customers of the law. They do it to have another layer of insulation from being sued as having a signed statement usually stops anyone from naming them as accessories. As you know the clerk at Kinko's is not going to call Coca Cola to find out if I have permission to make copies of their logo. And if I wanted to be fraudulent then I am sure I could produce a credible-enough letter of permission that would pass well enough to get the work done.

I have copied the logos of dozens of companies to include major brands for tournament flyers over the years. It's not that big a deal.