I believe that Project guttenberg runs into this all the time. You
have to be very careful, because though the original work may have
fallen into the public domain, translations and interpretations may
not have... and that's an endlessly complex issue. Project
guttenberg contributors go back to the actual version and transcribe
it to text... they cut no corners with transcribing from later
publishings.
I also hear this with classical music. Indeed everything from Handel
to betoven is in the public domain, but most of the modern recordings
which is 99.99% of what you hear is not. Therefore it would be
illegal to copy most public recordings.
This is an endlessly complex issue.
I have a freiend who's a painter who works heavily with popular
symbols... we once talked about this issue with monopoly. Mr.
Moneybags the primary character and symbol of monopoly is in the
public domain, but is he still trademarked. Even still in fine art
these complexities get ever more complex, because art is a primal
sort of social commentary and because at it's essence it defies rules
and definition. The issue is endlessly complex.
I'm not even goind to venture to say where I stand... except that in
issues of fine art and edication you tend to get more leway on
copyright and trademark... much less so in commercial endevors.
Of course I always follow the number one rule of copyright issues...
lawsuits follow the money. It's especially true in copyright. So, if
you plan to make money now or ever wether you making fine art, or
making shows... I suggest getting more paranoid the more upside
potential.
Personally I like the fine art model. By the time your early
paintings are worth anything, you won't own them anymore anyway. It's
someone elses problem. :)
It's a much more sociable route than get rich quick
hollywoodification schemes.
-Mike
On Apr 26, 2006, at 11:01 PM, andrew michael baron wrote:
Thanks JD, great information!!
On Apr 26, 2006, at 9:49 PM, JD Lasica wrote:
> I promised I'd ask an attorney friend about our friend Gumby, and
> Andrew's idea of dusting him off and remixing him for the 21st
> century. Here's what she says:
>
>
> This "Gumby Problem" is a lot like the Peter Pan case I worked on
> (and eventually settled) at Stanford last year. The problem is: what
> happens to trademarked characters once the copyrighted work falls
> into the public domain. (I'm assuming here that Gumby is in fact in
> the PD.) In the Peter Pan case, it's absolutely clear that the
> original story was in the public domain (published 1911). So our
> client used the characters and made a sequel to Peter Pan that is set
> in this century. Our client had the characters act differently, put
> them in new "modern" situations, and even challenged the idea that
> growing up is necessarily a bad thing. The Peter Pan copyright owner
> claimed both copyright and trademark infringement. There are cases
> that state pretty clearly that the characters also fall into the PD
> when a copyright expires, so the copyright question is, in my
> opinion, fairly clear (though we fought about it in the Peter Pan
> case).
>
> The TM question is trickier because generally a TM lasts as long as
> it is not abandoned by the owner and is properly used to identify a
> good or service. You can still parody the mark without infringement
> or dilution concerns (thanks to our First Amendment), but you always
> need to keep an eye out for whether you are using the mark in a
> manner that will cause customer confusion (infringement) or whether
> you are possibly diluting the Gumby mark. (Dilution claims stem from
> either "blurring" [e.g., causing a famous mark to lose some of its
> distinctiveness due to use of a similar marks] or
> "tarnishing" [e.g., associating a famous mark with unpleasant or
> unwholesome products/services] the mark.)
>
> I hope this is helpful!
>
> Best,
> Colette Vogele
> San Francisco
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
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