Disney Question

After seeing The Fantasia reference in Chef's Salty Balls, would Disney CEO Michael Eisner place a bounty for the heads of Trey Parker & Matt Stone? ;-)

No, because it wasn't technically a reference to Fantasia. Mr. Hanky bears no resemblence to Mickey Mouse and I'm sure the scene was different. :) ========================

LeEsPaM -- Public citizen
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"Oh, we all want something."

SoUtH PaRk: if you don't know, don't ask.

Mario P. Labot Jr. wrote:

Well, since I adored Fantasia and "Salty Balls" hasn't been aired here yet, what's the reference?

Rabbit

Parodies are exempted from copyright law. Therefore, Disney can be pissed but they can't sue. -me

Mario P. Labot Jr. wrote:

D'arcy007 wrote:

No, they certainly can, and they will. There was a case some years ago of a writer whose story was a play-by-play of the last scene of the Wizard of Oz, with the ending changed. It was a parody. He was sued for copyright infringment.

Copyright is not a black-and-white thing; there are a lot of gray areas, and almost every court case is a precedent. Mostly it hinges on "fair use", and the limitations are based on the purpose and character of the use (commercial nature vs. non-profit educational purposes), the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount and substantiality of the portion used, and the effect that use has upon the potential market for the copyrighted material.

If you don't think Disney can sue, think again. They have a legal department that does nothing but spend its days persecuting people who use the characters illegally. I remember the famous case where a Florida nursery school painted Mickey Mouse on their window and they had to remove it. Disney is one of the most aggressive protectors of its copyrighted characters (along with Rolls Royce) -- that's why so many people say "don't mess with the mouse".

Rabbit

Rabbit wrote:

Thought I'd repost for the heck of it :) (Didn't you know Disney is Big Brother of 1984?)

Hey guys, it's your neighborhood pest :) Just foudn this on a mailing list I subscribe to and found it relevant here. Thought you spec writers might want to take a look, just so I can say you were informed. (pasted below)

law. Below, I've cited the answers to her questions. Please read this. It's EXPREMELY IMPORTANT for all Internet users to understand this today.

Question:

Answer:

copyright law DOES exist and apply to information posted on the internet, up until about a year ago, most attorneys weren't online (except to be hooked up into one of the legal databases like Lexus or Nexus). However, savvy patent and copyright attorneys are now realizing the wealth of opportunity the internet offers for prosecution and are taking advantage of it.

who have been approached by the legal honchos of an artist, asking that certain things be removed from their site: pictures, specs, episode guides (for Star Trek sites), and a variety of other things. The legal community is catching on, and it won't be long before they know how to use Altavista and Yahoo the way the rest of us do! They're still learning how to track down people....but they will. Why dangle bait before them?

Question:>>I

Answer:

times in cases like this, they're prevented from discussing it by an agreement.

Question:

(http://www.clari.net/brad/copymyths.html)

Answer:

dealing too....doesn't mean they're not against the law ;)

Blessed Be.

                             Carpe Noctem,
                                Jesse
                        **http://i.am/dementia**

Before criticizing someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Then when you do criticize them, you will be a mile away and have their shoes. ========== (Thought of the Day)===================

Ok, there is a lot of copyrights being used on the net w/o permission. Isn't that good? Lets say you look up South something right? You may just click on south park by accident, read a bit about the show and decide to watch. Also, if fans are sued or taken other action against for being fans and making web pages, then there is a good chance that they won't be fans ne more. If comedy central wrote a really good page like Mr. Hats hell hole and told him all the copyrighted stuff needed to be removed, I along with him and I'm sure many others would be pissed. If your just being a fan I don't really see the reason a company would go out of it's way just to punish you. -me

D'arcy007 wrote:

I see your point, but you're not a creator so you're not seeing both sides of this.

I am a professional writer and photographer. I create characters. Now, my characters aren't going to show up in any fan-fics, but let's say they did. That means that the characters I spent months creating into my books are now being "lifted" by someone and used for a purpose I did not intend.

Or put it another way -- let's say I take a photograph. I sell my photos; that's how I make part of my living. Imagine if someone took that photo, downloaded it on the Net, and someone else took it and made calendars, or greeting cards, or whatever from it and sold them.

Another reason companies protect their interests so much is because of a law ... and for the life of me I can't remember what it's called ... that sets a precedent based on how much the company actually protects its assets and how often the characters are used without their permission.

For example, let's say that I create a cartoon character. People copy him, but I don't bother to take action against them (and even a letter asking for cease and desist is often enough). Next thing I know, there's copies of that character over the Web, painted on store windows, etc.

Now someone decides to print that character on T-shirts and sells them. I created the character and I should be the one to benefit from that creation, but this person is making money from my character without paying me. I take him to court. The court may very well rule against me, because I have never bothered with copyright infringement to that point.

It's a sticky slope, and one that creators tread very carefully, since as you say they don't want to piss off their fans. At the same time, they have to protect what they've created. They're not afraid of fans ripping them off; they're afraid of people who are just in it for the money.

Rabbit

Yes, but fanfiction makes no profit, and if anything it helps the show. I certainly don't agree to printing pictures on greeting cards or t-shirts, but if you write a fanfic it makes no money, gives you no fame, etc. Marguerrite, Hunter of the Infamous Matt and Trey (they call me Kim, but I know better) Aka Crabtree-Norn "Sit down and shut up!" "&^*$ Censorship!"-originated on alt.tv.southpark

No, but you're still using the characters without permission. As I stated in my post, the fanfics don't hurt them directly, but they could be used to prove that the creators didn't aggressively protect their creations. A lot depends on where the fan-fic is published, as well. At the moment, the courts tend to look on printed-on-paper work as "real", and electronic publishing as a gray area.

Rabbit