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From: jacc@tekigm2.TEK.COM (Jonathan A. Colby)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Coprighted Art
Message-ID: <2033@tekigm2.TEK.COM>
Date: Thu, 6-Aug-87 13:52:35 EDT
Article-I.D.: tekigm2.2033
Posted: Thu Aug  6 13:52:35 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 8-Aug-87 14:50:44 EDT
Organization: Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Or.
Lines: 42
Keywords: Copyright Infringement

Sorry folks, visual works of art are copyrighted just like
written ones.  Changing the medium or size makes no difference.
And believe me, visual artists are no happier about people
ripping off their creative work than, say, software developers?

But because visual art has been around for a few millenia, the
copyright laws are a lot clearer.  All those neat computer images
of popular art works almost always violate a copyright if the work
is still covered.  Copyrights last for something like 99 years and
are renewable for some period; they can also be transferred.

(And please, folks, at least have the decency to credit the artist -
the name will almost always appear at the bottom of the picture from
which you copied the work - Electronic Arts, et al, please take
note.)

Portland recently comissioned a sculpture for its city hall -
"Portlandia".  The artist retained all rights to ALL COPIES.  So
if you want to do little brass replica's, get permission from the
artist or get sued (even if you were to give them away).

I have not seen Leo's demo - but it sounds fantastic.  As long as
his demo remains only a 'comment' on the Pixar demo, he's probably
ok.  That is, if his primary purpose is to show that the Amiga
has the capability to perform the Pixar demo.  But by distributing
his demo in any fashion, Leo would probably be violating Pixar's 
copyrights.

Leo would probably be on safe ground if he were to parody the Pixar
demo - say by having a rolling ball juggle three unicycles.  The
point is that if Leo uses the same or similar images as Pixar, he
must make a new and overridingly different visual 'statement'
with his version of the demo.  

Disclaimer - I am not a lawyer, and Tektronix doesn't ...

Jac Colby	                    jacc@tekigm2.TEK.COM
Tektronix Inc
Personal Engineering Products
MS 02-386, PO Box 500           Home:  5529 SW Patton Rd
Beaverton, OR, 97077                   Portland, OR 97221
(503) 627-4534                         (503) 292-1609