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From: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: The Final Word
Message-ID: <3737@well.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 12-Aug-87 21:31:39 EDT
Article-I.D.: well.3737
Posted: Wed Aug 12 21:31:39 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 15-Aug-87 07:30:42 EDT
Reply-To: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab)
Distribution: world
Organization: The International Hackers' Guild.
Lines: 95
Keywords: pixar, unicycles
Summary: One last chance to see it.

[ ...And so ends our adventurous tale. ]

	I just spoke with Ralph Guggenheim, Director of Animation at Pixar.
He has reviewed a videotape of my animation, consulted colleagues, and read
up on their legal rights regarding this situation.  And, having done so, has
arrived at a determination, which is as follows.

	Their work is copyrighted.  Specifically, Red (the name of the
juggling unicycle) is copyrighted.  They view Red as a copyrightable
character, much the same way Disney views Mickey Mouse.  Thus, an animation
of Red juggling three balls around is (in their view) a copyright violation,
much as an animation of a Mickey Mouse-like character doing Mickey
Mouse-like things would be a violation of Disney's copyright.

	They also feel that they have to aggressively protect their
copyright, or they will lose it forever.

	Which brings us to licensing.

	Guggenheim said that my animation is very good.  So good, in fact,
that they fear that mass public confusion would result if the animation
were to go public.  They fear that, no matter how many disclaimers are
pasted on the thing, it might be mistakenly assumed that Pixar contributed
to the Amiga version, or that Pixar used Amigas to generate the actual film.

	This is not as ridiculous as it may sound.  Pixar has already had
this problem with Luxo Jr.  It is widely assumed that Luxo was computed and
rendered on the Pixar imaging system.  It wasn't.  It was done on a CCI
system (don't know the exact model number).  So if Pixar had this trouble
with their own stuff, you can imagine the kind of mess that would result
with my animation.  Therefore, Pixar feels it is inappropriate to license my
work for distribution.

	Thus in conclusion therefore, I can't distribute the thing, nor can
I publicly display it.  Anyone who may still have a copy of my animation
(through whatever means) *MAY NOT DISTRIBUTE IT BY ANY MEANS, NOR PUBLICLY
PERFORM IT.*  I will not presume to ask anyone who has a copy to return the
copy to me, since we all know that you'd simply return *a* copy, not
necessarily *the* copy.  Just keep whatever copies you may have to
yourselves.

	This decision is not arbitrary on Guggenheim's part.  He considered
their side of the issue, and what things they felt they needed to protect
(tangible and otherwise).  He also considered the amount of work I put into
my animation, how much I'd like to see it distributed, and how I'd feel if I
couldn't.  He thinks my work is impressive (especially since I pulled it off
in three days) and he respects that, but he feels that fundamental interests
of Pixar are at stake here, and as such, can't sanction my animation.  He
said that, in time, Pixar's position on this may change, but for all intents
and purposes, my animation is to be kept to myself.

	Now, let me make this next sentence perfectly clear.  **DO NOT FLAME
PIXAR ABOUT THIS!**  I am not a lawyer, I'm a technician.  Legal questions
are best left to lawyers (and related lesser primates :-) ).  Please know
that Pixar has access to a large and well-trained legal staff, backed by the
full faith and credit of Steve Jobs.  If they say it's a copyright
violation, it probably is.  I have no desire to have a judge tell me for
sure.  If you want to file a class-action suit against them, be my guest,
but I think it will be a waste of a lot of time, and a lot more money.
**I'm perfectly content to leave this where it stands.**

	As a fully-paid-up and respectable member of The International
Hackers' Guild, and as a person with (what I like to believe is) a
well-defined and noble code of ethics, I can and do respect their position,
and will abide by it.

		   ----====>>>>  HOWEVER!!  <<<<====----

	I did manage to talk Mr. Guggenheim into allowing me to give one
final public performance of the thing.  He said that he doesn't want to see
me totally unable to derive benefit from my work, and agreed to let me show
it one more time, so that all those who haven't seen it and would like to
will have a chance.

	This final performance of "The Dream Comes Alive" will be at the
next FAUG meeting, September 1st.  After that, it will drop from sight, most
likely never to be seen again (sniff!).  If you find that you'll be able to
attend this meeting, I think it will be worth your while to do so.  I'll let
a more informed person announce FAUG meeting details (location, time, etc.)
since I don't know that information for sure.

	I hope I haven't unduly inconvenienced the FAUG administration by
imposing this performance on them.

	Hey!  Don't look so disappointed.  It's not like I'm never going to
do another animation....

P.S:	Please propogate this message to any bulletin boards you may
	frequent so that as many interested parties as possible will know
	of this.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape	ihnp4!ptsfa -\
 \_ -_	 Bike shrunk by popular demand,	      dual ---> !{well,unicom}!ewhac
O----^o	 But it's still the only way to fly.  hplabs / (pronounced "AE-wack")
"Work FOR?  I don't work FOR anybody!  I'm just having fun."  -- The Doctor