Legal Artwork question for all our resident attorneys 1 1

[oakman29]

53 minutes ago, kav said:

It amuses me when amateur artists put a little c next to everything like someone is gonna steal it.  Or like they need to do that.  Once you draw something, its copyrighted.  My personal policy on all the artwork I have done and its hundreds of thousands is-STEAL IT.  PLS STEAL IT.  I DONT CARE.  MAKE MONEY OFF IT-WHATEVER.

I'm  currently making a thousand t-shirts per art piece that you made for me, and selling them on eBay for 50.00 each.

[kav]

5 minutes ago, oakman29 said:

I'm  currently making a thousand t-shirts per art piece that you made for me, and selling them on eBay for 50.00 each.

I dont need any of the proceeds but better cut Neal in, though.

[topofthetotem]

Wasn’t Disney after acquiring marvel that was trying to make a stink of a mural or statue in a children’s hospital a while back?

[alexgross.com]

23 hours ago, HENRYSPENCER said:

If you buy an original piece of art at auction or you commission a piece do you own the rights to the artwork?  What I mean by this is could you put the art on t-shirts, stickers or make prints for sale if you so desired?

Thanks.

as a professional artist for almost 30 years, this has come up in the past and my contracts address it in writing. unless the rights to the image have been granted to you in writing, ownership of physical artwork is not ownership of the rights to that artwork. for example, i often sell my paintings, as that’s my job, but only i retain the rights to make prints and any other form of reproduction of the paintings. comic book artwork may have other issues such as trademarked characters. but you should assume you have no reproduction rights as a rule, unless otherwise specified.

[the blob]

13 hours ago, HENRYSPENCER said:

So if I paid an artist to commission a logo for my business that I would subsequently use on t-shirts and stickers?  I probably would have to work with an artist who needs the money and would create some character or monsters that are generic and never been done before?

I think the procedure is to have a written agreement stating that this is work for hire and that all copyright and other intellectual property rights are owned by you. 

[the blob]

15 hours ago, kav said:

Also you could draw and sell batman shirts all day long if its satire or parody like batman smoking a joint or something right?

I am not so sure you have an unlimited right to make money off parody. Like I don't think you can take a neal Adams batman, stick a joint in his mouth, and sell a thousand t shirts. But you can probably draw your own. Also the parody rules for copyright vs. Trademark may not be the same.

Edited October 8, 2018 by the blob

[Phicks]

From the back of a page of DC artwork:

 

[Cocomonkey]

16 hours ago, kav said:

It amuses me when amateur artists put a little c next to everything like someone is gonna steal it.  Or like they need to do that.  Once you draw something, its copyrighted.  My personal policy on all the artwork I have done and its hundreds of thousands is-STEAL IT.  PLS STEAL IT.  I DONT CARE.  MAKE MONEY OFF IT-WHATEVER.

While this is true, I believe registering the copyright affects the ability to collect statutory damages and attorney's fees, as opposed to just actual damages. Though that also requires more than just adding a (c) to it...

[Buzzetta]

17 hours ago, topofthetotem said:

Wasn’t Disney after acquiring marvel that was trying to make a stink of a mural or statue in a children’s hospital a while back?

Yes but there is a good reason with that. 

Disney has always been protective of its intellectual property in order to maintain the best possible image for the time period of that character.  They have been selective as to where to lend the use of image for their characters as well.  More importantly is that Disney needs to go after every unauthorized use of their trademarked characters no matter how altruistic the initial use was because it maintains the trademark.  If they allow a for profit day care center to use the images then without compensation or official sanctioning then there should be no problem when I set up my new T Shirts business.