A fan with the username of Seifrietti Weisse has been creating free hard copy versions of his Robotech fanfiction book with cover art by MedMapGuy for sometime. This is perfectly alright by Harmony Gold except when Seifrietti stated that donations were gladly welcome. Afterall, giving the guy a few bucks for all the time he put into HIS work should be alright. Seemingly it's not. In the Robotech.com thread that Seifrietti mentioned about taking donations, Steve Yun had to reply with:
"Free fan fiction is fine, but selling fanfiction using copyrighted characters is infringement. Sorry to be a wet blanket, but you need to stop taking any donations immediately."
This statement caused a slight uproar by fans since mere donations should be alright. I think we all understand that selling the work directly is illegal, but a donation for the author's time and effort should be alright. I guess we all know the rules now. Be careful.
Seifrietti Weisse's post with Steve's statement: http://www.robotech.com/community/forum/read.php?id=1741442&forumid=16
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
17 comments:
A shamefull act. A discrace for all the robotech...
And here is what needs to be done...
http://www.petitiononline.com/stopyun/
See it , sign it... And PUBLISH IT
Let the comunity know it egsists...
What can I say that hasn't already been said?--If it doesn't help Robotech, it isn't a good thing. Capitalism sucks and Steve Yun is enjoying it like a naturalised citizen...
Ya, I read the comment as well. Copyright law in America is broken as far as I'm concerned.
The potential threat of getting shut down ourselves is also why we're keeping our "fan" project as far away as possible from the digitalcole.net web site...a site that we'll eventually sell some limited add space on. We also employ the creative commons licensing created by Lawrence Lessig.
http://creativecommons.org/
You can share our stuff legally at digitalcole.net
-adc-
*shrugs*
What can I say? The guy should have known better than to solicite money at the same time he was offering a book using Harmony Gold copywritten characters. Harmony Gold was perfectly in their right to exercise their rights as copyright holders here. If you want to do a fan project, fine. But you can't make money off it, in any form.
And if you're going to try making money off someone else's property, don't be stupid and put the request in a form where everyone and their dog can see what you're doing.
Frankly, I get the feeling from all these socialistic comments I see regarding copywrite that you would all have a different opinion if someone were soliciting money using a product based on YOUR intellectual property.
Actually...
As I had mentioned in my post above we use creative commons licensing...meaning anyone is free to distribute it as far as the web will go, perhaps someone will sell it, perhaps not but, at least the licensing allows the viewer some leeway over our work. The problem with traditional copyright is that its so broken that even if I create a piece of work and say "here take it, it's free" just by creating the work it's copyrighted and I technically cant tell anyone to just take it...they'd be breaking copyright law...but, it's really nether here nor there. We know that HG is going to enforce copyright law...there ideology (like most business created in the twentieth century with a twentieth century mentality) gives them no other choice. So our best hope is to make it as explicit a possible that we're only making fan fiction and receive absolutely no income from our projects.
-adc-
Weisse, You may have a problem if your site contains any ads. The idea is that people are visiting your site to read your fanfic material and if you advertise to those readers and make money by selling that advertising space, you are making money off your fanfic operation. Just a heads up.
Oh shut the hell up.
The last time i checked this site
http://sdf5x.blogspot.com/
Has one BIIIG add. So is that gonna make him a problem a? How about you people being SMART for a change
Geeez get a grip and for heaven sake learn what copyright is. Il tell you what it is...A means for assholes to be scared.
Get a grip and ask a Lawyer about it. Idiots.....
Bringing up donations on the robotech.com was a bad move. He could've added a "donate" button to his website, and it's doubtful anyone at Harmony Gold would've noticed.
Regardless, Harmony Gold owns the copyright, and it's up to them to enforce it. Most coopyright holders would have the same reaction.
Hey masters...
Id say this would be worthy of attention.... The credibility of Steve Yune.....Should be worth publishing....
http://www.robotech.com/community/forum/read.php?id=1742954&forumid=13
Not worth a post. I found it more interesting what Darkwater had to say instead.
Thanks for pointing it out though.
"I guess we all know the rules now. Be careful."
Good grief. Show some backbone. I appreciate what you're doing, but Weisse isn't trying to MAKE any money, it seems he's just trying to cover postage. His website states 25 copies of each "novel", so even IF he were trying to make money, it's hardly a threat to robotech.
On second thought, I guess that's 50 more copies of a robotech project than Harmoney Gold is putting out...
~meis
That was somewhat of a scarastic remark. I think fans should be able to take donations, but i know US law requires them to make the appearance that they're enforcing their copyright. I'm with the fans on this one though.
That was somewhat of a scarastic remark. I think fans should be able to take donations, but i know US law requires them to make the appearance that they're enforcing their copyright. I'm with the fans on this one though.
Good remark. This can also be taken as..... "ouch we earn so little that 25 copies are a threat'
Really makes you wonder doesnt it... Are we being decieved?
Looking at what's happening with his project now makes me feel really bad about it. He really should be able to take donations. The real problem was that he dared to mention it on their site. If he didn't say anything, it would of been completely fine. However, Harmony Gold has little choice but to protect its copyright fully based on US law.
The fans need to be a bit more careful about this stuff. Either way, Robotech is starting to really leave a sour taste in my mouth.
they are dictators. Like Saddam Hussein. They want nothing but Shadow Chronicles to be called Robotech. And their practices are facists
Post a Comment