Copyright questions

[RAC]

I have some old baseball cards and was thinking of doing scrollsaw portraits of some of these, do these have copyrights on them where it would be against the law to reproduce these. Thanks.

[Andy]

Tough one. There have been lawsuits where someone took a baseball card, affixed it to a tile and tried to resell it. One court (Lee vs. A.R.T. Co.) made them stop, saying it was a derivitave work, while another court in another case (Mirage Editions Inc. vs. Albuquerque A.R.T. Co) claimed it was fair use under the First Sale Doctrine since they hadn't altered the original in any way. Basically, the second case felt it was like purchasing a painting and putting it in a frame for resale without modifying the original painting.

My personal recommendation would be if in doubt, don't do it. Copyright issues have been a hot topic in the scrollsaw communities of recent and if you are making a pattern from anything that you feel has copyright restrictions on it, I'd avoid making the pattern. If you don't have permission and ALL the artwork is NOT original, chances are good someone has a case that you abused their copyright.

All that aside, there are a vast number of places to get copyright and royalty free images. Images of famous people are generally copyright protected unless you took the pic yourself. Sports, actors, musicians ... they got $$ and usually protect the value of who/what they are pretty closely.

Hope it's of some help.

Andy

[minowevie]

Hay Rac, if it is for your own use, don't worry about it. if it is to sell. worry big time. seems like everything is copyrighted. even home pictures. but if you just wont to make something for your self. make away. who will know , OH the forume yikes. not just kidding. just always make sure of things befor you take clame to it. ok. that can get you if big troubale. you could also, go to the card maker, and ask permition to make cuttings of it to sell. as long as you give them some critit. they will mostly give it. then you can copy right the cutting pattern . whuu I think. your friend Evie. you know who would know is Rick H.

[Jim8Mad]

I think Evie is right on this one. I've made portraits from things that were copyrighted for personal use only and will never think of selling or sharing the patterns without the proper permission. One of the latest I did was of an NFL player for a christmas present for my Mom. I'm hoping to get permission from the NFL and the team to distribute it, but I'm not holding my breath. So as long as it's for your personal use and not for sale you should be safe. At least that's how I interpret the law from all those legal websites.

[Fremmed]

A about 20 years ago (has it really been that long?) SI did an article about a guy who made reproduction Baseball caps. I spoke to him and had him make a couple of hats for me. One of the requirements was that the hat had to originate prior to 1951(? year may be off) because of licensing rights. With that in mind, you might be able to get away with doing older stuff. Beyond that, I would have to agree with Andy, Evie, and Jim.

[PeteB]

You didn't mention what period the cards are from, but that has a bearing. Anything from before 1923 is fair game. From 1923 through 1977, a copyright must be registered to be enforceable. After that, copyright exists whether the work is registered or not.

If you really want to know if a pre-1978 item is registered, you can go to Washington, DC, and check the catalog, or pay a researcher at the US Copyright Office.

Evie is right that everything seems to be copyrighted. It's no accident that wildlife and landscapes are popular scrolling subjects (except watch out for Bambi). She is not right that there is no infringement if you copy something just for your own use, though I agree that there is not a whole lot of risk.

With baseball cards, you also run into trademark issues for team names, logos, and even the visages of famous persons. I would personally be very careful with them.

Correction: It was in March of 1989 that all works became copyrighted regardless of registration status. This forum post of mine is copyrighted (no kidding). Employment opportunities for lawyers abound.

[muzzleloader]

Evie is right, everything seems to have a copyright on it these days, even the spoken word! Paris Hilton says we can't look at a great cutting on these forums and exclaim "That's Hot!" to express our enthusiasm because she copyrighted a phrase that has been in use for at least 50 years! Darn, phone is ringing, must be miss Hilton's lawyer!