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Thread
:
on customizing for profit and copyrights
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12-15-2007, 04:19 PM
Compulsive Collector
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Charlotte, NC
Posts: 1,224
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gijoe071681
first off mods if this is in the wrong spot please feel free to move it. I was wrestling with a conundrum as of late and i am hoping you guys can shed some light on the topic for me. i am understanding that if you copy gijoes characters and sell them for profit you are in fact engaging in copyright infringement. am i correct in this?
No. A picture or story is protected by copyright law, but a character is protected by trademark law.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gijoe071681
if so if you merely take parts from joes and repaint them to make other joes or customs for profit are you still engaging in copyright infringement?
Again, it's an issue of trademark protection, rather than copyright, but in order to establish a violation of Hasbro's trademark rights, they would have to prove in a court of law that a custom figure would create confusion among their customers
and
cause a financial loss for them. If you're selling a custom on eBay
as a custom
, you're very clear about the fact that it is a custom, and it is unique (not a copy of something Hasbro sells/has sold), it's a case they could never win.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gijoe071681
now if you take a vehicle that has been produced but repaint and sell it for profit are you infringing?
Absolutely not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gijoe071681
or is it a whole different story than if you were to cast say a mauler and sell it as a mauler?
That's a little different. If you did that and sold items that looked identical, or even very close, to something Hasbro had themselves sold, you start moving toward the confusion I mentioned earlier. Also, mass production is much different than a single custom, because this begins to compete with Hasbro, making it easier for them to demonstrate financial loss. In this last example, it is clearly actionable trademark infringement.
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