Athena Cosplay

Just leaving this here:

http://athenaswink.tumblr.com/post/24133092397/u-s-copyright-and-how-to-pertains-to-articles-of

alta-vada:

lexxerduglas:

alta-vada:

softowl:

ironriots:

softowl:

I am putting this out there just as an informative thing, and because what Lexxy said gave me confidence that this is an all right thing to do. (If it’s not clear, I have a ton of respect for Lexxy, dang what a cool person.)

There is a group of…

honestly i have no interest in being kind or understanding to any group of people who are blatantly rubbing their balls on the rights of an independent media art project (MSPA). if i come across em, im chewing them out, if not getting them arrested (if i’m in such a position that i can back my actions up)

Becoming aggressive and confrontational over a potential legal slight hurts the entity you’re acting on behalf of more than it helps, making its fanbase appear vicious and inconsiderate, and possibly confusing witnesses into thinking you might actually be a sanctioned representative of said entity. In short, it would make Andrew and the Homestuck community look bad. So if you’re serious about sticking up for MSPA, I would reconsider your plan of action.

Furthermore, you can’t get someone arrested over possible copyright infringement, even if you have evidence to back it up, and especially if you aren’t an official representative of the company whose IP is being violated. As a by-stander, you have absolutely no legal power in these circumstances. The only time an arrest could come into play is if the conflict has actually gone to court, and the offending party ignores their subpoena.

There is no reason to be rude in any case, especially since the person doing it may not know they’re doing something wrong, and in very rare cases, may actually have permission. The best thing you can do is get the company’s contact information, pass it along to a representative of the creator whose IP is being used, and in cases like Cosplay-FTW where the infringement is blatant, report it to con staff.

I guess my problem just is that I have a VERY hard time believing that these people have NO IDEA what they’re doing is wrong/illegal, and even if they somehow live under a rock and don’t understand the wrongness of their actions, it doesn’t change the fact that it IS wrong. I believe the saying goes, “Ignorance is no defense.”

I would be less than understanding simply on the grounds that what they’re doing is phenomenally scummy, rather than making it a point to “represent the Homestuck fandom” while I do that or whatever.

I understand that in about 99% of circumstances there would be no grounds for arrest but if I SOMEHOW CAUGHT THEM IN THE ACT WITH LEGITIMATE WAYS TO BACK UP MY STORY (a very very VERY unlikely scenario, I’ll admit) then I wouldn’t hesitate to involve the police. And if anyone else finds themselves in such a position then they should not hesitate either.

Really, if they do know what they’re doing they’re scumbag thieves, and if they have no clue then they’re gigantic dumbfucks. Either way, they’re breaking a law and hurting an independent business which I happen to like and respect a lot.

This is one of the few instances where I will ACTUALLY TAKE THE SIDE OF CAPITALIST LAW. Like not even because it’s law but because it’s just a shitty thing to do.

I dunno. I mean I wouldn’t want to make a big scene out of it but I wouldn’t be afraid to if I had to :/

athenaswink:

“Of course, we don’t give copyright protection to fashions … We never have.”

– Jessica Litman, Digital Copyright

You can not copyright an article of clothing based on design. You can copyright a print on fabric, a logo, an image or symbol. You can not copyright a cut, pattern, color or style…

Please repost and pass around.

athenaswink:

I’m posting this to set the record straight on our sale of hats that where inspired by the character Nepeta from the Comic home stuck.
We first designed and made Nepeta hats in April of last year. We then sent you a message asking if you would like to officially sanction our hats for a…

Yeah, about that. No one from dealers room staff came up and said a single word to us about our merch.  Carrie was probably the soft spoken girl you met, that’s just Carrie, she can get a little too into character when cosplaying FlutterShy. That’s just how she acts with everyone.

We normally do artist ally as we do make all of our hats ourselfs, however we didn’t get into the AA this year and didn’t want to forgo selling at the con so we shelled out for a dealers room table. That doesn’t make us any less artists.

As co-owner as Athena’s Wink I’d like to chime in here.  You never contacted us. Not once in the year that we’ve been making and selling these hats. In fact I contacted you when we first started selling them and didn’t hear a peep from you in response.

So as long as you never contacted me back I kept selling them telling any one who asked the moment you bothered to contact me I would either stop or work out a deal with you.

We haven’t been selling them “under the table” we’ve just been selling them and pointing them out to fans is usually a good sales tactic, much like I point out our Zelda inspired merch to people dressed as Link.

I feel like you making a public post about us before contacting us is a really shitty thing to do.  I honestly think you’re getting us confused with another hat vendor as you mentioned asking us to taking them off our Etsy and we’ve never had them listed as a product on Etsy. 

Oh and just for the record, you can’t copyright a clothing style, pattern or design so unless the hat had a copyrightable logo on it, it’s not copyright infringement.