BetTheFarm Posted September 3, 2004 Report Share Posted September 3, 2004 More than once I've considered designing posters, t-shirts, etc. containing Ayn Rand Quotes or similar items. Where do I run into copyright issues, both legally and morally. For example, I bought a t-shirt off of ebay that reads "Reardon Steel" and has a unique logo. Does this infringe on intellectual property rights, in your opinion? I wear the shirt proudly, although I'm probably the only one who knows what it means.... I wish there were more merchandise out there bearing the Objectivist seal, if you will. I'm interested in opinions, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidOdden Posted September 3, 2004 Report Share Posted September 3, 2004 More than once I've considered designing posters, t-shirts, etc. containing Ayn Rand Quotes or similar items. Where do I run into copyright issues, both legally and morally. For example, I bought a t-shirt off of ebay that reads "Reardon Steel" and has a unique logo. Does this infringe on intellectual property rights, in your opinion? In this case, there is no difference between legally and morally. The best advice in case of uncertainty, if you want absolute certainty, is to consult a team of copyright specialist lawyers. The "problem" would be between the manufacturer and the estate, not the purchaser, and this is typically sorted out by licensing a usage. For example "Happy Birthday" is copyrighted and to perform the song "publically", you have to get permission (easy to do). But it is not a crime to hear an unlicensed performance -- that would impose an unconscionable burden on the audience member to verify that the proper license was obtained. So buying such a shirt is legal (unless you know that it is an illegal usage), but manufacturing one may not be. The fair use section is an important mishmash of good and bad. It grants exemption from copyright laws for nonprofit educational use (bad), but also recognises that the similarity must be "substantial". Hence, nobody can make a copyright infringement claim based on the occurrence of the phrase "my dog" in some earlier work. In this case, I think the relationship between AS and "Rearden Steel" would be recognised as "substantial similarity", but perhaps not "Reardon Steel" (I don't know if you spelled it wrong or that's what actually is on the shirt). If you could ask the author for permission directly, that would be the best course of action. The law states what the conditions for protection are, and if the creater does not want to be subject to those conditions, they can either come up with a clever technical obfuscation scheme (like the Coke formula), or only license the item (check the software you buy), or not market the product at all. As a respecter of the rights of the person creating the work, you should obey those legal restrictions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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