South Park Copyright Infringement?

Question

I am a high-school student and I'm in a class about web designing and while working in Adobe/Macromedia Flash and I re-created a scene from South Park which shows the four boys at the bus stop and my teacher says i can't use these images because they are infringing copyright laws. I know that she's completely wrong and stupid for saying such a dumb thing, but can someone point me to a credible source that clearly shows that I am not, in fact, infringing copyrights.

Answer 1

there will be none.
calling your teacher stupid?
not smart.

Characters, logos names, videos music movies, etc.
once you have a copyright on it, you cant argue why you should be able to use it!
You just cant use mickey mouse without disneys authorized approval.
you wanna get fined? Go for it!
You'll probably just get warned not to do it, first.
If you refuse and they find out, you could get fined.

Now, if its for a simple personal site that wont get out much, you might not have to worry about it.
But,copying a dvd you own, is one thing, downloading a song is another, but trying to use a copyrightten character, I doubt you'll get away with that.

South park -- they might be kind of cool.
You use Disney characters, and they come down pretty hard

Answer 2

the issue is, if all you want is to portray 4 boys, then why did you make them exactly like the South Park characters? Obviously it must be your intent for people to look at your scene and think "this is South Park". Essentially this is a violation not of copyright but Trademark. Fox owns the images that portray their trademark property of "South Park" and to use them for any purpose that invokes the South Park connection would be infringement. If your scene makes an obvious political or other parody statement, then courts might excuse the infringement as a free speech expression, especially if it is clear that the characters were not sponsored by Fox. You should write "apologies to the great guys at Fox" or something like that on the picture. Using of copyright materials within a school context may be considered fair use if it does not damage the rights holders. There is no exact line here except crossing it can put you in great difficulty.

Your teacher was right in recognizing that you were not creating something original and were in fact stealing from someone else, even if 'copyright' was not the proper term.

Answer 3

It depends on what you are using the images for. If you are creating a review about the Southpark characters and are using the image to enhance your review, then you are not infringing on the copyright. Reviewers may use excerpts, quotes and the like (including images) in their reviews.

If you are using it for another purpose (except for personal private use), then you may be infringing on the copyright.

And just FYI, your teacher is not completely wrong and stupid for saying this. She appears to be trying to teach you something and also keep you from getting into any trouble. You actually should be thanking her for pointing out such things as it shows she is considering your well-being.

Answer 4

You are not using it for financial gain, which helps your position.

And the Parker group should be flattered, and they probably would not be mad at you. In fact, I think they rather prefer creative high school students, since creativity has become so rare in the socialistic American school system.

Just do something really cool with your four boys at the bus stop, so Trey will respect you.

Answer 5

Officially, FOX owns the rights to South Park, which includes images.

However, if you wrote "Fox" in small letters, then your teacher would be very dumb indeed.

Answer 6

South Park Copyright Infringement

Answer 7

shes right you can't use it, all southpark images are copyrighted...wouldnt be a problem unless you were planning on publishing them though