what are copyright laws?

Question

Okay, Mickey Mouse is copyrighted by Disney, so I can buy a mickey mouse toy and sell the same mickey mouse toy, but like other disney products I cannot reproduce it and sell it correct? now if I were to make a Mickey Mouse toy/sculpture myself, would I be able to sell it? and if I weren't gonna be able to sell it would I be able to give it away? because from what I understand, as long as you don't get any monitary gain, you can do whatever you want with it, correct? Okay, but are exchanges illegal? please tell me thanks,

okay so what if I made a model of the character myself?

Answer 1

Copyright is a set of exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular expression of an idea or information. At its most general, it is literally "the right to copy" an original creation. In most cases, these rights are of limited duration. The symbol for copyright is ©, and in some jurisdictions may alternatively be written as either (c) or (C).

Copyright law covers only the form or manner in which ideas or information have been manifested, the "form of material expression". It is not designed or intended to cover the actual idea, concepts, facts, styles, or techniques which may be embodied in or represented by the copyright work. For example, the copyright which subsists in relation to a Mickey Mouse cartoon prohibits unauthorized parties from distributing copies of the cartoon or creating derivative works which copy or mimic Disney's particular anthropomorphic mouse, but does not prohibit the creation of artistic works about anthropomorphic mice in general, so long as they are sufficiently different to not be imitative of the original. In some jurisdictions, copyright law provides scope for satirical or interpretive works which themselves may be copyrighted. Other laws may impose legal restrictions on reproduction or use where copyright does not - such as trademarks and patents.

Answer 2

Unfortunately you are not correct.

Copyright refers to a bundle of rights retained by the copyright holder (usually creator, but not always if the work was created by an employee) of an "original work of authorship" (including music, written works, art, film, software, etc.) fixed in any tangible medium of expression, which gives the holder the exclusive* right to:
reproduce
adapt
distribute
perform
display

There are exceptions. When I buy a copyrighted work I can sell that specific copy of the work. In your example it would be the Micky Mouse toy. this makes sense....because I am simply transfering the physical copy of the copyrighted property. I am not reproducing it, simply changign ownership of this specific copy. This is referred to as the Original Purchase Doctrine. An example of this is that years ago a case came about where a 3rd party was buying old Disney comic books, binding them into collections, marking up the price and reselling them. The courts held that because they were buying and reselling original copies, not making _new_ copies, then they were not violating copyright.

Now....the second half of your question deals with what is called the Fair Use Doctrine.

Intellectual property laws, specifically copyright and patent, were included in the Constitution to encourage the development and spread of the arts and sciences. In keeping with this, the law allows some degree of exception to copyright. There is no hard and fast test, but the court looks at the following factors:
- the amount of new material vs copyrighted material
- the purpose, giving higher allowance to social commentary/art/education than business
- the % of the total copyrighted material used (i.e. less likely to be fair use if you used 90% of a 100 page book than 20% of a 1,000 page book, even though it's more total pages.)

Plus others considerations.

If all you were doing was amking an EXACT copy of Micky Mouse...then it doesn't matter if you are selling it or not, it's probably not excused under fair use. After all, it's unlikely that I could get away with giving away pirated DVDs simply because I didn't sell them.

Answer 3

Anything you buy, you may also sell (or rent in certain cases). This is referred to as the "first sale doctrine". The copyright proprietor has received the royalty for the item at the first sale.

If you create something which obviously resembles a copyrighted work (Mickey Mouse in this case), and you sell, display, or otherwise distribute it to the public, you are infringing upon the copyright holder's rights. (he has not received any royalties for his work).

This does not prevent you from creating a "mouse" of your own which does not relate to the Disney character. There have been many other mouse characters...Jerry of "Tom & Jerry" being one.

Copyright is not simply based on monetary gain. Distribution of ANY type (except private personal use) falls under the protection of copyright laws. This means that passing out copies to your friends, exhibiting a caricature in an art show, incorporating a copyrighted work into a work of your own which is distributed, all would be forms of infringement.

Answer 4

Actually, Mickey Mouse is trademarked. Copyright is a similar concept, but not the same. You can't produce anything that looks like Mickey Mouse without permission from Disney.

Answer 5

they are allowed to image arrestees for id applications. If the unique artist would not want their paintings recorded and displayed via the police, they should no longer positioned it on physique areas the place this is undertaking to getting used as such. And below honest use, the whole works can in actuality be used. If the whole artwork is mandatory to place across the purpose, the whole artwork would properly be utilized.

Answer 6

You cannot sell or exchange without the permission of the copyright owner.

Answer 7

I think if you buy it you own it. If you put the effort, money and hard work into reproducing something, it belongs to you. Thats not what the law says, thats just what I think it should say.

Answer 8

if theres a lil c with a circle around it is is copy right. if u copy it anyways its illegal