The Uninvited Co., Inc wrote:
No idea how we're going to unravel this one.
We have received, over a period of months, numerous reports to OTRS
regarding copyvios from the
www.marvunapp.com web site. That site
publishes character summaries for scores of comic book characters
ranging from the well-known to those obscure figures that make only
cameo appearances. The summaries are written by a fairly small number
of contributors to the the site and are generally not edited once they
are posted.
Their site content is making its way to Wikipedia. There are three
problems:
a) Cut and paste copying of text
b) Paraphrasing of text
c) Unattributed copying of images the site has scanned from comic books
(a) and (b) are copyright violations. The problem goes back at least
six months and is ongoing.
(c) while not strictly speaking a copyvio since
marvunapp.com is merely
making scans of flat art, is upsetting the site operators due to the
volume of material involved and the lack of attribution. If left
unaddressed (c) is likely to make them more pedantic about their rights
regarding (a) and (b). So far they've been pretty understanding and
supportive, considering.
Just for clarification:
(c) is a copyvio too. "flat art" is under copyright too. Their site
presumably has no permission to host these pictures either though?
Unless they are claiming fair use?
(b) on the other hand is not a copyvio in general, unless it is really (a).
Justin