[WikiEN-l] Pattern copyvios involving comic book characters

[Bryan Derksen]

Justin Cormack wrote:
>> c) Unattributed copying of images the site has scanned from comic books
>>
>> (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?

If it's being used in a valid fair use manner then it's not a copyvio,
for them or for us. But even if it is a copyvio it's not marvunapp.com's
copyright that's being violated. Simply scanning an image doesn't appear
to qualify as creating a derivative work under the description at
[[derivative work]], so they hold no copyright over the scans and only
the original comics' copyright applies. As far as I can see they've got
no basis for complaint about (c), since we're doing basically the same
thing any situation where we're not using an image "fairly" is probably
one where they're just as much in violation.

All that being said, the sources for scans like these really should be
clearly attributed on image pages in accordance with our own policies.

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