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< Esato Forum Index > Sony Ericsson / Sony > Themes, ringtones, screensavers, games, video clips > Themes and wallpaper copyright. Bookmark topic

I am thinking about making the themes and games I have created available for people to download from a website I have, but I'm not sure where I stand as far as copyright for images is concerned, as some of them are of films and bands. I wont be charging for the themes they will be free to download. Hope someone can help
Cheers
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Posted: 2007-04-24 13:33:40
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unfortunately, where copyright material is involved, whether you charger or not you may not make such material available to the public without the copyright owners permission

there is a term called fair dealing which covers certain uses of copyright material without infringing copyright, such as libraries that lend items, educational use by schools etc, private use and a few other exceptions, but unfortunately making themes to distribute using copyright material is not one of these
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Posted: 2007-04-24 13:47:39
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Thanks very much for the info (I thought as much), but I wondered how other non charging sites get away with it, such as Zedge who don't charge but seem to have all number of glamour model, film and band themes and wallpaper available to download?
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Posted: 2007-04-24 13:53:30
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esentially they take a chance that the worst that will happen is they may be contacted by the copyright owner and asked to remove the offending item from their website. Generally themes and wallpapers aren't too much of a problem as most copyright owners look at it as free advertising.

Games or mp3's (and to a lesser extent ringtones) however are a whole different matter, and for this reason you never see games from the large java vendors on sites like getjar.com

Another factor to consider, themes and wallpapers are art forms themselves, and it is generally allowable to use other works within new unrelated works of art. For example generally you can use a reproduction of a famous painting to decorate a jug, but not to sell as a print.

The law is not always clear and differs from country to country.

_________________
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[ This Message was edited by: max_wedge on 2007-04-24 13:57 ]
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Posted: 2007-04-24 14:52:27
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I think that it is the law in the country of the copyright owner that applies, and in most cases, like for Disney figures and other cartoons, that would be the USA, which unfortunately is well known for their expensive lawsuits in similar cases. To play safe, you better produce your own graphic than copying a picture of Donald Duck or Batman.
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Posted: 2007-04-25 08:04:21
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Oh yeah copyright...
Do you know WARNER own the rights to "Happy Birthday (to you)"? The makers of "The Corporation" e.g. couldn't show an ordinary familty birthday party where people are singing that song without threats re.copyright infringement....oops, back to phones: wonder how long it'll be possible to set any song as your ringtone on some phones??! Bet some phone makers don't enable that simple option for copyright fears...(those phony fart sounds? "your honour", says Disney ceo xyz in court, "that fart is clearly a Disney fart - in fact I blew it on august....")
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Posted: 2007-04-25 08:16:08
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I remember an anekdote abot Warner bros, I don't know whether it's true or not, but a little funny:

Once, the Warner Brothers company sued the Marx Brothers company for stealing the movie title "Casablanka" (you remember, the one with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, Play it, Sam...) when they made the movie "A Nigth in Casablanka". "Groucho" then counter-sued the Warner Brothers company for stealing the Marx Brothers company name, since the Marx brothers actually had been siblings for a far longer time than the Warner brothers had...
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Posted: 2007-04-25 13:06:58
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from wikipedia:
"In jurisdictions where copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years, the lyrics will come out of copyright at the end of 2008 and the music will come out of copyright at the end of 2016."

So next year we can reproduce the lyrics without fear, and in 2016 we can legally produce a ringtone of "happy birthday"
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Posted: 2007-04-25 16:54:37
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Mostly there shouldn't be a problem, as long as the stuff is free...
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Posted: 2007-04-25 17:38:00
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