He is not Safe
captonjohn (347 pencils) | Thu, 2008-01-03 13:34
This ad is based on idea that a super hero uses safe sex because his super power also can't save him from AIDS. So, everyone should safe sex.
—
Think, Act, Invent.
http://www.narendrakeshkar.com
Commenting on this Image is closed.
I hate it.
I like the concept behind it... but you need different imagery. And leave superman's logo alone!
Wow!
Graphic, Web and Logo Designer from Pittsburgh, PA http://www.davidpcrawford.com
Have you ever heard of copyright infringement?
It would be an interesting idea if you owned the superman logo mark. The font for 'afe' and 'ex' is boring. I'm sure you can come up with a better one. My mom uses that one in her emails. :)
----
Powerpoint is not a design application
My latest web design work
----
Dirt and Rust
It is interesting how quicky our community of designers defended the copyright law in the use of the Superman logo.
However, it begs a bigger question. SHOULD Superman be protected by copyright law?
Certainly, the U.S Constitution did not think so. "...securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." The key word here is 'limited'. in 1790, this time was specified as 14 years with an option to renew for 14 more years or a maximum of 28 years for the author to reap the benefits of his own creative work.
Obviously, new laws have been passed to make copyright a form of perpetual ownership and I stand in firm disagreement on that principle.
However, it is fair to say that current copyright laws could be revisited in the future if copyright laws make it impossible for concepts to safely reach the public domain, as they were constitutionally intended to go.
The idea was that the author should receive his due, but so should the public.
In my mind, everybody owns Superman and I believe the original architects of the Constitution would agree with me whole-heartedly.
In the information age, does copyright law help or hurt us? What do you think?
Without my sense of direction, I don't know where I'd be.
So I can use any of your work and make money off of it ;)
..cause, in my mind, it belongs not just to you, but to everyone :P
This seems like a hot topic, one that I suppose you can say I take a firm conservative stand on. If you created it, it's YOURS. Plagiarism will always be plagiarism.
In regards to this ad: simply pathetic. Even if it was just for a school project and no money was being made off of it, copy right infringment aside, this ad makes me queezy. The concept...to a certain extent, is good. The execution makes me want to gouge my eyes out. Twice.
P.S. Superman IS immune to AIDS ;)
Leaky Penny
Check out what I've been up to lately!
http://petersonjoseph.com
I'm going to print it out and eat it.
-Unknown Artist
Absolutely. You are more than welcome to use my work. And I could use your work as well. In fact, its quite legal! The only question is WHEN you decide to use my work.
In 1790, you could use my work free of charge 14 to 28 years after I first copyrighted it. In 1909 it became 28 to 48 years after copyright. In 1976 it became the lifetime of the author plus 50 years. In 1998, thanks to Sony Bono, this was extended 20 more years.
So, before you can use any of my legally copyrighted work (or that of Superman or Mickey Mouse or the Beatles) you will have to wait anywhere from 70 to 150+ years before it enters into public domain.
Unless of course Congress passes yet another law legislating that copyright can be even longer which would theoretically keep any idea, design or concept out of public domain in perpetuity.
I argue that 100+ years is much too long for ideas be owned by corporate or private entities. I say that 50 years is more than enough time for a creator to reap the fruit of his labor. And since I believe this, I believe Superman is the property of the people, not DC comics or anyone else.
Power to the people ;-)
Without my sense of direction, I don't know where I'd be.
It is NOT legal to do so. But yes, allowing enough time it then passes to public domain.
Superman is still not public domain and whether you believe he should be or not is irrelevant. The law currently says Superman is owned by DC Comics. End of story (till that litigation is decided, of course).
Why should it be just because he's a beloved character and he's been around a while? I'm sure if you owned the rights to Superman your attitude would be totally the opposite to what you're positing right now.
----
Powerpoint is not a design application
My latest web design work
----
Dirt and Rust
Doesn't mean that it's ethical, or that its not against the law. I'll do some searching around this week when my workload here is lessensed, this is making an interesting debate even though my stance WON'T be budged on this topic.
Power to the artist ;)
Leaky Penny
Check out what I've been up to lately!
http://petersonjoseph.com
I'm going to print it out and eat it.
-Unknown Artist
Let us say that the rights of Shakespeare, Homer, Beethoven, Di Vinci, (insert several dozen of your favorite ancient creative people here) was bought by a corporation long ago and this company, still existing, vigorously defended it's copyright protection throughout time.
In other words, the works of these great men never reached public domain and, due to this corporations global dominance, never will. What would that world look like?
No student would ever play Romeo or Juliet in their high school play or any other play but for what they write for themselves.
Every arithmetician or artist must pay a dime for using the golden ratio, fibrianni code, or any other classical mathematics.
Local symphonies would pay a royalty for playing Beethovens 5th.
You would never be able to write the words "Patience of Penelope" for fear of infringing on copyright law.
Obviously, no one here would say it is unethical for students to put on a play or for using the value of Pi, but in a world of never-ending copyright protection this is exactly what we would expect.
Imagine that you risk being sued by this corporation for the use of a generic image of a man wielding a large club. Seems silly, but this image is a traditional symbol of the great hero Hercules, and most would agree that our modern-day equivalent of this ancient hero is Superman. The 'S' of superman is the club of Hercules.
As Ghandi once said, there are unjust laws as there are unjust men. I agree that creative rights exist and should be protected, for a time. I just disagree that the profits made from that creation should be held in perpetuity by anyone.
Without my sense of direction, I don't know where I'd be.
First, the examples you give aren't governed by copyright law.
Second, they aren't held in perpetuity. They are held for 70-120 years or so.
I'm enjoying your devil's advocate argument, but do you really think people are going to give up their (and their heir's) royalties just so everyone can have access to Superman? What if you created something and then wanted to make money on it but copyright laws didn't exist. In that case your rights are forfeit and you make zero dollars off of your idea/creation.
I think that would be a sorry state of affairs and I'm willing to give up my rights to Superman so that the geniuses who created it can benefit from it. (Of course the geniuses got screwed, but that's another story!)
----
Powerpoint is not a design application
My latest web design work
----
Dirt and Rust
In some of the hypotheticals you present, the fact is royalties are indeed due -- to the publishers of the scripts, sheet music, et al., who own the rights to their distribution. They don't, of course, own the intellectual property rights. That's a whole other complicated issue.
I, for one, and very happy that Blackwells or somebody is raking in a few coins when a symphony orchestra somewhere tunes up for the Beethoven 5th. It ensures that there will be a ready supply of faithfully reproduced "charts" for future performances. That stuff is expensive to print and distribute. Somebody's got to foot the bill -- if not independent publishers, then taxpayers or Big Brother, who is as likely as not to be anti-Beethoven the way Sovietski were anti- any of the great Russian composers who had enjoyed the patronage of the Tsar.
To continue on that Soviet theme, it was popular in the early days of the Soviet Union to satirize -- if not outright denigrate -- such music, rearranging it into more populist pieces that we would hardly recognize as, say, Tchaikovsky today. At that time, there was a real risk that these works of art would be lost to posterity. We don't today know how many actually were. This would have been a great loss to musicians hoping to build on what had gone before in their own voices, unsullied by the manipulation of aparatchiks. See where I'm going with this?
Sometimes, laws protect artists from the very kind of colossal abuses you're asking us to avoid by opting for a more laissez-faire, free-market approach. That, too, is supposedly Capitalism (or Libertarianism) 101, but as we've seen in almost all aspects of modern life, the market is the least likely place to find people in search of art for art's sake.
Jeez. It's a really good thing I don't drink. I could turn into a serious malcontent ;-)
Mara
I don't think so. The ownership is currently in dispute in court as we speak; that doesn't mean fair use applies to this logo. If DC Comics loses the mark, it then goes to the original two creators and their heirs. It's not fair game for everyone to use as they please, in my view.
The writers of the Constitution weren't even dealing with patent or trademark cases when the wrote the constitution were they? Not sure, then, that these issues influenced them.
Patent Act, 1790
The Berne Convention of 1886 making copyright the domain of sovereign nations instead of bilateral
Examples of Copyright Infringement
If you look up 'superman' on uspto.gov you will find DC Comics currently owns the trademark/copyright but it's 'UNDER DISPUTE'.
----
Powerpoint is not a design application
My latest web design work
----
Dirt and Rust
http://creativebits.org/superman_and_copyright
----
Powerpoint is not a design application
My latest web design work
----
Dirt and Rust
I never thought i would learn so much from crappy design. Thanks Creative Bits!
I just noticed...is that Comic Sans?????
Leaky Penny
Check out what I've been up to lately!
http://petersonjoseph.com
I'm going to print it out and eat it.
-Unknown Artist
I just noticed that his specialization is listed as typography.
Happy New Year!
Leaky Penny
Check out what I've been up to lately!
http://petersonjoseph.com
I'm going to print it out and eat it.
-Unknown Artist
You had me laughing, artfiend. :D
Copyright stuff aside (not gonna go there), the ad is very poorly put together. Scrap it entirely and start over. (And I agree - avoid Comic Sans!!) I can't help but wonder if this was just put here to troll for reactions in regards to copyright issues.
This person, so far, has been notorious for stirring things up.
----
Powerpoint is not a design application
My latest web design work
----
Dirt and Rust
Note: I didn't read the 5 billion different replies, but to the person who said its only 14 yhears... I thought copyright was until 70 years after the artists death?
Meanwhile, Disney will ALWAYS have the copyright of freaking Mickey's head. You still cannot use any of their licensed crap or they'll sue the bigezzus out of you. I've worked as a cake decorator and they've been known to go after small hometown bakeries with lawsuits if you try to draw freaking snow white on a cake.
http://creativebits.org/he_is_not_safe#comment-36607
----
Powerpoint is not a design application
My latest web design work
----
Dirt and Rust
Sorry if anybody got hurt & if I violated any rule of copyright base the idea behind was just encouraging public to have safe sex! & I used superman logo only for representation of superheroes. That is I am talking about all superheros & my concept is based on public service ads that's why I used superman logo.
Think, Act, Invent.
http://www.narendrakeshkar.com
No one's getting hurt, there was just some confusion as to copyright law. :) Just remember that whatever image you use that isn't yours, make sure you have the rights to use it.
----
Powerpoint is not a design application
My latest web design work
----
Dirt and Rust
The only thing that hurt was your use of Comic Sans.
Graphic, Web and Logo Designer from Pittsburgh, PA http://www.davidpcrawford.com
True dat.
----
Powerpoint is not a design application
My latest web design work
----
Dirt and Rust
...but I'm with the others in not caring for the execution. If you could get permission from DC comics to use the logo, then great. def. change the font though. I've done some designs on products with DC licensing. I believe the license rights for the products were already given to another company (hedstrom maybe?) so I didn't have to deal with DC directly. I'm sure it's not cheap though. Maybe for non-profit psa stuff it would be a little more reasonable. They can't make 15-20% of whatever you're selling with their logo on it cause you aren't selling anything.
-Shawn
http://www.ssarts.com
I fully support this site: Ban Comic Sans!
Who follows? ;)
****************************
Nubloo.com for creatives
****************************
Nubloo.com
i like the thought behind it
and the excecution could be more better.
best of luck.
your work is your identity.
http://harshikcreations.blogspot.com/