Thanks for reading this -- please read the whole thing, even if you think it doesn't apply to you.
We've been finding that a lot of people have been using our images on their websites, and lately even more have been asking about using our stuff. (And there's probably plenty of pages we don't even know about!) And, of course, most people like to put images of things they like on their websites. That's great! It can make your pages look nice, and it shows people what you're into. And it can even be good for the person or company who the image belongs to, as more people hear about their work. But, too much of a good thing can be very, very bad. If you have ever put any image (or text) on your page that you did not create entirely yourself, please read on. (The rest of you may be excused!)
Technically, using anything that anyone else created is a violation of copyright laws. But normally, using a single image or excerpting a work, is allowed under the ever-tightening loophole of "fair use". Fair use is designed to allow people to review and discuss work without having to actually secure rights to the work they are talking about. So, if you want to review, or talk about, or just say "hey, I like this" about a (we'll say) comic, using a panel or the cover will probably be okay. Step one. Check the fine print in the comic (or whatever it is) to see if it allows for reproduction for the purposes of review. For example, every page on this site says "No part of the contents may be reproduced without written permission." Which means that legally, you cannot use any text or image from anywhere on this site without asking. Some people will add, "except for the purposes of review", which means that you can use material without asking, as long as it is fair use. Step two. When possible, it's always best to just ask the creator or copyright holder. Step three. Always, always credit the image and list the copyright info. (For example -- putting an image of Wonder Woman on your superheroine page? Just make sure you say somewhere "Wonder Woman is (c) and TM DC Comics, image (c) DC Comics 1996".) Following these steps should keep you out of trouble.
However -- reproducing a work in its entirety, or even a substantial percentage of that work, is most definitely not fair use. Not only is it illegal, and opens you up to a lawsuit (violations of registered copyrights, if proven in court, lead to automatic fines of $100,000), but it is simply not fair. What you are doing if you reproduce an entire work is publishing it. If you publish someone's work without permission and compensation, you are publishing bootlegged material. Or, just flat-out stealing from them.
The web is new and confusing to a lot of people -- but you need to remember, that if you create and put up a web page, you have published that page. And using something for yourself and publishing something are two very different things. One way to think about it is this: if you like an album you own, and you make a tape of it to play in your car, you aren't breaking any law or causing that artist to lose money. If you tape that album for your friend who doesn't already own it, technically it's not legal, but it's not that big of a deal. However, if you were to press up 1,000 copies of it on vinyl and put it in stores, you would be bootlegging it, and very definitely both breaking the law and causing harm to the band and their label. When you publish someone's work without their permission, you are doing the moral and legal equivalent to running out and selling bootleg copies of an album.
Now, I know you're thinking "but wait, I don't make money from my web page" -- you'll notice I didn't say it was the financial equivalent. But publishing someone's work without their permission can be very financially harmful to them, even if you don't benefit from it. For one thing, it decreases the possible income from legally published work -- why will any online magazine pay your favorite cartoonist to reprint their work when it's being bootlegged all over the web? It can also harm contracts between cartoonists and "real" publishers -- publishers pay for exclusive rights to work, and if that work is published anywhere else, a publisher could declare a contract void if they could prove the cartoonist knew about it. And finally, publishing someone's work could seriously hurt them if they try to legally go after anyone who is maliciously publishing their work without permission, or otherwise violating their copyright.
Please, never publish anyone's work without permission, and understand if someone cannot give you permission to publish something in it's entirety. If you think that what you are doing may qualify as publishing, then you probably should not do it. Also, be sympathetic to copyright holders -- in order to protect copyrights and trademarks, you must go after everyone who uses the material without permission, no matter how big or small, and no matter what the intent is. So if someone asks you to take their work off their page, don't take it personally -- they are required to do it, or they lose all the protections that copyrighting work offers. For more information about copyrights and how they work, go check out the Copyright Website.
If you have used or are thinking about using anything of ours on your web site, first consider whether or not what you want to do is publishing or fair use. If you are not sure, then please just ask. We will be happy to discuss use of our work on your page with you. If you do use any of our work either under fair use or with our permission, please accompany the images with the proper copyright/TM notices and include a link somewhere to the House of Fun (and you should do the same for anyone else whose work you use). If you do actually publish any of our work without permission, we will have to take action. And while normally action is good, we hate this kind! We want to have fun, and we want you to have fun. But we have a growing problem with bootleg merchandise, and we have had to cease-and-desist a number of bootleggers in the last two years. Legally, steps must be taken against every bootlegger, whether they're trying to make money off of our work unfairly or they're just well-meaning fans. Legally, there's no difference. So to protect ourselves against the toy manufacturer who made bootleg Milk and Cheese dolls this year, or the skateboard company who produced a bootleg Milk & Cheese skateboard last year, or any of the other people who have intentionally ripped us off, we have to go after smaller violations like web sites whenever we find out about them. So please, don't be a bootlegger, and don't make us play bad cops!!
Again, if you have any questions about what you are doing with stuff of ours and how legal/okay it is, just drop us a line and we'll go over it with you.
Thanks again for reading this. Now, have fun! Go back to the foyer!
All contents of these pages are (c) and/or TM Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer.
All rights reserved.
No part of the contents may be reproduced without written permission.