Hey and hello!

 I've got a *general forum protocol* question. I came here over a year ago looking for a few characters to use in a little experimental comic strip I started (my artistic skills being of questionable talent, but I am getting better).  After reading the FAQs, I used a few kaddar and kaddar2 images in the strip I was writing as the FAQs seemed to explain that I could use those images elsewhere.

 I figured that I'd do a few comic strips and that would be that ..... but one thing led to another and I've been writing my strip for 15 months now every Monday - Friday. Over time I've established a core readership and my strip is published in a few online forums, has its own website and a sister *social network* website that ties into the comic strip. There's also a store selling a few t-shirt tie-ins that is beginning to pick up. It's a niche market strip, but I do have a core group of fans.

So here's my question (finally).  What might the protocol be for self-promoting my strip here at StripCreator? I'm not utilizing the tools here, but instead writing my strip 5 times/week using my own image editing software. I've also not been a regular contributor here in the forums so it would seem to be *rather rude* of me to just jump in and say "Hey! Come check out my comic strip!".

So I won't do that. But ...... the reason I am here now is because, well ..... I'd like to expand my readership and find some new avenues to publish the strip online. I wondered if perhaps I could try to do so here in the Read My Damn Comic Strip forum?

Oh ... you betcha ... I am fully prepared and capable of handling criticism, but who knows .... maybe the strip would find a new set of readers? I'd also become a regular contributor in these forums instead of a *newbie*.

  That's it. Thanks. Now I'd better do some more homework and explore these forums more. Maybe my answer is already out here.

surfpirate

That is, indeed, what it's for. 

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The what mentioned above is total fiction. Please don't take it seriously!

evil_d

That is, indeed, what it's for. 

OK then. Even if the comic strip is totally created elsewhere? Not here at StripCreator?

I've always wondered what a ripoff artist looks like.  Pretty much how I expected.

First of all, you can't really copyright your comics since you don't own the art.  I'm pretty sure Kaddar and Brad are okay with people grabbing art here and using it elsewhere for fun.  I'm not sure how they feel about people stealing the art off this site to make money.  

Normally, I'd think the chances of you actually selling any of your products and making money off of art you don't own is pretty slim, but Jimmy Buffet fans have already proven they'll buy crap.

Now, go do the honorable thing by tracking down Kaddar and offering him a royalty check for profiting off his work product.

[edited by choadwarrior on 07-03-09 at 7:07:43pm]

Oh, this is rich.  From the home page of bncritters.com:

a guy who has no understanding of Intellectual Property

How can you claim the characters are your intellectual property when you did not get permission to use the art for commercial purposes or claim it as your own? 

I didn't really understand what was going on here when I posted my original answer.  Still, the answer was correct on its face.

The FAQ isn't explicit about whether these images may be reused elsewhere for profit.  It probably should be.  It would have been prudent and polite to err on the side of caution and ask first.  If you can't find contact information for the artist, you could always go through this site's webmaster.  Alternatively, there is a growing body of art on the internet that is explicitly placed in the public domain or released under a Creative Commons or similar non-restrictive license.

I agree that it's pretty rich to see such a strongly worded defense of copyright from someone who's taking a very liberal view of others' copyrights.  And, though I'm not copyright lawyer, I'm skeptical of the theory that merely using art in a certain context transforms it sufficiently to constitute an original, separately copyrightable work.  It's one thing to claim the writing as your own IP, but the characters?

On another note, I'm interested to know whether you actually make enough money from this endeavor to recoup your costs and justify the time. 

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The what mentioned above is total fiction. Please don't take it seriously!

Let's keep this discussion going. What should the interpretation of the following be? Should it be modified?

Can I use my comics outside of Stripcreator?

The art in the categories threereasons, dexx, kaddar, kaddar2, props, forumusers, holiday and submitted are okay to use. The other categories were contributed by artists who only gave me permission to use the art on Stripcreator.com. You'll have to check with them if you want to use their art for other purposes.

Should my use or anyone else's use of kaddar images outside of Stripcreator "for other purposes" include their modification and inclusion into other endeavors, e.g. a commercial t-shirt design? That was my interpretation.

Should my statement instead read ......

BNCritters.com and all characters as they appear in the settings of the BN Critters comic strip are the intellectual property of surfpirates.com, and may not be used without permission. All characters as they appear in the settings of the BN Critters comic strip remain the excusive property of surfpirates.com and the owner of that domain.

Should I include creative acknowledgement to kaddar for those characters which I have incorporated into my strip? This website answers that those images are okay to use outside of Stripcreator, but perhaps I should note that some of the images are the creation of kaddar.

I thank you for your views and opinions.

It would appear that the question which you quoted from the FAQ specifically states the use of comics outside of stripcreator. "For other purposes" would definitely include gaining a profit from others' work. Either way, I would definitely check with kaddar to ask what purposes he is willing to allow his art to be used for, since, after all, he possesses the power to file a lawsuit for the use of his art.

The rest of us here can only offer our opinions; I personally have no cause or justification for filing a lawsuit regarding the misuse. However, I do have an opinion of you and what you are doing, and it is a very poor opinion.

Brad, of course, is in a position to file a suit, since he owns the rights to stripcreator, so sending him an email at brad@stripcreator.com would probably not hurt you either.

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Mediocrity at its most average.

By coincidence, I was reading another discussion on copyright today and followed a link to this page:

http://fanart.lionking.org/Copyright.shtml

What's most interesting is that it says that abstract concepts like characters cannot be copyrighted.  So what you would really be copyrighting are the strips and merchandise.  Now, clearly these things are derivative works.  You do have permission to create such derivative works, but you don't have many details about the parameters of that permission.  So I think we're back to where we were before: you should ask for details.

Still troubling in any case is the lack of attribution for the original work. These images might turn out to be in the public domain, but so is the Declaration of Independence, and that doesn't mean you can claim to have written it.

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The what mentioned above is total fiction. Please don't take it seriously!

evil_d .... thank you for your feedback. Please give me time to absorb this and make the updates I should where appropriate to give proper credit and attribution.

That is one of the reasons I came back here and have volunteered to participate in what I hope will continue to be a civil and information discussion. 

That is a great link you posted also. Thanks.

I just downloaded the entire run of BSCritters.com and am currently selling them in book-form on juno.com.

Thanks for the great idea, surf!

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Ham-fisted ham fisting.