Danny Choo
OTACOOL 2 Q&A
My understanding is that cosplay should be about fun and passion but I see many cosplayers treating it as a religion or regiment and take it waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to seriously. Its this attitude that has the potential to trigger the copyright owners to step in. At the end of the day, the intellectual property is owned by the copyright owner and not the cosplayer. Depending on the laws and licensing agreements in each country, cosplaying can be seen as copyright infringement.
I was surprised to see some cosplayers in Deviantart copyrighting their cosplay photos with their own name - not the photographer. Copyrighting intellectual property owned by others is probably not a good idea at all and as previously mentioned, under some jurisdictions, criminal sanctions can apply (gulp).Have a look at the product page for Figma Yui. Good Smile is paying to license the use of this character and you can clearly see the copyright info below the photo (© かきふらい・芳文社／桜高軽音部 )
501st states the following on their site:-
Star Wars, its characters, costumes, and all associated items are the intellectual property of Lucasfilm. ©2010 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™ All rights reserved. Used under authorization.But many cosplayers copyright themselves instead of the license owner.My Stormtrooper photos are used all over the Internets without a credit. Some of the photos have even been used in unofficial products ^^;
I have no interest or any right to go after these folks because I am fully aware that the Stormtrooper is the intellectual property of Lucasfilm - not mine. I never copyright any photos of me in armor.
Cosplayers who believe that they own copyright of themselves wearing and posing as copyrighted material run the risk of endangering not only themselves but also the rest of the cosplayers who are doing it for fun. Copyright owners are powerful and I've seen them do horrible things to fans in the past.Lets work together to keep cosplaying fun and more importantly - lets keep it in the gray zone as a crack down by the copyright owners would not be fun at all.Alternatively, how about coming up with original characters where we truly own the copyright like Salamander Gai? ^^;I've babbled on for enough for today. I hope I cleared some bits n pieces up and apologize for the confusion with the submission process and Kotobukiya's legal blurb.
The original article for this image lives at www.dannychoo.com/post/en/25450/OTACOOL+2+Q+A.html
OTACOOL 2 Q&A
My understanding is that cosplay should be about fun and passion but I see many cosplayers treating it as a religion or regiment and take it waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to seriously. Its this attitude that has the potential to trigger the copyright owners to step in. At the end of the day, the intellectual property is owned by the copyright owner and not the cosplayer. Depending on the laws and licensing agreements in each country, cosplaying can be seen as copyright infringement.
I was surprised to see some cosplayers in Deviantart copyrighting their cosplay photos with their own name - not the photographer. Copyrighting intellectual property owned by others is probably not a good idea at all and as previously mentioned, under some jurisdictions, criminal sanctions can apply (gulp).Have a look at the product page for Figma Yui. Good Smile is paying to license the use of this character and you can clearly see the copyright info below the photo (© かきふらい・芳文社／桜高軽音部 )
501st states the following on their site:-
Star Wars, its characters, costumes, and all associated items are the intellectual property of Lucasfilm. ©2010 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™ All rights reserved. Used under authorization.But many cosplayers copyright themselves instead of the license owner.My Stormtrooper photos are used all over the Internets without a credit. Some of the photos have even been used in unofficial products ^^;
I have no interest or any right to go after these folks because I am fully aware that the Stormtrooper is the intellectual property of Lucasfilm - not mine. I never copyright any photos of me in armor.
Cosplayers who believe that they own copyright of themselves wearing and posing as copyrighted material run the risk of endangering not only themselves but also the rest of the cosplayers who are doing it for fun. Copyright owners are powerful and I've seen them do horrible things to fans in the past.Lets work together to keep cosplaying fun and more importantly - lets keep it in the gray zone as a crack down by the copyright owners would not be fun at all.Alternatively, how about coming up with original characters where we truly own the copyright like Salamander Gai? ^^;I've babbled on for enough for today. I hope I cleared some bits n pieces up and apologize for the confusion with the submission process and Kotobukiya's legal blurb.
The original article for this image lives at www.dannychoo.com/post/en/25450/OTACOOL+2+Q+A.html