Question for the Group

[Brian Blank]

Hi everyone,

I have a question I'd like to ask. I have an article from an old Anime fanzine on Traveller Characters in Anime. It deals with characters like you would see in Dirty Pair and Crusher Joe and how to generate them. I'd love to scan it and upload it to the group files to share with all. Question is, I have no way of contacting the author, he used the name Logan Darklighter and I don't know if doing such would be legal.

Can anyone help?

 

[flykiller]

if the article has a copyright declaration anywhere in it, or if the magazine itself has a copyright declaration, then no, you can't scan it and post it.

copyright infringement has three facets:

1) claiming the work is yours when it isn't,
2) obtaining money for work you didn't create without the author's permission,
3) making the work available for free and thus depriving the author of income he would have received from the work if it hadn't been made available for free.

scanning and posting it would violate number 3, so you'll have to get permission - if in fact the work is copyrighted. if it's copyrighted and you can't get permission then you can't do anything with it.

 

[GypsyComet]

Hi everyone,

I have a question I'd like to ask. I have an article from an old Anime fanzine on Traveller Characters in Anime. It deals with characters like you would see in Dirty Pair and Crusher Joe and how to generate them. I'd love to scan it and upload it to the group files to share with all. Question is, I have no way of contacting the author, he used the name Logan Darklighter and I don't know if doing such would be legal.

Can anyone help?

A fannish name like that could be anyone. I briefly knew an artist who used a similar handle about fifteen years ago, but I have no idea if it's the same guy, or how to reach him.

 

[Droyne668]

You could try to contact the publisher or editor to see if they could put you in contact with the author.

What is the magazine reference by the way?

Best,
Will

 

[Brian Blank]

Problem is I don't have the rest of the fanzine anymore, just a copy of that article. I wouldn't take credit for it, post it with the author's name and where it might have come from.

I did some checking, someone with that name is doing artwork for a couple games but no contact info is found, but I did write one of the gamers and ask if they had any contact information.

Thanks for all the input. Hopefully I'll be able to find Mr Darklighter and get permission.

 

[Icosahedron]

copyright infringement has three facets:

1) claiming the work is yours when it isn't,
2) obtaining money for work you didn't create without the author's permission,
3) making the work available for free and thus depriving the author of income he would have received from the work if it hadn't been made available for free.

You forgot facet number 4, Flykiller - the really annoying one:

4) making the work available for free when the owner has no intention of gaining any income from it cos it's been out of production for years and/or because he's bigger than you and doesn't give a toss about his fan base.

This one is often the preserve of large corporations, some of whom buy up copyrights with the express purpose of denying them to the public.