Is this kind of art, that features fictional characters that are property of some company, and it is implicit, but clear, that is not licensed, accetable as a Wayspot?
1 Like
I’ve always wondered this too. Sometimes it’s not as clear, but often we see murals, or other representations of clearly copyrighted material that we can only surmise does not have permission from those who hold the copyrights to actually display. Obviously, in most cases, copyright holders are unlikely to know or see a lot of these works, but the Disney company in particular is notorious for going after anyone even individuals who replicate any of their Disney characters without permission. I am too curious as to what Niantic would recommend, if anything. Or if we should just judge everything and assume that whoever created, it must’ve gotten the permissions they needed. Great question.
3 Likes
I’m pretty sure that what you are talking about is commercial usage.
Disney is not trying to identify and stop individuals from creating art inspired by their brands. They may demand that a mini-golf owner take down or modify their Mickey and Minnie Mouse holes, however.
5 Likes
Art featuring copyrighted or trademarked things are ok, as long as they’re unique art; if you know the artist who created it, that helps.
We have a few universities where I live, and their logos are trademarked. However, we also have murals by local artists here that feature the logos in their artistic expression. There’s a restaurant known for their street art style murals that opened recently, and they have 1 of the universities’ logos as part of the hand painted mural. I don’t think the university is upset at all, but rather happy to see a unique artistic expression of their logo.
I’d also take a look at some of the art featured here, especially the street art/graffiti section:
Copyright means “the copyright holder of the work retains exclusive rights to print, display, distribute and perform the work. In addition, the holder has exclusive rights to publish and transmit the work on the Internet.” (https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/trademarks-vs-copyrights-which-one-is-right-for-you).
It is illegal to reproduce in any way a copyrighted work, without permission/license from the copyright holder. People do it and get away with it, but Disney is viscous about it. Stories abound of things like Disney suing schools and daycare centers for posting unlicensed posters and murals.
That is not entirely true. “Derivative” might be exempted from copyright infringement, but not necessarily. There are a number of factors that the laws in the US and the UK (sorry didn’t research everywhere) consider, but even derivativee work can be copyright infringement. I wouldn’t want to go up against a company like Disney to argue it, but that’s just me. If you are wealthy with an army of attorneys, you might.
It’s the original work, not another artist’s interpretation. If Disney or any copyright holder had an issue with fan art online, many of those artists would have gotten cease and desist orders, but that’s not happening. Gravity Falls, a Disney show, is a favorite of mine, and I love seeing all the fan art inspired by the show.
My point was that it has to be in the artist’s perceptive, in their style, how they wush to express a copyright image. Taking the exact image that is copyrighted/trademarked, putting it up and saying it’s your art is illegal in some places. However, if it’s an artist’s interpretation of said Imagery, something they created from scratch and didn’t just copy/paste, that’s legal.
We used to have murals, hand painted, of the characters from the Transformers series at a local newspaper building for at least a decade up, and they had Wayspots before they were painted over. Never heard of any issues from Universal, the studio behind the films, or Hasbro, who make the toys. I doubt they even knew about them, since it’s a small, rural town.
Keep in mind, the OP isn’t in the US or UK, but South America, where the laws are different. There are a lot of Wayspots already of art, especially street art, that depict well-known characters that are copyrighted or trademarked. Street artists there tend to paint these famous characters quite a bit, and it’s not uncommon for a Spiderman painting to be down the road from a Goku painting.
And yes, it would be illegal if someone was using the copyright for monetary gain, which, if you know YouTube, is a major hurdle for creators that just want to do a review or recap of a show and show even a still image at times.
2 Likes
Again, that’s just not how copyright works. It doesn’t matter if the use is for monetary gain or just to make the room happier for a class of 5 year olds. There are a couple of very specific exceptions, but none would apply to the things we see.
Also just because you aren’t aware of action taken by Disney or other companies doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. Like I, Google it. Disney will go after anyone if they learn about them. And yes, it happens way too much for them to keep up, but don’t think for a moment they are aggressively pursuing all copyright infringement they know about.
In any case, no one is expected to be a lawyer to assess each nomination. As both the OP and I said, it would be great to get Niantic guidance, not lay interpretation of complex laws.
2 Likes
Also, copyright and trademark are very different things. Generalizations can’t be made for the two together.
I think you’re taking this farther than what the OP asked.
@jupkmn Niantic has clarification on art, and there’s nothing that says art of a fictional character that’s been done by an artist isn’t allowed.
There are many Wayspots in Latin American countries similar to this, and ones that I’ve reviewed and approved in northern Mexico, which is in my upgraded review area. The example of Goku, from the DragonBall series, is one I reviewed that an artist painted on the side of an auto mechanic business’ outside wall, and was quite large, too. I posted that link to the clarification in an earlier reply, so do take a look at it.
I don’t think it’s my job, as an unpaid crowd source volunteer, to keep up with copyright and patent law, and what is covered.
Niantic can, if they wish, do a search of their database for “spiderman”, or images that match. There are several free databases of protected things, to drive the search. If they don’t, that’s on them. Perhaps such a nomination shouldn’t have even gotten to me. But if I get it, I shouldn’t have to speculate on legal proprietaries.
3 Likes
This nomination appears promising, provided it doesn’t infringe on private property rights. The legal considerations outlined in the seemingly acceptable Niantic comments above, so it should be safe to proceed.