X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: fbb9d,7f9e61c3b3c5cb7e,start X-Google-Attributes: gidfbb9d,public From: stoler@la.tds.com (Mike Stoler) Subject: Re: QUESTION: Does ascii-art violate copyright protection? Date: 1996/08/19 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 175653720 sender: bertino@netcom17.netcom.com organization: Trident Data Systems newsgroups: rec.arts.ascii Hi Ken. > And if you do not mind tell me I would like to know where your > curiousity stems from in asking that question... are you a graphic > designer perhaps...? Not. I'm just curious. Don't ask me why. I've always wondered how one enforces a copyright on a comic character. I know those Calvin and Hobbes stickers that you see on cars sometimes, those are all unauthorized and are violations of copyright laws. I've always wondered, how is it decided that these are a violation of the copyright? When does a little boy in a space suit turn into Spaceman Spiff and a violation of the Calivin and Hobbes copyright? How similar does it have to get? I'm about to ask that in rec.arts.comics.strips, but I thought I'd ask the ascii artists first. This all seems to be a big grey area to me. Still curious... -Mike