Does anyone know if ansi art from back in the day like iCE and ACiD is public domain? reddit / bbs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SUBZEROWINS · 2014-05-26 10:16 You can find a lot of old ansi ascii art and I would like to use them for my business but I would like to give credit where credit is due (even monetarily if that's the case). Is it copyrighted (doubt it)? How would you even be able to track down the original artists since everyone signed pieces with their handle? Related, does anyone know how to contact some of these old (ha! prob in their thirties since most of them where in their teens...) artists? What their real names are/where they can be contacted? Thanks! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ebbis · 2014-05-26 13:10 Jason Scott (of textfiles.com) made a BBS documentary a few years ago, where he interviewed several people in the ANSI art scene. It might give you some leads.. http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- lagmonst3r · 2014-05-26 19:15 Copyright is implied... There are lots of scene history websites out there hit the googles see if you can dig up some info. I found some of my old mates and it spidered out from there. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SUBZEROWINS · 2014-05-26 19:50 ah, i thought you had to actually file a copyright like a patent. just did some reading and apparently copyright exists as soon as an original piece is created ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SUBZEROWINS · 2014-05-26 19:53 haha! yea, actually that is what piqued my interest in the first place. bbs's were a few years before my time :( ---------------------------------------------------------------------- lagmonst3r · 2014-05-26 19:53 Exactly. You are thinking patents. But I bet you can find the people given a little work. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nolageek · 2014-05-26 21:23 I'd say almost certainly not since many people paid to have those graphics made in the first place. Plus, since many of these groups are still around (or members are in other groups) I'm sure you could ask them. :) ACiD: http://www.acid.org/ iCE: http://www.ice.org/ Blocktronics: http://www.blocktronics.org/ You can reach pirahna (the ACiD BBS) here via telnet: piranha.zapto.org These groups are actually still putting out art packs.. Can see a bunch at http://sixteencolors.net/ Edit: I added links for sixteen colors and reformatted a bit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Beef_Blastbody · 2014-05-27 12:05 It was the crowning achievement in my early days on the interwebs when I convinced Killa Hertz to do the work for my piece of shit board. The board sucked but man those menus looked great. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SUBZEROWINS · 2014-05-27 20:54 thanks! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- chairmanmow · 2014-05-28 17:53 copyright exists without the artist having to file anything. here's an excerpt on copyright law from wikipedia : In all countries where the Berne Convention standards apply, copyright is automatic, and need not be obtained through official registration with any government office. Once an idea has been reduced to tangible form, for example by securing it in a fixed medium (such as a drawing, sheet music, photograph, a videotape, or a computer file), the copyright holder is entitled to enforce their exclusive rights.[10] However, while registration isn't needed to exercise copyright, in jurisdictions where the laws provide for registration, it serves as prima facie evidence of a valid copyright and enables the copyright holder to seek statutory damages and attorney's fees. (In the USA, registering after an infringement only enables one to receive actual damages and lost profits.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mro_1337 · 2014-06-01 02:52 i'd say it's public domain. i wouldnt say 'most' were specifically drawn for bbses or specific people. usually the doodleboys in the k-rad ansi scene did that stuff. i dont think anybody is going to sue you for displaying a 30 year old ansi. and if they do, laugh at them :D ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mro_1337 · 2014-06-02 03:11 he's a cool guy. he's still around online. he was my myspace and fb friend ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Beef_Blastbody · 2014-06-02 03:17 Yeah he was really cool, especially considering how talented and well known he was then. I had to basically irritate him to the point that him doing some quick menus and such was preferable to me hounding him on IRC nightly. I was deeply appreciative though. Only legit aspect of my board for a while. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- chairmanmow · 2014-06-02 19:48 yeah, the worst they could probably do is ask you to take it down. you really need to have damages for a lawsuit, and unless someone is paying them for their ANSI art (very unlikely), there's really nothing to gain.