Prime
2009-12-14, 10:36 PM
I think I'm just barging in here with a can of worms on my first registered day, but I'm going to do my best to keep this as a one-worm-gag-can that flies out when you open it so that no damage is done. Most of this post relies on Mr. Burlew's thoughts and if he even has time to talk on the forum. This has to go in with the trouble of it being my first day here as I skimmed through as many threads as I could that looked like it would pertain to this topic but didn't find any, yet there could've been a discussion on this just a month or two ago that passed into the ether before I started looking. And at the risk of being rude, but to save myself the embarrassment of misspelling his name, I'm shortening 'Rich Burlew' to 'RB'. I've already checked back 5 times to make sure I've spelled his name correctly 3 times.
I've wandered over here from outside on account of a discussion I saw take place in another corner of the internet. It doesn't matter where. What took place was that one person was using what I assumed was a clipped piece of a comic or character from OotS. (It was changed before I ever saw it, so you'll have to use your imagination.) The discussion that followed stated that RB doesn't wish for his art to be used, altered, etc. without his strict permission. While I don't have any issue with this or anything to do with the matter but just more of a general curiosity, I would like to find updated information on this wish.
The evidence that was provided in the discussion was from the FAQ (http://www.giantitp.com/FAQ.html#faq14). However, this whole page is a little dusty. So, I started searching through the forum to see if I could find anything more on the matter, but all I was able to find really was this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6494) which is also a bit old.
Now, this is pure speculation on the matter, but I've assumed from the forum thread that RB's main concern is that of his copyright and rights especially as his IPs were young and fairly non-commercial at the time. Yes, they were commercial in that ads on the site hosting comics were employed to either bring in money or at least break even on the whole thing. If someone else had found some evil, backhanded way to challenge RB on his copyrights, it would've spelled potential doom for the comic.
But, it's been 4-5 years now since those two sources were provided. Since then, there have been a number of published works and a good deal of merchandising. And while I don't wish to challenge any rules here such as those pertaining to avatars and signatures as this is his corner of the internet and is his to do with what will, I do wish to find out if RB's thoughts on how others use his art and creations has changed now that his IP is on solid ground. I'm not expecting a direct reply from him, but am hoping that a mod/min might know where I can find a recent quote or something.
As a disclaimer, I know people will do what they will, and that this is nothing more than a philosophical query. If I've missed something in the rules about discussing this, please lock, and I'll be on my way. Thanks for any replies though.
As an aside that I didn't want to make another thread for danger of spam, when registering, I was having problems with the no spam! portion. I got a picture of Vaarsuvius, and then entered 'vaarsuvius'. I was told that I entered the answer incorrectly. I repeated this twice and was about to give up when the picture changed to Durkon and the answer 'durkon' was accepted. Either I did something really wrong, or I'd temporarily broken something on my end, or something is wrong with V's answer. I couldn't really tell from this end of the screen. Thanks again.
I've wandered over here from outside on account of a discussion I saw take place in another corner of the internet. It doesn't matter where. What took place was that one person was using what I assumed was a clipped piece of a comic or character from OotS. (It was changed before I ever saw it, so you'll have to use your imagination.) The discussion that followed stated that RB doesn't wish for his art to be used, altered, etc. without his strict permission. While I don't have any issue with this or anything to do with the matter but just more of a general curiosity, I would like to find updated information on this wish.
The evidence that was provided in the discussion was from the FAQ (http://www.giantitp.com/FAQ.html#faq14). However, this whole page is a little dusty. So, I started searching through the forum to see if I could find anything more on the matter, but all I was able to find really was this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6494) which is also a bit old.
Now, this is pure speculation on the matter, but I've assumed from the forum thread that RB's main concern is that of his copyright and rights especially as his IPs were young and fairly non-commercial at the time. Yes, they were commercial in that ads on the site hosting comics were employed to either bring in money or at least break even on the whole thing. If someone else had found some evil, backhanded way to challenge RB on his copyrights, it would've spelled potential doom for the comic.
But, it's been 4-5 years now since those two sources were provided. Since then, there have been a number of published works and a good deal of merchandising. And while I don't wish to challenge any rules here such as those pertaining to avatars and signatures as this is his corner of the internet and is his to do with what will, I do wish to find out if RB's thoughts on how others use his art and creations has changed now that his IP is on solid ground. I'm not expecting a direct reply from him, but am hoping that a mod/min might know where I can find a recent quote or something.
As a disclaimer, I know people will do what they will, and that this is nothing more than a philosophical query. If I've missed something in the rules about discussing this, please lock, and I'll be on my way. Thanks for any replies though.
As an aside that I didn't want to make another thread for danger of spam, when registering, I was having problems with the no spam! portion. I got a picture of Vaarsuvius, and then entered 'vaarsuvius'. I was told that I entered the answer incorrectly. I repeated this twice and was about to give up when the picture changed to Durkon and the answer 'durkon' was accepted. Either I did something really wrong, or I'd temporarily broken something on my end, or something is wrong with V's answer. I couldn't really tell from this end of the screen. Thanks again.