I read hear on SRK that the bast way to put custom art on a stick it to have a vinyl sticker made at Kinkos. So I photoshoped an image from a Flaming Lips single cover and took it in only to have the lady who worked at the store tell me I couldn’t have it printed without permission from the rights holders.
Is there a way to get past this? Most of the art you guys use have video game characters on them, so I imagine some of you have bumped into this problem.
most people just say that they either go to a different store or they come back when there are young employees working since they don’t really care. It’s usually older employees and managers that care about that stuff. i go to staples and no one has ever said anything.
Printers and shop owners have the right to refuse their services for any reason what-so-ever, so be advised.
However, in the case of printed art, such as this; as long this print is for your sole, personal and exclusive use and you have no intent on distributing it, there should be no reason as to why it cannot be reproduced. The store person simply did not know what to do and was covering her own arse, making a decision based upon her own ignorance.
Stores won’t even re-print 80 year old photos of my great grandparents for copyright reasons. I’m not happy about that, but not only do they have a legal right to refuse, but legally, their reasoning stands. It’s best to avoid copyright infringement.
At my Kinkos, I just need to sign a statement saying it’s not for commercial use and it’s on me if anybody gets sued.
i dont know about where u guys live but in Mississauga, Ontario there are a lot of stores that do printing. not just the big name stores like Kinko’s and Staples. i havent gone to them myself (yet) but im pretty sure they could do just as nice of a job that Kinko’s or Staples can do. if anything just print it at those stores first then go and laminate it at Kinko’s or Staples
In the case of professionally done photographs, many photographers actually imprint their images with (usually gold) watermarks and other insignia which expressly identified the work as an image that could not be re-produced by anyone other than the orignal artist for the duration of twenty years. Why?.. we are told because of copyright laws. However, I think this is all bogus and nothing more than a scare tactic that dissuades printers from straying into an otherwise “gray area” of law, IMO. I could be wrong. I suppose it would be great if someone who was knowledgeable about such things were here on the forums to consult since custom art (original and otherwise) is so sought after in making custom arcade controllers.
I suppose the best thing to do is “google” U.S. copyright laws regarding reproduction for personal use.
I print all my custom art at Kinkos Akihabara and have never run into this problem. That said, I always thought that this kind of thing fell under “fair use”. IANAL though.
there is no law infringment if you already own a copy of the print ( say you bought the jacket or a poster etc…) you can have it reproduced as long as it is still for your personal use.
What you cannot do is
pick the picture on the net
Take a photograph of it
Borrow it from a friend
Scan it from something that doesn’t belong to you
and reproduce it because either you or the guy lending the stuff or both of you are infringing copyrights.
you cannot also alter the picture in anyway and then reproduce it unless you have been given the right to do so.
You also cannot publish anywhere the picture (technically that includes posting a photo of your ware with the copyrighted picture on these forums)
now if you want to make things right ask the guys who have the copyright:
They say yes, and everybody is happy
They say gimme 150$ so they are a bunch of mean ignorant bastards so you don’t want their shit on your gear anymore.
Alternately you could go to some shop where they don’t give a flying shit about all that as long as you don’t ask for hundreds of copies.
Not so much.
Fair use is somewhat specific, and even if something is fair use it won’t stop you from getting sued–it just means you should win the lawsuit as long as the court agrees with you.
Realistically no one cares if you copy a piece to put on your stick, but Kinkos has much deeper pockets and is a much more tempting target, so they don’t want to go anywhere near it.
Darn it, I always forget that the modern copyright and patent systems are ridiculously broken. It’s hard to believe that it even performs its original purpose: to promote progress of the arts. And with ACTA coming up things are just going to get much, much worse.