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Lawsuit between origami enthusiasts unfolds

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Re: Lawsuit between origami enthusiasts unfolds

#11

Post by aston »

This debate reminds me of the battle over an 8-bit remix of the cover of Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" [1]. The discussion here at that time [2] was strongly in favor of the person doing the repurposing, with folks bemoaning the fact that the original photographer would (ab)use the legal system for such a trivial matter.

Why is everyone now on the side of the original content creator, despite the fact that (unlike "Kind of Blue") Lang's crease patterns aren't culturally revered, nor were they ever reserved for commercial use?

[1] http://waxy.org/2011/06/kind_of_screwed/

[2] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2687950

Re: Lawsuit between origami enthusiasts unfolds

#12

Post by planetguy »

smoyer wrote: post #2

While the article has parallels in software copyright, I +1'd this post because it has the best title ever.

Some stories exist just to give pleasure to headline writers.

I'm not planning to commit murder, but if I ever do I'm going to decapitate the corpse and stash the headless body in a topless bar.

Re: Lawsuit between origami enthusiasts unfolds

#13

Post by btilly »

This is a fascinating case.

There is no question in my mind that the resulting origami is art. There is no question in my mind that the paintings are art. The question is whether the crease pattern is fundamentally a copyrightable work, or a set of mechanical instructions. Software copyright exists in a similar space, and I'd be interested to hear a real lawyer comment on the parallels.

Re: Lawsuit between origami enthusiasts unfolds

#15

Post by protomyth »

aston wrote: post #11

This debate reminds me of the battle over an 8-bit remix of the cover of Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" [1]. The discussion here at that time [2] was strongly in favor of the person doing the repurposing, with folks bemoaning the fact that the original photographer would (ab)use the legal system for such a trivial matter. Why is everyone now on the side of the original content creator, despite the fact that (unlike "Kin…

I can only answer for myself, but in the case of the 8-bit remixes, I felt they were like a parody of the original and should be protected on that basis. Plus, they did do a transformation that made them original.

Looking at this case, it really doesn't look like she did much of anything. They are not a new medium and seem quite like a small alteration. If it was a painting of the final origami then I would be all for the defense (change in medium always struck me as good enough), but it isn't.

Re: Lawsuit between origami enthusiasts unfolds

#16

Post by lmm »

aston wrote: post #11

This debate reminds me of the battle over an 8-bit remix of the cover of Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" [1]. The discussion here at that time [2] was strongly in favor of the person doing the repurposing, with folks bemoaning the fact that the original photographer would (ab)use the legal system for such a trivial matter. Why is everyone now on the side of the original content creator, despite the fact that (unlike "Kin…

>Lang's crease patterns aren't culturally revered, nor were they ever reserved for commercial use

I think you just answered your own question. The fair use argument is a lot stronger for something that's culturally iconic (and it means no-one's going to mistake the remix for an original work), and we have a lot more sympathy for someone who just wants recognition for their work than for someone trying to maximize their profits.

Re: Lawsuit between origami enthusiasts unfolds

#17

Post by minimalist »

Dove wrote: post #3

Not strictly between origami artists, though; between an origami artist (Lang) and a painter. She painted his crease patterns, well-recognizable, with one or two changes that my eye parses as annoyingly illegal. If you're not into origami, you may think a crease pattern is just an unintended byproduct -- what you happen to get when you unfold a model. This isn't the case, as the article explains. These things are car…

To be fair, the piece makes no mention of both of the artists as 'origami artists'. The title depicts them as 'origami enthusiasts'. To be fair I initially had a bit of a problem with the description, but then I read the materials concerning Lang's claim and I will agree that the artist somewhat of a origami admirer (so the title is correct).

Though, I absolutely agree that at a minimum, permission and attribution would be polite. I can't imagine on what ground the painter thinks they are standing on, as the 'inspiration' is so overwhelmingly overt. But as an origami 'enthusiast' myself, I'll watch this with an interested and slightly sad eye.

Re: Lawsuit between origami enthusiasts unfolds

#19

Post by jtchang »

xsmasher wrote: post #4

The posted article doesn't have examples of the copied art, but this page does: http://www.langorigami.com/copyright/sarah_morris_copyright_... It's not a matter of similarity, or independent creation - The painter Sarah Morris directly copied the original artist's work, removed the lines and colored in the voids. Since there's no question that copying took place, the case will hinge on whether the copying was "fair…

Those paintings are great. I like both artists and think this is definitely in the court of fair use.

Re: Lawsuit between origami enthusiasts unfolds

#20

Post by Pinckney »

xsmasher wrote: post #4

The posted article doesn't have examples of the copied art, but this page does: http://www.langorigami.com/copyright/sarah_morris_copyright_... It's not a matter of similarity, or independent creation - The painter Sarah Morris directly copied the original artist's work, removed the lines and colored in the voids. Since there's no question that copying took place, the case will hinge on whether the copying was "fair…

It looks like Lang's crease patterns are the output of his TreeMaker software. While they're derived from Lang's stick figure constructions in the software, Morris probably could have created very similar patterns using the same software without the infringement.
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