Disney have stolen my artwork • Hacker News Board

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#111

Post by chris_wot » Mon, Apr 08, 2013, 8:52 PM UTC

clarkevans wrote: post #63

austenallred wrote: post #17

I have worked with Disney's intellectual property teams in the past, and I'm blown away that this slipped under the radar. They are very up-tight about protecting their own IP and the brand of their princesses. If this were somebody selling a T-Shirt on eBay I would say, "Don't worry about it," but this is Disney. They know better. Their entire business model is based on intellectual property. Time to lawyer up.

Why assume the worst? Wouldn't it be a bit easier to just find the relevant group and ask them how they'd like to resolve it? If they want to be jerks, sure, lawyer up. However, it might be a very simple conversation with a much more positive outcome.

Disney would immediately lawyer up if the shoe was on the other foot. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Disney can't have it both ways!

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#112

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 08, 2013, 8:56 PM UTC

chris_wot wrote: post #111

clarkevans wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why assume the worst? Wouldn't it be a bit easier to just find the relevant group and ask them how they'd like to resolve it? If they want to be jerks, sure, lawyer up. However, it might be a very simple conversation with a much more positive outcome.

Disney would immediately lawyer up if the shoe was on the other foot. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Disney can't have it both ways!

[deleted]

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#113

Post by chris_wot » Mon, Apr 08, 2013, 8:56 PM UTC

jamesaguilar wrote: post #29

cjbprime wrote: post #6

> I’m so mad because I have no chance at getting Disney to do anything about it. For such a straightforward violation, I don't see why there's any call for pessimism. Send them an invoice for a worldwide license, follow it up with a lawyer letter (find someone willing to do no-win-no-fee if you want) once the invoice is overdue.

I wonder how one prices out a worldwide license like this. Obviously if she put the prices at $1000/use, neither would Disney pay it nor would she recover that much from a court. But it's worth more than $0.01/use as well.

Normally a price is decided upon before the use of the image. In this case, they have used the image without the permission of the owner. Kind of tough for them really - they should have gotten permission first.

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#114

Post by pkamb » Mon, Apr 08, 2013, 9:11 PM UTC

trevorcreech wrote: post #100

danso wrote: post #42

Before they take down the cosmetic bag entry at http://www.disneystore.com/alice-in-wonderland-cosmetic-bag/... Screenshot here: http://i.imgur.com/tr2FZ3c.png

They already changed it: http://i.imgur.com/NzCo3ns.png

That is the front view, you have to click the thumbnail to see the relevant back of the bag.

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#115

Post by scott_s » Mon, Apr 08, 2013, 9:11 PM UTC

clarkevans wrote: post #63

austenallred wrote: post #17

I have worked with Disney's intellectual property teams in the past, and I'm blown away that this slipped under the radar. They are very up-tight about protecting their own IP and the brand of their princesses. If this were somebody selling a T-Shirt on eBay I would say, "Don't worry about it," but this is Disney. They know better. Their entire business model is based on intellectual property. Time to lawyer up.

Why assume the worst? Wouldn't it be a bit easier to just find the relevant group and ask them how they'd like to resolve it? If they want to be jerks, sure, lawyer up. However, it might be a very simple conversation with a much more positive outcome.

The difficulty if you don't "lawyer up" is that then you are a non-lawyer talking to lawyers - because the people on Disney's side who you would talk to would be lawyers. That is not in your favor.

If you need to talk about the law, then you want a lawyer.

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#116

Post by thedufer » Mon, Apr 08, 2013, 9:20 PM UTC

jahabrewer wrote: post #53

xsmasher wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Disney have used it" is correct here, in British English. "It’s one of my favourite images I created at University" could use a [while] to my ear, but it's not so bad. The world is a big place.

> "Disney have used it" is correct here, in British English. Is it even a matter of US vs. British English? I thought collective nouns could be treated as either singular or plural when conjugating the verb.

I think it is. I don't know the rules, but I've never heard a US English speaker use an entity like "Disney" as plural. That said, "the police" is always plural, and I have no idea why that's different.

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#117

Post by stevewilhelm » Mon, Apr 08, 2013, 9:21 PM UTC

clarkevans wrote: post #95

stevewilhelm wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would guess the fair price would be: 1) typical licence for image on a global website, and 2) some percentage of sales of that particular bag. I concur with others that have suggested just contacting Disney's Consumer Products division directly. I am sure they would want to fairly compensate the artist for her work. They will also want to reprimand the company from which they sourced the bag. https://www.disneycons…

Why would a fair price be relevant? I assume that statutory damages for copyright infringement would be far, far more than a fair price for the work if negotiated up-front. In other words, a retrospective license to cure infringement should probably be a bit "unfair".

The artist could go that route, and the lawyers and insurance companies will win.

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#118

Post by bby » Mon, Apr 08, 2013, 9:26 PM UTC

has* ?

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#119

Post by mistercow » Mon, Apr 08, 2013, 9:26 PM UTC

chris_wot wrote: post #111

clarkevans wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why assume the worst? Wouldn't it be a bit easier to just find the relevant group and ask them how they'd like to resolve it? If they want to be jerks, sure, lawyer up. However, it might be a very simple conversation with a much more positive outcome.

Disney would immediately lawyer up if the shoe was on the other foot. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Disney can't have it both ways!

A company like Disney doesn't really ever lawyer up, because that would imply that they are ever lawyered down. I have to agree with scott_s on this. You're in a bad enough situation pitting the lawyer you can afford against Disney's team. If you try and face them by yourself, you're going to get screwed.

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#120

Post by rbehrends » Mon, Apr 08, 2013, 9:30 PM UTC

pekk wrote: post #61

rbehrends wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She is British (it says so on her site). Using plural verbs with organizations ("the police are coming", etc.) is perfectly correct British English; same for "at university" [1]. [1] http://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-at-University-Phyllis-Creme/...

"the police is coming" is not correct American English, so it's unclear what you have revealed by using "the police are coming".

I'm not a native speaker, and learned British English in school, American English through informal practice while living there, so I may not have picked the greatest example. :)