Evan Dorkin ([info]evandorkin) wrote,
@ 2008-05-13 11:55:00
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Entry tags:bullshit

News At 11: Warner Brothers/DC Kills Charity Auctions
Warner Brothers legal has had the DC character-related listings for Ben's Charity Auction stopped, and is apparently going after the auctions that were already completed, as well.

The letter from e-bay that Thomas received states that it was the use of DC copyrighted characters that got them noticed and squelched the auctions, although I wonder if it was also the use of the Superman silhouette in the listings (and perhaps the accompanying text alluding to Superman?) that got them noticed. Only a corporate lawyer or a complete cretin could think that constituted DC's involvement or approval, but, that's life in the big wide business world. Cripes. You'd think someone could let this go, for a cancer-related charity, it's a limited deal, and there are hundreds of other DC-related fan art and pro commission auctions on e-bay set up for personal gain that they don't bring the hammer down on.

I think it's bullshit, and I know it's easy to have a knee-jerk "corporations suck" response like this, but, well, this sucks. If Thomas Denton overstepped his bounds, he was being naive, and he was trying to do a good thing that really isn't going to hurt poor Warner Brothers/DC, and someone in a suit could have made this right with a little work. Or quietly tossed in some bucks to the charity to cover the deal and been heroes about it even while stepping on someone's good efforts. I know, it only works that way in the movies.

Maybe Thomas can recoup somehow, he's apparently out of pocket for the listing and e-bay fees, which he doesn't have. Hopefully the remaining auctions can cover his expenses. No good deed goes unpunished.

Truth, Justice and the American Way.

Read more about it at Thomas Denton's blog,


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[info]fortysevenbteg
2008-05-13 04:32 pm UTC (link)
This seriously makes me wretch. I hope those soulless bastards choke on their own tongues.

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[info]r_lex
2008-05-13 04:37 pm UTC (link)
Thanks for bringing this to my attention Evan. I am writing a strongly worded letter.

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[info]plattcave
2008-05-13 04:59 pm UTC (link)
Technically, anyone drawing copyrighted characters and selling them at cons and on eBay is breaking the law, but it's usually a non-issue. I wonder if this could have been some over-zealous lawyer who over-stepped his bounds rather than a huge Time Warner decree.

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[info]lois2037
2008-05-13 05:02 pm UTC (link)
Sucks, indeed. A responsible corporation might object to this, say so, then, just maybe, might lend their public support, which would cost little and make them look wonderful and generous as opposed to... well, how they look now. This is almost on a par with Disney legal, a standard I thought few would strive to attain.

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[info]misterbroke
2008-05-13 05:27 pm UTC (link)
Legally I'm in the wrong here. I know that. I used their intellectual property without their permission, and I won't even attempt to play the victim on that front. They are well within their rights. But honestly, being legal doesn't make this feel any less, I don't know, scummy.

Evan's right; I was just being naive. I've seen other organizations use DC properties, and I thought this was such a small, one off thing no one would care. In hindsight, that was pretty dumb.

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[info]r_lex
2008-05-13 05:32 pm UTC (link)
Just because it's legal, doesn't mean it's right.

You tried to do a good thing, and eventually I think the cosmos will smile on you for it.

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[info]evandorkin
2008-05-13 08:57 pm UTC (link)
Thomas -

It's just one person's opinion, but I think this could have been handled simply and in a better manner by human thinking and not by cog thinking. They could have asked you to remove the listing text and image and rapped your knuckles. Or looked the other way for a week, zip, over, done. If they don't go after everyone, but go after this --? I think it would be ass behavior to jump on con sketchers, e-bay fan artists, fan-fictioners, et al, but if they go after this, and look the other way on all that, then they're not just bums, they're hypocritical, lazy bums. Not that I want to see them go all the way, I'm just saying.

This is stepping on an ant. And ant bringing food to other ants. It's pointless, legal aside. No harm would have come from this, more harm could come from folks citing all the fan's and freelancers selling Batman drawings and sculpts if anyone wanted to try something funny. Does Time Warner fear a twenty-some-odd piece auction? C'mon.

I hope whoever flagged you gets their car keyed up by the Karma Gremlins.

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[info]jackolantern
2008-05-13 05:28 pm UTC (link)
I was trying to think of something that DC could do that would be more stupid and offensive than this, and the only thing that I could come up with was if they had Green Arrow shove a stick up a kitten's ass and call it a cuteness arrow.

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[info]evandorkin
2008-05-13 08:49 pm UTC (link)
Don't give Geoff Johns any ideas.

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[info]thekamisama
2008-05-13 06:10 pm UTC (link)
Yet they still allow crappy psuedo-porn fanart of these characters exist on eBay?
Bad move for DC. This is only a stones throw away from stopping artists from selling original art as well.

Though I wish DC would use it's legal prowess to stop people from getting Superman shield tattoos...

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[info]coyotecoyote
2008-05-13 07:06 pm UTC (link)
Man, I guess Time-Warner is the new Disney.

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(Anonymous)
2008-05-13 08:15 pm UTC (link)
Oh man! So soulless! That's like... Mr. Burns bad...

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[info]martin_wisse
2008-05-13 08:43 pm UTC (link)
I remember back in the eightes when Disney threatened to sue a kintergarten school or something similar that had murals of their characters up, so Hanna Barbara came in and created new murals for that school, using their characters. Are you listening Marvel?

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[info]scabrendan
2008-05-14 02:11 pm UTC (link)
Gee...surely a compromise could have been reached where they authorized it and still look like they're protecting their copyright.

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[info]scorchcake
2008-05-14 05:42 pm UTC (link)
Truly that is dreadful. You mentioned knee-jerk reactions, which are easy to have in our current corporate environment, but I would first condemn Warner Bros./DC for knee-jerking. Surely this must be the result of a blind search for offenders, with no more than name as criteria to be judged. Surely anyone actually looking at the auction would have considered that it could be managed into a beneficial thing for all parties concerned. And, I hate to sound materialistic, but think of the excellent publicity the company could have recieved. I mean fuck, even McDonald's gives money to sick kids and their families, and McDonald's is the devil!

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