Why do I feel so guilty about this?
Jun. 15th, 2011 11:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cleolindaI need to update on a few issues, but to get this out of the way:
Since people keep STEALING MY MATERIAL and putting it on t-shirts, I'm going to put some stuff up on Cafe Press, I think. ("Fever of 100 and Werewolf" water bottles ended up on Cafe Press ads. I was Not Happy. Neither was foresthouse, who represents me in all legal matters, because apparently bloggers need lawyers these days.) I don't know. I feel mercenary, but I have to earn something somehow, and I'm sure as hell not letting someone else make money off my ideas. But before I ask for suggestions, let me explain some of the copyright issues, so you'll see what my parameters are:
There are some fonts that are free to use for anything, including for profit. There are not a whole lot of these. There are some really cute design things you can do with awesome fonts, but it seems entirely hypocritical to run off with someone else's work if I'm complaining that other people are doing that to me. Same with artwork, photographs, movie stills, etc. So I've gotten an artist to do a couple of starter designs for me. I'm either going to try to work with simple typographical designs, very old public domain images, or original artwork. If/when I can afford it, I may look into licensing some fonts.
I have a fairly good understanding of the fair use defenseafter the Harry Potter Lexicon fiasco, but I also realize that it's a defense, not a law; you can be forced to waste a lot of money to prove you're right. Parody and commentary is pretty defendable, but to be safe, I'm using bits from my writing that are clearly and uniquely mine. I could probably defend the use of characters' names under fair use, but why risk it? I'm sure someone's made a "Team Tyler's Van" shirt, but I'll stick to "Team Fursplode," thanks. In fact, if people are interested, I could probably use some of the Twilight Viking Saga bits...
Anyway. I'm going with Twilight designs first, namely the original phrases people tend to STEAL FROM ME AND PROFIT FROM. However: I would like this to be more than just the Twilight Lolfan Store, but I'm not sure what people would be interested in. (The "cousins" bit still seems to be popular. And we have to have a new version of the "The Romans wouldn't let us have sleeves" tank top.) I will definitely have the various designs in buttons, stickers, magnets, as many products as we can fit them on, etc., so designs can be collected, rather than hit people up for twenty different t-shirts. Ideas?
Since people keep STEALING MY MATERIAL and putting it on t-shirts, I'm going to put some stuff up on Cafe Press, I think. ("Fever of 100 and Werewolf" water bottles ended up on Cafe Press ads. I was Not Happy. Neither was foresthouse, who represents me in all legal matters, because apparently bloggers need lawyers these days.) I don't know. I feel mercenary, but I have to earn something somehow, and I'm sure as hell not letting someone else make money off my ideas. But before I ask for suggestions, let me explain some of the copyright issues, so you'll see what my parameters are:
There are some fonts that are free to use for anything, including for profit. There are not a whole lot of these. There are some really cute design things you can do with awesome fonts, but it seems entirely hypocritical to run off with someone else's work if I'm complaining that other people are doing that to me. Same with artwork, photographs, movie stills, etc. So I've gotten an artist to do a couple of starter designs for me. I'm either going to try to work with simple typographical designs, very old public domain images, or original artwork. If/when I can afford it, I may look into licensing some fonts.
I have a fairly good understanding of the fair use defense
Anyway. I'm going with Twilight designs first, namely the original phrases people tend to STEAL FROM ME AND PROFIT FROM. However: I would like this to be more than just the Twilight Lolfan Store, but I'm not sure what people would be interested in. (The "cousins" bit still seems to be popular. And we have to have a new version of the "The Romans wouldn't let us have sleeves" tank top.) I will definitely have the various designs in buttons, stickers, magnets, as many products as we can fit them on, etc., so designs can be collected, rather than hit people up for twenty different t-shirts. Ideas?
no subject
Date: 2011-06-15 07:12 pm (UTC)There may be more public domain fonts than you think -- most people can't use them because of compatibility rendering problems, but a graphic designer can start from them, even bitmap fonts, and make them pretty.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-15 07:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-15 07:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-15 08:47 pm (UTC)