Sunday, February 11, 2007
New Yorker Cartoon: doing the right thing, NOT
There have been two great New Yorker cartoons in the last couple of issues.
In one, a naked king is walking through his palace and one guard says to the other, "There are enormous challenges facing this country." Brilliant. And, ahem, timely.
In another, Death, the guy with the scythe and black hooded robe, is sitting on a desert island after having cut down the one palm tree. See Jared Diamond.
I want to put these on my Web site, but, of course, I want to do the right thing too. So I go to the New Yorker web site, establish an "account," and try to license the first one. $200. Two hundred bucks??? C'mon, New Yorker, a non-commercial Web site? A blog? $20 tops.
Why for $20 a toon, I'd do it every month or so. But $200? No way.
Actually, there's a fair use argument to be made. According to Wikipedia, the four-factor fair use test is:
1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
Re: 1. I clearly do not mean to expropriate the works for my own commercial benefit
and re: 4. I doubt the market for cartoons or magazines will suffer from my use of these cartoons.
So I could make the case, but why try? The New Yorker has made itself quite clear.
In one, a naked king is walking through his palace and one guard says to the other, "There are enormous challenges facing this country." Brilliant. And, ahem, timely.
In another, Death, the guy with the scythe and black hooded robe, is sitting on a desert island after having cut down the one palm tree. See Jared Diamond.
I want to put these on my Web site, but, of course, I want to do the right thing too. So I go to the New Yorker web site, establish an "account," and try to license the first one. $200. Two hundred bucks??? C'mon, New Yorker, a non-commercial Web site? A blog? $20 tops.
Why for $20 a toon, I'd do it every month or so. But $200? No way.
Actually, there's a fair use argument to be made. According to Wikipedia, the four-factor fair use test is:
1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
Re: 1. I clearly do not mean to expropriate the works for my own commercial benefit
and re: 4. I doubt the market for cartoons or magazines will suffer from my use of these cartoons.
So I could make the case, but why try? The New Yorker has made itself quite clear.
Technorati Tags: Bushco, GlobalWarming, toons
Comments:
Hey, David.
Note that the guys over at Language Log do this all the time; presumably they're pleading Fair Use, since they do it to illustrate points they either want to make, or already have, about English usage.
Just a datapoint.
Note that the guys over at Language Log do this all the time; presumably they're pleading Fair Use, since they do it to illustrate points they either want to make, or already have, about English usage.
Just a datapoint.
Years ago a friend was putting together her Ph.D. in climatology and wanted to use a New Yorker cartoon. They would allow it, but only for a ridiculous amount of money. She declined.
She also contacted Berk Breathed with a similar request for a frame from an Opus strip. He was completely delighted and sent a beautiful color rework on the daily piece along with some other pieces on the condition that he be sent a copy of the thesis. When she finally defended he had a bottle of champagne sent to her.
quality artist
Opus rules
She also contacted Berk Breathed with a similar request for a frame from an Opus strip. He was completely delighted and sent a beautiful color rework on the daily piece along with some other pieces on the condition that he be sent a copy of the thesis. When she finally defended he had a bottle of champagne sent to her.
quality artist
Opus rules
Even that's a step up from the last experience I had, in which I wrote to the licensing department with a description of the proposed use and the reply was ---
nothing
crickets chirping
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nothing
crickets chirping
# posted by 
: 2/12/2007 11:57 PM
: 2/12/2007 11:57 PM
