2600 Explains Eloquently How Excessive Copyright Harms Everyone

from the chilling-effects dept

Last week, we wrote about how the famous hacker magazine 2600 received a copyright threat letter concerning the cover of its Spring 2012 issue (which, we noted, meant that the three-year statute of limitations had passed for a copyright claim anyway). But this was even worse, because the “claim” was over some ink splotches that were in the background of an image that the threat letter claimed copyright over, and which 2600 used a tiny bit of on its cover. Except… that the splotches themselves were actually from a Finnish artist going by the name Loadus, and licensed freely for either commercial or non-commercial use.

The orange is the magazine cover. The purple is the image the copyright threat letter was about and the green is the actual painting that is freely licensed.

There was some confusion over who sent the threat letter, as it officially came from a company called Trunk Archive, but was sent by a company called License Compliance Services (which appears to be a copyright-troll-for-hire business), but also used an entity called Picscout which is owned by notorious copyright troll Getty Images. Either way, after 2600 pointed out how ridiculous this was, License Compliance Services sent a ridiculous email saying the matter had been closed:

Subject: Case #373018082 , Ref #4440-1159-6664

Hello, I just wanted to take a moment to inform you that after further review this matter has been closed.

Regards,

Madison Streete
License Compliance Services
P. 1.855.387.8725
E. lcs@lcs.global
605 Fifth Avenue South, Suite 400
Seattle, WA 98104

For what it’s worth, that address is also the address of Getty Images, so it appears that LCS may be a part of Getty Images after all.

Either way, 2600 points out that this response is fairly ridiculous, given that the company just tried to shake 2600 down for a large sum of money based on a totally bullshit claim. And from there, 2600 goes off on a nice and wonderful rant about the stupidity of copyright maximalism, and the belief that everything must be licensed and paid for. It’s wonderful and you should read it:

We’re talking about the attempts to license everything under the sun, using high technology to match the tiniest of images, and crushing the very concept of fair use. Art has always been derivative and transformative – our cover at the center of all this is a great example of such a work (just not with any of Trunk Archive’s material). But by making people look over their shoulders whenever they try to create something unique using elements of existing works, a chilling effect is created that will result in less works being created. This is also bad for the original artist, who is robbed of the opportunity to see how their creation can be adapted and transformed into something completely different. But in the end, we are all hurt by this kind of thing. Creations such as remixes of music, mashups, new arrangements and interpretations, parody, patchworks of images, logos and pictures captured on film, snippets of code – they can all be identified and monetized. That neat little app on your phone that can identify music? Imagine that going out and automatically charging a fee for anyone who has captured a bit of that music on something they created. Every corporate logo you capture in a picture would also have to be paid for. Imagine where this technology can take us in the next few years if this unbridled greed isn’t reigned in.

This has nothing to do with art as most any artist will tell you. It’s about control and intimidation, using the prospect of payoffs to lure in unsuspecting contributors. With that in mind, the LCS/Trunk Archive slogan of “Creations Are Valuable” makes sense in a much more opportunistic light. That’s why we need to make sure this derivation of art never catches on. Our case may be over, but this is a fight that is only just beginning.

Amen.

Filed Under: copyright, copyright trolling, culture, licensing, sharing
Companies: 2600, getty images, license compliance services, trunk archive