Category Archives: Student Blogs

Appropriation of Star Wars

Posted on February 12, 2013 by | Comments Off on Appropriation of Star Wars

@joe5joe7

I do not believe that the Star Wars Saga violates copyright for a number of reasons, namely that it doesn’t affect the market share of Star Wars. Since it’s a video on youtube with a fairly small number of views and can in no way be considered a substitute for the original work. Another factor to consider is the nature of this work compared to the original. While this work emphasizes the musical score (not from Star Wars) and utilizes the video clips from Star Wars merely to provide emphasis. In addition to both of these it only uses a very small fraction of the original work. Given the fact that there is also a lack of the Star Wars movies sounds in the clip it conveighs a very different message than the one that the movies did.

The Star Wars fan video is not a copyright violation for a different reason entirely. A copyright only protects the actual thing, not the idea of the copyrighted work. Since the fan film didn’t use any of the actual footage or names, they should be free of any legal trouble. There is a slight question though about the fonts and logos that they used; specifically the ones for the production companies. Last I checked the criteria for copyrights on that was whether they could be confused for the company in question, and Fox and Lucas Films could easily make a case that this is the case.

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Blog #5

Posted on February 12, 2013 by | Comments Off on Blog #5

@JaredAbrahamWSU

While I am not intimately familiar with current copyright laws, sometimes it can be easy to recognize infringement. A prime example would be the Star Wars fan film “The Essence of the Force.” This short film can be kind of funny, but that does not make it legal. It starts off with the typical Star Wars intro I.E. a long time ago, the text scroll, and even the Star Wars logo. While the names of characters are never spoken, it is easy to see that the main characters are supposed to be Darth Maul and Obi Wan Kenobi. There are also many references to the force, and the main characters use light sabers. I absolutely believe that this is copyright infringement. However, I do not think the Star Wars Remix is copyright infringement. If anything it is appropriation. In the remix instead of creating their own knock off Star Wars movie, it is basically a montage of the first six movies with music playing over it. The reason I think that the fan film is copy infringement and the remix is not is because the fan film is attempting to promote something that has nothing to do with Star Wars. Whereas in the remix Star Wars is still the focus of the video and whomever put it together is not trying to promote something like a soda company. I believe that as long as the appropriated material is still promoting the original work, then there is no copyright infringement.

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How “Cruising” is not Print

Posted on February 12, 2013 by | Comments Off on How “Cruising” is not Print

@ohheyitshonor

In reading “Electronic Literature: what is it?” by Kathrine Hayles one first defines, then refines their own terminology surrounding electronic literature. As Hayles describes in section 3,  traditional literature only reflects one way in which the message conveyed is an art form, while electronic literature has both literary and digital sides, which” possess assets essential to cope with the complexities of the commercial interests that currently determine many aspects of how people live their everyday lives in developed societies.” ( par 47.) This description brings to life the potency of messages given through digital mediums and brings the deep understanding and contemporary digital practices together.

The piece I chose to examine was “Cruising”, a digital poem by Ingrid Ankerson and Megan Sapnar. One thing that struck me right away was the fact that both the writer (Ankerson) and the digital artist (Sapnar) were credited equally in the work. This is because the mixture of literature and visual arts is no longer separate when created on a digital platform. This piece is a “digital born” piece simply because of it’s integration of digital elements to enhance the literary meaning. As Hayles describes in the beginning of section 3, hyperlinks majorly differentiate digital literature from print because of it’s ability to transport you to a different text, page, or media instantly. These hyperlinks, in contrast to normal links, create a sense of structure present in all literature, but utilize multiple mediums to convey their message.

Overall, Cruising combines an interactive media with poetry creating a image within the poem otherwise left to the readers imagination to create.

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Fair Use and Copyright Law

Posted on February 12, 2013 by | Comments Off on Fair Use and Copyright Law

@MyDtcAccount – Jonathan Crabtree

Fair use and copyright laws protect the owners of original content, but, sometimes, they also strangle out creativity from other people. Many people have to be very careful when working with original pieces of…well, just about anything. In the “Star Wars Saga” video, the creator used many different clips of star wars film and played them along with a techno song. Honestly, the result was not very well done, in my opinion. The clips jumped all over the place from movie to movie, and there was no story told. That said, the reason the author didn’t place them in chronological order is probably because, if he did, he could be violating the fair use laws by recreating an idea. Fair use laws protect the owner, but hurt future creators.

 

The star wars fan film is a little different. It doesn’t take any actual footage from the movies, but it is obviously taking the ideas behind the series. Having a jedi, a Darth Maul look-alike, and going after “the force” would, I think, violate copyright laws. Copyrights don’t only protect against the actual physical material, but it protects ideas and concepts from being copied, which is exactly what happened. It is ultimately up to the federal courts to decide whether or not it was a violation, but I really don’t see how it couldn’t be one. If an individual has seen star wars, they immediately can tell that that is what the fan film is referencing, which, if you can do that, it’s probably a copyright violation.

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copyright

Posted on February 12, 2013 by | Comments Off on copyright

@clonelord
I watched both videos and am an avid Star Wars fan. I have seen a lot of these types of films and other and one of my favorites is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=493ljyoox6o. Do I believe that they violate copyright infringement no I don’t believe they do as you have a time period for these things as they have made fair marketable value of money off of their works. The copyright laws says in section 1. “The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.” this is a big deal to whether the video or other media in question is violated copyright law and this is just one section of the law there have been a lot of additions over the years. The people creating these original works of art are just trying to protect their work and all the time and effort that they have put into these media objects. The fair use mentions that these works can be used after a certain period of time so that others can use the original work and “tweak” it to the way they want to, to create another work of “art” so that others can enjoy it and possible inject this into other areas of the population so that it can reach a far greater dispersal then the original did and make people laugh or think. I believe to be a good as it allows others to be creative on other peoples work and they should be kinda proud that they are using their work.

#dtcv, #youtube. #starwars

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Star Wars

Posted on February 12, 2013 by | Comments Off on Star Wars

@KatieGullans

I think that both the videos added something to the Star Wars series for fans to enjoy. I don’t think most people have an issue with it, watching it that has to deal with copyright because they’re likely to know the original source anyways. The Star Wars Saga uses  short clips a music remix. There isn’t any talking and it doesn’t show the whole saga. It shows parts created for a fan of Star Wars to enjoy. They made some effort to organize the music and the clips to call that video their idea.

The Star Wars fan film is a parody of Star Wars and Mountain Dew. Since it’s not using exact scenes from the movie, it can be considered a new creation. There are some commercials made for humor where they put in ideas from films. We should allow people to create parodies because it can give them a start in creating something. Something copyrighted would be like copying and pasting information. To create an essay, you usually have to do research. You can’t write down the exact information you find. You have to write it in your own words, then explain your thoughts. But you’re still almost always going to use ideas from other people, but expand on them or rotate them in a different angle that no one else thought of. Any idea you can expand on or create new adds something to the human experience. It can add humour, creativity, inspiration, learning, and many other things.

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Fair Use: Criminal or Constructive

Posted on February 12, 2013 by | Comments Off on Fair Use: Criminal or Constructive

@Heather94720356

The laws in terms of fair use are surprisingly flexible and the guidelines to where a work is considered copied is broadened to where originators can hardly protect there works form being recreated into a criticized version of the original. There are probably more artists out there who are looking for an original inspiration to spark a newer creative version of a work than there are originators clinging to their original creation. No matter if a work is a recreation or an original, something inspired the idea in the first place whether it be a movie that influenced you as a child, a song that your parents played over and over, or even a culture that you grew up around there was something that sparked the light bulb in your head.

When creating a Parody to an original work you are allowed quite a bit of leeway to how much of the original material you are using depending on the purpose of your recreation. You can use as much movie clips for example as you would like without asking as long as the purpose is obvious and you are critiquing or making fun of the original. It is a continued controversial issue that originators often lose when taking their “copiers” to a courtroom. It is because People have a right to recreate a work when used in a transformative way. “Bureaucrats….invoke those rules to consolidate power, and perceive the constructive impulse of hackers as a threat.” Just like the Star Wars commercial on Mountain Dew, they recreated similar episodes and battles to promote a soda. It was transformative enough that it was considered new.

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Blog Post 5

Posted on February 12, 2013 by | Comments Off on Blog Post 5

The Star Wars Mountain Dew film flirts heavily with copy right infringements. Most of it is ok and within legal limits of not breaking anything, but some parts do. For instance, the first thing I saw was the opening credits the famous Star Wars Yellow text telling us a story about what the film is going to be about. The creator of the movie should not of used the actual Star Wars logo as that is copyright protected. For a spoof film they should of gave is a different title such as the spoof film “Space Balls” it can purposely look the same style, but it cannot say “Star Wars.” The film creator did a good job by not using any actual Star Wars music either which is also copyright protected. The next issue I was the film used a Star Wars video game for the opening scene which is probably a copyright issue too. Lastly the film used a can of Mountain Dew and showed the logo, so with out paying for it that’s an infringement too. The most important thing to consider here is that as long as the film is never published the editor is probably fine, but placing it on youtube may have been a bad choice as now its public. People post songs and many things on youtube and it becomes a copyright gray area. Making spoof films is ok just like Space Balls did about Star Wars, but they slightly alter all the iconic parts of the film so it looks close, but its not the same, so therefore no copyright laws are broken. This film maker missed a few of those.

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Fair Use and U.S. Copyright Laws

Posted on February 12, 2013 by | Comments Off on Fair Use and U.S. Copyright Laws

@v_kono

I have never seen Star Wars, nor know what it is all about. However, I know infringement of copyrighted material when I see it. The Star Wars Fan Film was a complete infringement upon the copyrighted works of its authors. If the creator of this fan film used his own characters, I would be okay with that. But using the same characters from the movie and simply tweaking some parts is not acceptable. In college, that is known as plagiarism. In a broader and more realistic sense, it is known as copyright infringement. Stealing the works of the author and making minor adjustments for your own benefit. I wrote a paper upon this very particular subject and found that some people do not infringe on purpose. This very fan that created the flick could have been one of them. Sometimes you don’t even know that you’re doing something illegal until you get slapped in the face with a couple thousand dollar fine. It is at that very moment when reality strikes. The second video also bears the name of copyright infringement. The music that is playing in the background is slightly modified, yet still has the same roots. The scenes from the movie are also copyrighted works. They shouldn’t be used without the permission of the author. Fair use is determined if the media in question has an “affect on the value of the copyrighted work” (Copyright). While it does not have an effect on the market, the fact still stands that the copyrighted material was still used unlawfully.

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blog 5

Posted on February 12, 2013 by | Comments Off on blog 5

@Samai14

I think both videos may or may not be legal in terms of Fair Use and U.S. copyright laws. Both videos give credit to the original name “star wars” on their video titles. The presentations and message are different from each other.  The star wars saga is just scenes from the original movie but with different background music than the real star wars theme song. Even though they use some scenes from the original movie it may not be legal because the U.S. copyright office states “copyrightable works include the following categories:  motion pictures and other audiovisual works”.  The other video is just trying to advertise Mt.Dew.  Although the same characters are in both videos they have different physical appearance. These videos may not be legal because the U.S. copyright office states “Only the owner of copyright in a work has the right to prepare, or to authorize someone else to create, a new version of that work.” This is basically saying that no matter how much you change you need to ask for the owner’s permission in order to make those changes.  These videos are tricky to explain if they are legal or not.

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