Kind of screwed
Andy Baio’s chronicle of his Kind of Bloop copyright case is an important read. I’m stunned and saddened—but glad Andy documented it so thoughtfully.
Andy Baio’s chronicle of his Kind of Bloop copyright case is an important read. I’m stunned and saddened—but glad Andy documented it so thoughtfully.
So, in a way, beyond the horrible suckage of this, the case seemed to hinge on whether or not the 8-bit aesthetic represents something transformative or its simply derivative.
I wonder if this would have gone differently if “8-bit” were more established or ‘respected’ within the mainstream. It seems so off to me. What possible threat to the original or the photographer did this pixellated version represent?
Hmm, but look at the other really high-profile case recently: Shepard Fairey’s Obama poster. To me, that’s just as clear—like, you’ve got to me kidding me, that’s a legit copyright claim?—but he was in pretty hot water, too. Granted, we’ll never know how that case would have turned out b/c Fairey kinda ruined his own position, and ended up settling… but still. Same core claim.
Sorry, I missed this earlier, but yeah, you’re quire right. I think I was trying to make it about “8 bit” because that’s more interesting to me :)
Interestingly, Techdirt’s Mike Masnick today claimed something interesting: that all photography is a transformation of an original something into a work of art. You might even say that transformation of a scene into a still image is what makes it art. Seemed an interesting way to think about things: art is always-already ‘there’ — technology/techne unconceal it. Link here:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110625/01030814852/if-jay-maisels-photograph-is-original-artwork-then-so-is-pixelated-cover-kind-bloop.shtml