You cant take money in return for services, but donations are fine.

Wrong... people who donate to my game Dragon Ball Neverending Buu Saga First Blood, Part III... they wouldn't donate if I hadn't made the game, right? I mean, they're not donating because they think I'm an upstanding citizen and they're not donating because I'm down on my luck... they're donating because they like my Dragonball game. I am making money off Dragonball everytime someone donates.

To make this distinction even clearer.... do you think the Make a Wish Foundation needs to get Disney's permission before using Disney characters in its ads? Could the American Cancer Society put popular cartoon characters on its letterhead when it sends out its donation letters?

Once again, Dareb, you've fallen into the trap of taking what seems like common sense to you and assuming that because it makes sense to you, it must be so.

Thanks Assassin.

As for me making a fool of myself, use some grammar, learn the laws, then come back and post.

As for services, SOME are illicit, but not most.

~CalmStorm

U.S. Copyright Act, Title 17

Sec. 106. - Exclusive rights in copyrighted works



Subject to sections 107 through 121, the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following:

(1)

to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;

(2)

to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;*

(3)

to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;

(4)

in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly;

(5)

in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to display the copyrighted work publicly; and

(6)

in the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission



*Dragon Ball Zeta is a derivative work based on the Dragonball/Dragonball Z properties. This is the basis of infringement. Now, we come to exceptions to these exclusive right:



Sec. 107. - Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use



Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include -

(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.


The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors




There's no exclusion for "donations". Some of this is open to interpretation, especially 107.4, but the courts have routineley and consistently found that to include copyrighted material in a money-making venture (whether you call it donations or not) or using copyrighted images to "get people in the door" so they'll pay for other things are not considered "fair use."

Set up a theater in your home. Show Star Wars movies in it, set up a cardboard box with a sign that says "Donations Accepted!" E-mail Lucas Film and see what happens.

blah blah blah.

Sorry chicky, you insulted me by questioning me on the public forums, So you damn well better submitted the proof of your bs claims PUBLICLY.

uh.. but they contacted funimation.. that and funimation doesnt care.

well look at it this way..

This topic will be on a stand-still till i get a reply from funimation and Ill post the original message and their reply and send it here.

Then itll be the end all be all final shove it to you

You'd still be wrong.

You're saying "the law" says it's okay to take donations. Funimation isn't "the law." They're entitled to waive their rights to go after lawbreakers, but that's their decision. You're saying that accepting donations make it okay... it doesn't. The copyright holder giving permission is what makes it okay. If that's what you were trying to say from the beginning, you should've phrased it better.... just going around saying, "It's okay to make money off copyrighted things if you say it's a donation!" is dangerous... it's like going around saying, "It's okay to drink poison!"

Lesbian Assassin wrote:

The fan game itself is illegal! The law gives no protection or excemption for donations! Go read the copyright law if you want to!

The fan game is only not illegal if the owner of the fan property allows it, so its the company's opinion whether or not to give or withhold permission on any basis they choose, and not even the most pro-fan companies will not allow you to solicit donations.

hmmm..... sorry, they dont care

Partner420 your right i dont even think zeta should even be sold cause its getting out of hand i can call the police and get all the names of you people who rip it. Its copyrighted SO GO AND TAKE YOUR STUPID RIP AND SHUV IT UP YO ASS STUPID NEWBIE RIPPER. I dont understand why the **** you stupid newbies do that code just find out how to code and DO THAT damn god.

please, say butt

Dareb wrote:

What i said in the first place is that a donation (NOT WITH A SERVICE) is just fine.

I grok what you are getting at, but what they are saying is that the game itself attracts potential donators by its name and contents. It is making an environment that is attractive to people with money, in hopes of them giving you some. The game is a service, free, but expressing an idea that hopes to generate guilt, and money.

Its like when you have a homeless person begging on the street, they will sit somewhere that people are likely to pass by, like a post office, rather than say, under a bridge were nobody will see them. Not a lot can be done about that, because they are outside. However, if that beggar were to try sit inside macy's, security would hussle him off faster than you can say "taxi!"

So if the solicitor(donation taker) is inside the attractor(store, under a sign, inserted inside someone elses song, or in a game), then it is illegal.

What would happen if you were to insert a voice inside an static X song, asking for money and giving an address, and then distributed it as an MP3? They would sue your pants off, and rightly so. People would assume that StaticX would be benefiting from that. In their minds, they would be rewarding the band, not just you. You would be breaking another very serious Law as well, and that would be fraud.