What really goes on at COP16 in Cancun

Steven Mosher says:
December 1, 2010 at 12:48 pm
“The fact that these uses were outside the market is likely immaterial ( they’d get a cease and desist from my old legal department ). One test would be is the use likely to cause confusion or suggest an endorsement where there is none. generally speaking a company that knows how to protect its trademarks and brands will object to any use whatsoever of it’s marks, portions of it’s marks, even if they are transformed , especially if they are transformed as that can sully a mark you have spent millions promoting.”
I was thinking that was a trademark not a copyright. I’ll defer to your superior knowledge on trademarks. My expertise is in patents but I was involved in a number of minor online copyright disputes where the cease and desist resulted in immediate ceasing and desisting. One that was more interesting was in the production of a film “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed”. One infringement claim was in regard to a molecular animation “Inner Life of the Cell” which was created by an independent who was commissioned by Harvard’s Life Sciences department. Harvard owned it and had made it public on youtube and elsewhere. The complainant was the independent who produced it for Harvard. The animation used in the film wasn’t the original but was done by an outfit hired by the film producers but they were clearly told to make something very similar. It was clearly derivative. Harvard didn’t want the bad press and made no complaint. The other item was about a 10-second audio clip of John Lennon’s “Imagine” and Yoko Ono sued. This was a few years ago and I spent a fair amount of time educating myself on fair use doctrine just for my own satisfaction and so I could talk about it from an informed position. The former (Inner Life) dispute never went anywhere because the copyright owner didn’t pursue it. Yoko Ono eventually lost the dispute in court. She had an ideological objection to the context surrounding the use (political commentary) and thought she could punish the producers through the clout of her legal resources. The producers had in fact anticipated the need for legal defense and budgeted for it from the outset and rather than back down just went ahead and used the legal defense budget they’d allocated.
remember that mark is used to sell toys, books, movies, etc. not just movies.

@anthony
“My question about whether they obtained clearance was an offhand remark of curiosity.”
It was churlish and that’s what set me off.
REPLY: It is relevant, because if you’ll look at my update above, you’ll see that NBC Universal says it is not “fair use”. I’ve heard back from the web developer, and he says the issue is all done on the fossil-of-the-day.org side and is washing his hands of it. So, I’m asking the fossils next. – Anthony

@Anthony
Fair use is whatever a judge and jury decides is fair use. There is no “right” to fair use there is only precedent that may serve as an affirmative defense if you’ve got the resources and desire to defend yourself. The blog I used to manage got regular cease and desist notices from publishers, especially scientific journals, for quoting too much of peer reviewed articles that were behind paywalls. In every case we rolled over and removed it but we continued with the practice and left it up to the publishers to continue deciding when we’d gone too far.
And by the way, I didn’t recognize the Jurrasic Park logo and wouldn’t have known the kiddies copied the general shape and layout of it without you pointing it out. Jurassic Park is pulp trash that doesn’t draw my attention.
I’ll bet dollars against donuts that the studio won’t put the kiddies on notice because of its potential to result in a David vs. Goliath public relations nightmare. The kids I’m sure would would welcome the publicity opportunity and play it to the hilt while immediately complying with the cease and desist notice. That’s what I’d do if I were them. Who’d win in a legal contest is anyone’s guess but if push came to shove I’d bet on the Hollywood studio who owns the trademark just because they can afford better lawyers.
Be that as it may it was still churlish of you to point it out. Your character is diminished by it.

I always tell my own kids: “These days EVERYTHING is on record, so be very careful so that your actions/words today don’t come back to haunt you tomorrow.”
Twenty years from now when someone in the video would like to run for office, or for a high level position in a large corporation college, etc., he/she is going to look at that video and think: “OMG! How could I ever been so stupid!”
Then again, temptation is a powerful thing – Free trip to Cancun anyone?

I would wager you are one of a a very few people to accuse Michael Crichton of authoring “pulp trash”! While it is scientifically questionable, it’s still a pretty interesting novel and the movie was a watershed moment in film history.
Of course since then scientists have nearly mapped a complete mammoth genome. While certainly far, far younger and more plausable to do than dinosaur DNA, whose to say what is ultimately impossible?
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“Jurassic Park is pulp trash that doesn’t draw my attention.”

Gareth Phillips says:
November 30, 2010 at 2:12 pm

I must admit it was difficult to decipher what exactly they were saying, but then I thought, where have a seen films of politically indoctrinated youngsters waving red flags with black emblems before? I seem to recall they had torches last time around.

Right, and as someone who had a chance of watching those torch-light parades from just a few feet away, I also noted the identical design of the font used for the lightning strokes of the double-S in FOSSIL. Could not miss it.
Christopher says:
November 30, 2010 at 2:21 pm

Might I add to take note of the overabundance of the color Red and the choreography. The hallmark of the beasts we like to call Communists.

That, too, is correct, but you have not seen anything yet if you have not compared the see of red that comprises Canadian athletes and spectators at international sports events to such manifestations under Stalin and Mao. It’s a legacy left by P.E. Trudeau. He often and publicly expressed his strong communist leanings and had us bear witness to his wishes by instilling in us our passion for the colour red at such events.
For those reasons, in spite of all of the common sense approach he promotes through his climate policies, Stephen Harper is still only heading a minority government. All of the progress he brought about can easily be undone in just one election, unless enough voters wake up. Unfortunately, the majority of eligible voters no longer bothers going to the polls.