Copyrights etc regarding muppet images etc!

[Muppetsdownunder]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help me. I am building a muppet website and needed to know about muppet images etc, regarding copyrights etc.

I have heard that some websites have shut down for using images of the muppets without the Jim Henson companies permission. Is this needed? or can you just add a message letting visitors know that the images are owned by the JHC.

Can anyone please help with this? I may be wrong about this but I just want to be sure.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[Luke]

From what i gather, technically you aren't supposed to use them at all without permission. However, you'll generally be fine just crediting whatever pictures you use to the Henson Company. It's better legally to use publicity shots rather than screenshots but not a massive difference if not. If you are worried about the legalities the main advice is not to use video files and to make sure your original content outweighs the Henson stuff you use.

 

[Muppetsdownunder]

Thanks for your help

Hi, Thanks for your help. Thats pretty much what I thought. I definately wont be adding any videos at all mainly because I dont have any and I have a slow internet connection and computer.

I had a muppet website once before and there were no problems at all but it wasnt a very good website because I was quite young at the time. The chances of anyone seeing the website and being offended over copyrights and stuff, I would think are quite remote. the website isnt going to be that good, you cant beat the great muppet sites that are already on the internet like muppet central.

Im going to feature lots of collectables and stuff on the website so it should be ok. Like most muppet sites im going to feature new products and stuff which is good for henson, they shoudnt worry about that because its advertising for them. Provided someone visits the site.

I just wanted a little bit of info on this so thanks once again for your help. I would have been annoyed to go to all the trouble and find its illegal or something.

Im in Australia so the laws might be a bit different anyway.

Does muppet central have special permission or something from henson? Do they have to pay a licence or something?

Thanks again,
Paul,

 

[Luke]

Glad to be of help. Muppet Central is an unofficial fan site so doesn't need to have any kind of license. As the largest and most popular one it's well known within the Henson Community but i'm sure still has to act responsibly with regard to what it uses. Things which would normally be quite legally risky like the radio have permission from the Henson Company. There is an officially authorised Henson fansite at www.kermitage.com which has access to archive matierials and things like that.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

We recently discussed copyright and what constitutes fair use and infringement over in the puppetry forum. There's links there to a copyright website and a copy of the Berne Convention, which is the general basis for international copyright law.

Like Luke said though, ANY use of copyrighted images is illegal. I think one of the better examples of an (almost) non-infringing fan site is Danny Horn's Tough Pigs which is mostly original art work and promotional shots from manufacturers who I'm sure don't mind the publicity. Muppet Central is great too because they have general permission to use photos and pay royalties for MuppetCentral Radio.

Generally speaking companies tend not to shut down fan sites unless they a) make money or b) critize the owner of the copyright or slander the characters ("Bert is Evil" and it's mirrors have been shut down more times than I can count). But you never know. Wal-Mart and McDonalds have been known to be psychotic when it comes to their trademarks/copyrights.

Recently a webcomics site got in trouble because they ran a cartoon lampooning Strawberry Shortcake (outraged readers of the site launched a boycott of American Greetings over it).

Free speech seems to be under assault more and more these days....

 

[frogboy4]

Companies have a delicate balancing act in these situations. On one hand they have to defend their copyright or it doesn't mean anything. Courts could bring up selective prosecution charges if a company takes action against one unauthorized fan site, but allows a nearly identical site to continue. However, they don't want to anger the very fans that come to these sites. It's free promotion.

Companies' flagship sites are usually lacking in content and not regularly updated. In these terrible financial times, websites have become low priority. It's a very poor choice in my opinion, because more people are now shopping online than ever before. Many companies misunderstand the notorious dot com fizzle.

Anyway, going off on a tangent. The bottom line is that fan sites bring in business and pick up the slack for companies. That is why they usually turn a blind eye. Now, if we were to publish some sort of web comic where the Muppets were the stars, it could open us up for trouble. It's a fine line.

 

[Muppetsdownunder]

Thanks for your help. I guess my website is probably illegal but it will contain a huge merchandise section soon and will be great free advertising for henson and the stores that sell henson items especially here in Australia.

I would never do anything to harm henson or the muppets, the reason I am building this site is to try and make it more popular to younger people like me!

Thanks again,
Paul

 

[Luke]

Yeah i don't think there is a Muppet website around that actually is entirely legal, well aside from the authorised one or official ones, and as stated - TP hardly infringes at all which is done in a very clever way. As Jamie said it's a balancing act, and generally as long as you don't go too far and make sure that more of the content is original rather than reproduced you should be ok. You can usually get an idea of whats 'ok' by looking at all the other fan websites for that brand around - Fox and Disney are both notorious for being tighter than most other companies.

As said, with Henson the issues to watch for are the use of media, and making any profit. One website was shut down a while back for using a lot of Fraggle video files, and another 'dot com' Muppet website which very few people knew about and who's content was just basically a shop front for Muppet products, using very similar colors to Henson.com was shut down extremely quickly a few years back. 'Muppet Central' has the store but it's affiliate links and just a small part of the site which they need to help with the costs. It's promoted far less nowdays than before and just left to be there for people to find which i think is totally the right approach to take rather than raising awareness of it so much it picks up heat.

 

[juliette]

Actually my Sesame Street site is entirely legal, but this is because it doesn't contain any images from the show at all. There are images of DVD/video covers in the review section, but those are used with permission from Amazon.

So you can be 100 percent within the law, but it does mean your Web site may look a little dull.

 

[Krazedmuppet]

well.....

I have had my site up for almost 2 years now and I haven't heard anything. I credited the JHC and all, and I'm non profiting. I get less than 2 hits a day. I think it's just for bigger web sites and sites who claim there THERE pictures, I hope this helps (look at my web site and see what I mean)