Sued for cover art???

[Dan Kahanamoku]

My band is in the studio wrapping up our first demo CD which we plan to start selling within a month or so. I have been chosen to do the album artwork and we all agreed that it would be cool to have a certain, famous forest fighting bear on the cover . So I put something together and we all dig it.

I don't need anybody to tell me that what I'm doing is illegal. I guess I'm wondering what the worst-case scenario would be if somebody decided to do something about it. Could somebody actually sue us, or would we simply be forced to stop selling the disc?

[Stumbo]

http://www.greenlightwrite.com/smokeybear.htm

In the 1950Õs, Smokey Bear appeared on his own radio show and had kids sing along with his own band, and he was also featured in comic strips. He was released as a plush doll for children in 1952, the same year that Congress passed The Smokey Bear Act, which removed Smokey Bear from public domain (free for anyone to use for whatever commercial purpose) and placed him, along with several copyright and trademark laws for Smokey, under the management of the Secretary of Agriculture. Smokey, whilst still popular today, reached his pop-culture climax in the late 1950Õs/early 1960Õs during which time he had a series of childrenÕs books. Smokey also enjoyed Ad Council radio spots where he spoke with celebrities such as Art Linkletter and Bing Crosby about forest fire danger.

[chris.gotfunk]

One side of the coin is that any publicity is good publicity. But you do run the risk of being sued...or they can just have you change the cover art. I was in a band called Press Play (Christian) and we had stuff on iTunes. Well, there was another band called Press Play as well that was releasing an album on a bigger label and they politely asked us to change our band name...whatever!!!! You could what if the whole thing.
Do you have a lawyer? Is your band an LLC or anything?
Good luck with the cover art though.
Peace,
Chris

[Dan Kahanamoku]

Originally Posted by Stumbo

http://www.greenlightwrite.com/smokeybear.htm

In the 1950Õs, Smokey Bear appeared on his own radio show and had kids sing along with his own band, and he was also featured in comic strips. He was released as a plush doll for children in 1952, the same year that Congress passed The Smokey Bear Act, which removed Smokey Bear from public domain (free for anyone to use for whatever commercial purpose) and placed him, along with several copyright and trademark laws for Smokey, under the management of the Secretary of Agriculture. Smokey, whilst still popular today, reached his pop-culture climax in the late 1950Õs/early 1960Õs during which time he had a series of childrenÕs books. Smokey also enjoyed Ad Council radio spots where he spoke with celebrities such as Art Linkletter and Bing Crosby about forest fire danger.

+100000

Holy geez am I glad you found that. My band will be excited. Thanks a million.

[Matt Till]

Wow, you lucked out. It seems more and more people are making "their own album art" by doing a google image search.

[dj150888]

Originally Posted by Dan Kahanamoku

My band is in the studio wrapping up our first demo CD which we plan to start selling within a month or so. I have been chosen to do the album artwork and we all agreed that it would be cool to have a certain, famous forest fighting bear on the cover . So I put something together and we all dig it.

I don't need anybody to tell me that what I'm doing is illegal. I guess I'm wondering what the worst-case scenario would be if somebody decided to do something about it. Could somebody actually sue us, or would we simply be forced to stop selling the disc?

Tried contacting the artist to ask for permission? That'd be my advice, a well known artist gave me permission to use a piece of his work for a tattoo. They're nice people!

[rakirksey]

I have a CD that I bought about 13 years ago called Misfits of Ska. It was put out by Dill Recods. Well the original pressing totally ripped off the Misfits font. Basically Dill Records had to change the cover art for any future records.

The situation is low risk if you're under the radar. If anything, don't press TOO many so that you aren't stuck with albums that you can't sell if something were to happen. That way ... the offending albums may raise if value if you had to rerelease with different art work.

[Freddels]

Why don't you change the pic of Smokey just enough to make it unique and therefore not an infringement?

[OtterOnBass]

Wait, this says Smokey is copyrighted and unusable. How is that good for you?

Your best bet is to do an imitation Smokey - change the ribbon on his hat or something minor. Stokey maybe.

[Dan Kahanamoku]

Originally Posted by dj150888

Tried contacting the artist to ask for permission? That'd be my advice, a well known artist gave me permission to use a piece of his work for a tattoo. They're nice people!

That's the other thing... it's not just Smokey, it's also somebody else's artwork. I can tell just from looking at it that it's decades old. Finding the artist would probably be impossible.

[Dan Kahanamoku]

Originally Posted by OtterOnBass

Wait, this says Smokey is copyrighted and unusable. How is that good for you?

Your best bet is to do an imitation Smokey - change the ribbon on his hat or something minor. Stokey maybe.

Dang... you're right. If you don't read it carefully enough, it seems to be the other way around.

That sounds like something I can't mess with.

[lpdeluxe]

Speaking as a musician and a graphic artist, I am astonished that musicians, who fight tooth and nail to protect their own original creations, will rip off someone else' artwork without even a first thought.

Artwork is intellectual property, just like songs and recordings, and the only proper way to use someone else's work is with their permission, which nay involve paying a fee.

Every piece of art I put has my name with a copyright tag. At the very least that tells the world that if you use it without attribution, you are stealing it.

Or do you think artists should be able to distribute and sell your music for free?

[Gubna]

It's not that hard to buy a digital camera and then tweek images in Photoshop or illustrator for an album cover.

no need to rip off someone else's idea. but you could always change the bear a bit...

[Dan Kahanamoku]

Originally Posted by lpdeluxe

Speaking as a musician and a graphic artist, I am astonished that musicians, who fight tooth and nail to protect their own original creations, will rip off someone else' artwork without even a first thought.

Artwork is intellectual property, just like songs and recordings, and the only proper way to use someone else's work is with their permission, which nay involve paying a fee.

Every piece of art I put has my name with a copyright tag. At the very least that tells the world that if you use it without attribution, you are stealing it.

Or do you think artists should be able to distribute and sell your music for free?

Point taken. I guess it's back to the drawing board...

[namraj]

Originally Posted by lpdeluxe

Or do you think artists should be able to distribute and sell your music for free?

yes, i think music should be given away free, live shows is where the money is now anyway. but i agree permission should be asked before artwork is stolen though.

[MonetBass]

Pay some local art student a few bucks to come up with something for you. If they bring up residuals, run away.

[nsmar4211]

Draw your own bear
Come on ......not that hard
Bear on fire perhaps ?
Don't mess with copyright, once you're on the radar they start looking into everything....

[Mr. Kitty]

Stumbo said that the department of agriculture now owns the copywrites to the logo...

do you think that you guys could possibly contact them and see how much the fee is or even if you could use smokey the bear on your cover?

[bongomania]

Here's a brief rundown of what happened when Negativland used the U2 logo on one of their albums: http://www.swcp.com/rtoads/printmag/.../neg_data.html

Now, in your case you're up against a government agency that couldn't find itself in a mirror, never mind noticing your record. Big difference from a somewhat well-known act angering Warner Music. But it gives you an idea what could conceivably happen.

[fdeck]

I am not a lawyer... but isn't the lifespan of a copyright 50 years? Don't know if it applies to a copyright established by statute, however.