Bill Graham smackdown

[philaarts.com]

i have a stack about 3 feet tall of new fillmores. i hope to sell them someday.

[lil_tuffy]

Originally Posted by The_Cynic

A couple of things, about a year ago, WV sued an author and publisher for including a thumbnail of some posters they held the rights too. WV got smacked hard in court for that. WV lost the case big time. They even appealed and lost again. I can't speak to the specifics though.

Also when it comes to posters that were originally made for the purposes of promotion, the First Use Doctrine applies. The First Use doctrine covers everything except software. It basically says that when a copyright holder produces an item ( the original case was a book) and that item is then sold or used for it's intended purpose, the copyright holder loses further say over that specific item.
In the original case (190 a publisher sued a book reseller claiming copyright right infringement for his resale of the coprighted books. The case went to the SC and it was held that after the first use, the holder lost his rights to that specific physical item. So the publisher could not control reasale of the book after it's initial sale. This applies to everything but software. (Microsoft got a special exemption law passed).

So when it comes to posters. The the copyright/trademark holder (band) authorizes the promoter to use their name/image to promote the show by making posters. This is the first use. After the show, those specific posters only can be resold just like a book or any other item. The copyright holder has no rights to that specific item. that does NOT mean the posters can be reprinted or the images used on anything else or for ANY other purpose though. The posters themselves ONLY can be legally resold.

Check this site to give an illustration of how this works. A lot of companies make fabric with copyrighted images on them, Baseball, Disney, Nascar etc...
This lady bought the fabric and made pillows and stuff out of it. Then she tried to sell the pillows on Ebay. The copyright holders didn't like this and closed her auctions via Ebay's VERO (copyright infringement program). This was obviously against the First use doctrine and the lady sued the companies. And she won. She has filed 15 lawsuits and won 14.

http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/trademarks.html

THis is the most interesting bit of legalize I've ever read regarding posters.

[The_Cynic]

Thanks man. One other thing, "Fair use" exceptions to the copyright rules allow you to use a picture of your item when selling it.

On the WV case, I think they are in violation when they use the poster images they own to make new crap. First sale/use rules give them rights to ONLY those specific posters only. It doesn't give them the right to make new memorabilia or reprint, that is clearly a new use and it must be licensed. They could be on the hook for major bucks over this. The law says they can be nicked for 150K per violation.

Also on copyright in general, in the US the copyright extends for 28 years but it can renewed for up to 95 years. In Canada and the UK it extends for 50 years after the death of the artist.