not poster related but a copyright question

[theooze]

ok there are alot of knowledgable peeps here so i pose this question to you as i cannot understand the legal jargon on the copyright issue....

wizards of the coast(owned by hasbro now) produces MAGIC THE GATHERING cards....that have original artwork on them....each card has tm and copyright on it.....i am not sure if the artist retains the copyright for the original art or what....i do know some of them reproduce and sell and/or sell the original obviously....also a bunch of people do modified artwork right on the card (using acrylic/markers/whatever).....some of these are commisions and some are on ebay.


now my question:is selling these a copyright infraction in anyway?
is selling a card that you marked on any different than stores selling the single cards?
i dont think anyone is claiming that they did the original artwork for the cards (except the original artists-some of whom make lots of bucks modding their cards) merely that they added something over the top

here are 2 examples of what i mean:



thanks in advance for any input guys/gals
cheers

[JayJaySerious]

From what I've been told, the artists who have done the paintings that were reproduced as cards in the series did so as "work for hire". Which means the company owns the rights to the image, but may choose to give the art back to the artist.

I'm not sure if modifying the card with your own artwork is copyright infringement or not, but I wouldn't think it would be something the company would object to since it seems to add to the popularity of the game. It also "destroys" a card, making the rest slightly more rare and thence, more collectible. Most companies would love to have people so keen on their product that they create a secondary modification market.

People have modified action figure for years and sold their creations and Hasbro has never seemed to have a problem with that.

[theooze]

thanks jj

anyone else......

[Justin.Ryan]

if it's not poster related - GTFO!

jk. i agree with jayjay

[JoshPodolske]

yeah your fine. wizards is right down the street from me. literally. their big black glass and steel box of a building, they have a staff artist for that kind of things, i seen a job description for exactly that a couple of years ago.

[Seamus McClernan]

yeah your fine. wizards is right down the street from me. literally. their big black glass and steel box of a building

...do they at least have Wyverns flying circles around it??