hey just checked out the vapor sabre site. that shrek image is epic lol, but dont you think its asking for trouble?
The Shrek image on the Vapor Sabre website is indeed an illegal use of DreamWorks' intellectual property, and could possibly result in a lawsuit. However Lintz is not responsible for that, legally or technically, and could not be sued by DreamWorks or legally reprimanded. The content of
Vapor Sabre is the responsibility of the owner and webmaster of the domain, neither of which is Lintz (at least as far as I'm aware).
When you think about it though, the chances of a DreamWorks executive (or other employee who makes enough money to care) seeing the unauthorized use of this Shrek image on the aforementioned website is so minuet that it probably isn't something to be concerned about. Millions of websites illegally use the intellectual, copyrighten or trademarked property of other companies, and rare ever does anything happen about it. At most, the website's owner/webmaster would probablly be warned and asked to remove the unauthorized content, and that's most likely all that would happen.
However, for the .00001% chance that DreamWorks does come after those website, the owner of the website might be able to sue you for creating the image and not warning him that having the image on his website violates copyright laws, and that there's a very tiny chance he could be sued for creating this image without notifying his client that displaying the image would be a violation of international copyright law.
So even though there's only a one in a million chance of anything at all happening, you should still protect yourself, and do so with any client for which you use material in your work that is under copyright. I know it might seem unnecessary, but what if that one in a million chance happens, and DreamWorks sues Vapor Sabre, and then Vapor Sabre comes after you, saying, "well you made me this image, and I didn't know that you used copyrighten material in it; I've never heard of Shrek." Even if you have e-mails from the client requesting that you use that specific image, that's not definitive proof in court; e-mails can be faked. So what you need is a document signed by your client saying that they requested you use and image under copyright; if it's notarized that's even better. A thumbnail of the image on the document would help as well.
Here's a brief summary of what the document should say (and as I said before, you probably want to include a thumbnail of the image):
________________________________________________________
I, [Your client's name] have requested artistic services from [Your name] which requires that he/she incorporate (in whole or part) an object/concept/image that is under copyright and is the intellectual property of DreamWork Productions LLC. I understand that using this object/concept/image (despite available alternatives) is a violation of international copyright law and desire to use it despite the potential consequences I could face. In doing so I hereby release [Your name] from any responsibility of any implications that could arise by my use of the image which contains this object/concept/image and relinquish any right to pursue [Your name] legally, financially, or in any other manner for any consequences or damages (be they legal, financial, or otherwise) that my business or myself might face as a result using aforementioned object/concept/image.
Sincerely,
[Your client's name]
_________________________________________________________
You can get documents notarized at most post offices, as well as many banks. If the person notarizing the document has an account with that bank, they may even notarize it at no charge. If neither of those locations can notarize your document, check Notarypublic.com
I know this all may seem extremely unnecessary, especially if your not even being paid to do this work, but trust me, I work as a graphic designer - you always want to cover your ... when dealing with situations that could possibly be violating a copyright or some other law. You don't have to have the document notarized; a plain old letter and signature is better than nothing, but a notarized document is an iron-clad legal document. And if you feel uncomfortable asking your client to sign this kind of document and have it notarized, just tell that that it's your policy to have ever client do this when dealing with this kind of situation. And again, a letter with a signature is better then nothing.
Good luck with your work - you've done some great stuff so far, and if you ever need any help or advise, just shoot me an instant message on AIM or PM me within the next couple of days me for my email address (because lately I haven't been logging in here very often).
Peace,
-Dan
