Far Side comic: Cow Tools

I totally understand the sentiment that it's easier to find a new picture than get in a fight, even if we win. But this seems inconsistent; surely there are other images used here that don't fit that description but are a copyright violation. And anyway if someone has a problem, the first thing they'd do is send a cease-and-desist / takedown request, and we'd take it down, np. Right?

Yes.

edited 20th Jan '12 11:45:57 AM by FastEddie

Except if SOPA passes, because then they'll eradicate the server and nuke every site that has ever linked to it

What would even be the value of fighting to keep an image the artist wants removed anyway? This is an entertainment site, not some important and noble cause where those images MUST be used.

A site based on celebrating art should have respect for the wishes of those artists. There's nothing gained in disrespecting the artists' wishes to run a light entertainment site.

As far as I can tell, there is nothing stopping us from using these pics except politeness. On the other hand, I was under the impression that politeness was a concept of some value on this site.

edited 28th Jan '12 11:42:07 AM by Iaculus

We can't use it coz it's a full work. Fast Eddie said in this very thread:

Yeah, so politeness and the full work rule means we should keep from posting such comics.

I don't think it's a very good illustration of the trope in the first place.

That's what I've been trying to say. There's no point in worrying about whether to keep it or not, because it isn't a great picture in the first place, and this trope is something that's very easy to find a picture of.

edited 28th Jan '12 6:14:43 PM by abk0100

I'd personally support scrubbing off The Far Side images purely out of respect for the man, but that's just my personal tastes coming through. I mean, he phrased his position nicely, which is something (unfortunately) rare enough. Saying "legally speaking, Fair Use allows us to, neener neener" to a completely reasonable request seems too close to an elementary school kid yelling "it's a free country!" when you say that you want a turn on the slide.

"What would even be the value of fighting to keep an image the artist wants removed anyway?"

In theory, very little. It'd be the principle. I am with erring on the side of caution, though. It's fine.

Single-panel pic means it gets pulled...why hasn't this been done yet?

As far as a new pic, I'm kinda stumped for ideas.

edited 29th Jan '12 7:20:51 AM by Willbyr

Way back in the first post I suggested some version of the Bat Cave, like this one◊.

Really, just about any laboratory in fiction is bound to have a few cow tools in it. I know Dexters Laboratory had them in every other scene (for example.◊) It's just a matter of finding a picture that looks nice and has easy-to-see cow tools.

edited 29th Jan '12 9:09:07 PM by abk0100

We can't use it coz it's a full work. Fast Eddie said in this very thread:

But what Eddie said is contradictory. He said we can't use it because it's a full work, but he also said that if we want to use a panel within the limit of fair use, we will. Reading between the lines, it sounds like Eddie is saying that we're not using full works because they're not fair use. If it turns out that he is incorrect about the fair use laws, his other statement will apply and we should use the panel.

Now, if Eddie is saying "I don't care whether single panel works are fair use or not, we're not using them", that's a different story, but that's not what he seems to be saying.

edited 14th Mar '12 11:53:04 AM by arromdee

What Eddie said is not contradictory at all. A full work is not Fair Use. We can't use it because of that. That's his first statement. His second one is that we aren't going to not use a image that is Fair Use if the only reason given is simply "because the creator would rather we don't".

A single panel Far Side is not Fair Use. We cannot use it.

One panel from a multi-panel Far Side would be Fair Use, and in that case we would look at whether it was a good image for the page, not simply say "Oh, we can't use it, Gary Larson doesn't like it when people put his cartoons on the net."

edited 14th Mar '12 12:18:32 PM by Madrugada

Bingo.

Though the artist's opinions should be a consideration, right?

Out of politeness, if nothing else.

A consideration, yes, especially if we have several equally good or nearly equally good images. But not, by itself, a reason to not use a perfectly good image.

Artist preference may sway votes but that's the extent of its influence afaik.

But the idea that a full work is not fair use is a statement about law. If this statement is incorrect, then Eddie's other statement would apply. Eddie can make mistakes, you know.

Of course, full works can be fair use. The Wikipedia article even has this under "common misunderstandings":

If you're copying an entire work, it's not fair use. While copying an entire work may make it harder to justify the amount and substantiality test, it does not make it impossible that a use is fair use. For instance, in the Betamax case, it was ruled that copying a complete television show for time-shifting purposes is fair use.

edited 15th Mar '12 9:52:23 AM by arromdee

arromdee, the Betamax case is completely irrelevant to this discussion. We aren't copying the whole thing to use it later. We aren't time-shifting. We aren't copying it for personal use. And we really don't want to have to go to court to try to prove that our use of an entire Farside comic is somehow equal to copying a tv show to watch it later. We don't want to get hit with take-downs at all.

For our purposes, whatever exceptions might exist in other circumstances, using the whole work violates Fair Use.

edited 15th Mar '12 10:11:56 AM by Madrugada

That is consistent; the two ideas do not interfere with each other. An "excerpt" of the whole work violates Fair Use? Ok, can't use. An artist prefers his art doesn't appear on the web even though Fair Use applies to it? /shrug

edited 17th Mar '12 11:48:50 PM by rodneyAnonymous

Clock is set.

Locking.