reform wrote:Here's an interesting example on this subject. How are these NOT infringing copyright? They name the films, the actors, and feature key design elements of said films without any sign of licensing.
Here's the link:
http://www.moxycreative.com/dressthepart/topgun.html
reform wrote:It sounds like your tshirts are a similar concept to these posters.
Let's just take the Top Gun example. The title itself is not protectable in copyright, it doesn't meet the de minimis standard (there isn't enough of it), and probably the logic behind that is that in that short form it is difficult to have the kind of novelty that copyright requires in order to have protection for any element.
The next element that we could consider is the jacket. Apart from anything else (is this a copy of any jacket from the film), there's no real space for the protection of clothing in UK copyright law (perhaps it could be protected as a registered design, but I don't really know anything about that area) - I think you'd probably have to try to show that it was a work of artistic craftsmanship, and I don't think you could do that.
People's names and short factual statements aren't the subject matter of copyright ("A Tony Scott film"). In the UK you could infringe someone's moral rights, for example, by false attribution, if it read "A Ridley Scott film", then Ridley Scott would have a case against the publisher (but that's an aside).
So, overall, I can't see anything in this poster that would infringe copyright in the UK.
However, if there was a trademark for "Top Gun", then these posters could infringe trademark in the UK. Even if there was not a trademark it is possible that, in the UK, there could be a case of "passing off", as the creator of the posters is trading on the "goodwill" of the film.
But, as you'll note, these posters are being sold in the USA, and the law is different there - I don't know if the passing off infringement would exist there.
Also, it may be that the "Top Gun" "owners" just cannot be bothered to enforce any rights they may have - and that is a requirement in such cases.
Overall, significant differences between the laws covering these two types of "homage".