Anyways, the car next to me was ad wrapped in burgundy color. On each back door panel was a giant image of Sponge Bob with a "speech bubble" that said "Advertise on Your Car!". On the hood was an image of Mickey Mouse holding a banner that had the companies phone number.
When I saw this car I immediately thought two things;
1. My sons would love it
-And-
2. "That's a lawsuit in the making"
Copyright Infringement is a huge problem, especially for those who don't understand it.
The exact definition of Copyright Infringement is:
Copyright infringement (or copyright violation) is the unauthorized use of material that is covered by copyright law, in a manner that violates one of the copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.
In English (lol) this means that when a company has a product, or in this case, characters (Sponge Bob & Mickey), as a business owner or individual, you can't decide that you're going to use the product/image without Licensing.
The company who has the characters printed on their Ad Wrapping is committing Copyright Infringement because they don't have permission from Disney to use the art. (I mean, there's a .001% chance they do have permission, but it would cost them a fortune. Literally, a fortune, so I highly doubt it).
If Disney finds out about this advertisement, the company will likely be sued for all kinds of things, which I'll explain in a second.
Now, there's also the "myth" that you can take copyrighted material and "tweak" it making it no longer copyrighted. For example, people assume that if they change the color of Sponge Bob from yellow to blue, that it no longer falls under a copyright. - FALSE. You can make Bob any color you want and you will still be infringing on the copyright. You can even give Bob a 3rd eye or another set of legs and you'll still be breaking the law.
Here's the way you can (kinda) tell if you're infringing on a copyright;
If someone who doesn't know about your venture looks at the product/advertisement/logo, etc and they assume it belongs to someone else; you're likely infringing on a copyright.
If you change Sponge Bob to being blue and print him on your promotional t-shirts, people still think it's Sponge Bob. People still recognize the character as the little dude that lives in the pineapple under the sea.
Or, if you create packaging for an item that look identical to another item (think of Ed Hardy knock offs) you are tricking buyers into *possibly* believing that you are affiliated with the original maker of that product.
Now let's discuss why Copyright Infringement is bad for you - and not just because you can get your ass sued to high hell in court;
Let me give you a true story (names have been changed to protect the companies):
I have a girlfriend who wanted to open a business selling sexy girl products (exotic massage oils, toys, etc). She got the idea from an existing company called Pure Romance. My girlfriend decides to make her company "Sure Romance".
At first things go very well for her sales-wise. She is selling quite a bit of product, but about 70% of the customers who are making purchases are saying things like "I bought this lotion out of your catalog a few years back - I love it!" or "I didn't know you guys came out with this flavor of massage lotion...?"
The customers are saying these things because they are mistaking my girlfriends company for actually being the long-stand business, Pure Romance.
A few months into the business, complaints start coming in. Customers purchase a product from my friend *thinking* it's a product from Pure Romance, then realize it isn't then become upset. Now my friend has to either offer them refunds and take a loss on products she can't resell or tell the customers "no refunds" and watch the bad press start rolling in.
Only 6 months into the business she ended up having to close down shop because things got so bad. She is currently going through the process of trying to reopen as a new business.
So in this situation, knowingly attempting to make money off another companies "ideas" really backfired.
Another example of copyright infringement failure is a friend who has a computer repair store. He named his store "WOW REPAIRS" because he is from Metro Detroit and knows that one of the big computer and internet services here is called "WOW". This friend also thought that by making himself appear to be affiliated with WOW he would get more business. In fact, he got just the opposite! His phone rings off the hook with people calling to report their internet outages. People come into his store completely pissed off and yell at him for faulty internet connections. People who have the actual "WOW" service will bring their computers into his store assuming that he's supposed to fix them for free because they think he's part of the "real" WOW company.
In the end, it's terrible for this poor friend of mine because he actually has a great business; probably one of the best in the area. He repairs PC's quickly and has amazing customer service, but he doesn’t have his own "identity" because he tried to copy someone else’s.
As you can see; copyright infringement just doesn't work! It's not a wise idea!
Then there's the legal trouble.
If you "steal" my product and "make it your own" I can sue you... big time. As long as I can prove that the product your selling, image your using, etc resembles mine to the point where people can mistake it for my product; you're screwed.
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In court there's a lot of things I can do to you;
First I can go after you for "loss of revenue". I will determine how long you have been committing copyright infringement. I will then compare the amount of time you have been infringing on my copyright to the amount of sales I believe I have lost due to your actions. You will have to pay back every last penny of my lost revenue.
Second, you will be responsible for all of my legal fees
Third, your items will likely be seized
Fourth, "Additional Damages" - I can also make you pay any additional "damages" that I have suffered due to your copyright infringement. This may also include "estimated loss of sales"; I can determine what my future loss of sales is because of you and make you pay that as well.
Fifth, You may face civil or criminal punishment. This is a separate case aside from the actual copyright infringement lawsuit. The prosecutor will review the case after it has come to a close and I have been awarded the monies. If the prosecutor decided that you need to be criminally punished, a new case will be brought against you.
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