Isn't Making Wallpaper Against Copyright

[tyip0217]

i just have this idea of taking picture from others sites (especialy from offical sites) is againast copy right or not ,cause isn't it the same as copying copyright stuff and display the work publicly, if it isnt againast it, then how bout copying stuff from offical sites and put them on a web site of my own, or displaying wallparers made using those picture, do i need to e-mail the site or something

[acamori]

from what i've been able to tell, companies only really get bent out of shape about copyright stuff if they're loosing money. take the music industry for example, when people download music instead of buying it the music companies loose out. in our case, there may be a complaint here or there about using a picture but for the most part they don't seem to care, after all it's free publicity for them and their shows, and they don't sell most of the art we use so we're not cheating them out of money. (btw, i don't think i've ever heard a single complaint around here about some wanting permissions for copyrighted stuff, just people wanting acknowledgment for their work on occasion)

[MistressPookyChan]

Actually, from what I've noticed, most hate when you steal something without giving credit. I know I would freak if someone took one of my picture and used it without giving me credit. The best thing to do is cite the images. like on the bottom, cite the artist (usually citing the series is just fine) and if you use a photo or another sort of copied background, cite who did it. I know some image sites get pissy if you don't cite that you got the image from them. This tends to be a grey-area, because they did the work of scanning it, but they do now own the rights to the image.

[phantasmagoria]

I think it's the same as making fan-art, it's the artist's expression of how they see the game or anime. I agree with the free publicity idea. People see fan-art/wallpaper of a game/anime they've heard of and maybe decide to check it out. Or they see a fan-art/wallpaper of a game/anime that they don't know and then want to find out more about it. As long as you cite the game/anime the you did the wallpaper/fan-art on you shouldn't have to worry. Well, that's just my opinion...

[Tal]

seph is right

this can fall under the "fan-art" catagory so no worries

[Iapetus]

When I was in my digitial imaging class, I asked my teacher if I could use anime images in some of my projects. She said that any copywrited material was forbidden for use in her class, because she didn't want to chance the miniscule risk of stepping on someone's toes. If we were to use images, it had to be our own artwork, or our own pictures that we took with a camera.

However, I don't see any major anime wallpaper sites being shut down due to copyright infringement. I think we'd know about it if the creators had a problem with it.

-Iapetus

[kadaan]

Technically, even fan-art is copyright infringement. The concept of the character is the creator's intellectual property and any attempt to reproduce it is copyright infringement.

HOWEVER, it's one of the many things that you will never get in trouble for (maybe a "you shouldn't do that" message) unless you're doing it to make money. If you tried to sell your wallpapers for cash I can see the creator's having a problem with it. It would not only take away from their income, but also possibly portray the anime in a way they disapprove of.

So, as long as you're doing it for fun and not trying to make any money off of it there shouldn't be a problem.

(Everyone has enganged in copyright infringement at some point or another. Ever recorded a cool song from the radio? Taped a TV-show? Heck, even getting up to pee during a commercial break could be illegal!)

[Tal]

its just fanart, they wont say anything, they wouldn't waste the money and time to stop it when there are so many

but if I was asked to stop by the creator sure I would, but highly unlikely to happen

[Kaitou Ace]

IANAL of course
Generaly, most fan works fall under the Fair Use Act which allows use of copyrighted characters, assuming that it's not a substantial amount of work, such use does not impact the market share of the copyright financialy, and that it is a non commercial use.
In a case of a wallpaper, the amount used is small, as an anime consists of about 24 frames per second, and an image is a portion of a single frame generaly. The use is non-profit generaly, and is done, arguably, as a comment on the original work, and one would be hard pressed to show that an image, whether from a gallery, or in a wallpaper would damage the market share of the copyright holders.
Therefore, I'd say that wallpaper makers, and fan artists, in addition to people who host anime image galleries ^_^ dont have much to worry about from copyright holders, and are certanly not breaking copyright law.
However, people who sell wallpapers of copyrighted characters are certanly breaking the law. (Note that there are ways around it also, but introducing a commercial aspect to this, certanly invites legal troubles)

[phantasmagoria]

So as long as you don't sell a fa/wp you should be fine huh? People get around that too. Some people make a picture of a copyrighted character and sell it at an anime convention or people do commision pics of a character. So it seems that the creators don't really care about this much because, compared to them, you're not really making much of a profit on their character.

Example:
Dragon Blossom

This artist made, and sold, many fan-arts and doesn't seem to be in any trouble. So I guess it doesn't really matter unless the creator is extreamly anal about it, right Kaitou Ace ^_^ ?

[Kaitou Ace]

Ah, well not exactly... it's illegal once you start selling it, but most companies don't prosecute for these things. Most anime companies at least, Disney has been known to sue small day-care places (ie one room, run by a middle-aged woman, trying to make some money) for having someone paint disney characters on the walls.
So, while legal-wise, it's a Naughty Thing™, practically you won't really be sued, unless you start making a large amount, or have set up shop next door to the studio that makes the stuff O_o;

[INA_ctive]

maybe if this is stickied would be great? i think many people are confused about this =P