Otherwise, I think most artists allow it because they don’t know about it. The ones that want that kind of promotion usually say “it’s okay to use this image for X.”

It’s up to the artist to decide if he/she wants the “promotion.” From what I have seen, when artists find out someone has been using their images without permission or attribution, they’re livid.

Federal courts have noted that “misappropriation of personality,” a tort, is any use of a celebrity’s image or likeness “for the value associated with it and not in an incidental manner or for a newsworthy purpose.” Celebrities have something called right of publicity to control how their name, image and likeness are used.

Even if you don’t get caught. . . it’s still wrong.

It’s only recently (2007) that Lucas has endorsed fan movies based on fan fiction. Before then he was understandably stern about protecting his intellectual property.

Maybe the whole avatar thing is for images as fanfic is to the written word? Yes, by the definition of it, it’s breach of copyright – but most “artists” allow because it in the end helps promote them?

I’m talking the major players here, movie studios/actors, gaming companies, comics, etc.

I don’t know if it’s 100% true, but I did read on one site about how Lucas Arts is fine with fan-movies, but not so fine with fan-fiction. Not sure why there would be a distinction.

The link for FAQ about Fan Fiction should be particularly helpful for you to understand trademark and copyright issues as they apply to fan fiction. If you have any questions, I strongly suggest you read that first.

Incidentally, if I wanted to write up some in-game RP involving my original character played in the MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies, that writing would completely and exclusively belong to SOE (and LucasArts too, probably) under the terms of their End User License Agreement. See Paragraph 8 of the SWG EULA.

I hadn’t planned on using any canon characters or settings (or even phrases) in my writing about Alysia, although I understand LucasArts is fairly lenient about fan creations. Given that Alysia Skye has never been played in SWG, it’s kind of a non-issue, don’t you think?

With that concern, do you believe that people roleplaying a non-canon character in an online SWD20 campaign are somehow “handing the reigns of their characters over to Lucas” by describing their characters using laser swords?

Or that people roleplaying a random drow are handing the reigns of their character to WotC or whoever holds those rights because they’re using the word drow for a dark skinned subterranean elf?

How about if you roleplay or write that a character is drinking a Coke or wearing clothing from The Gap? Are you “handing the reigns” over to the respective owners of those trademarks?

I’m not sure it works that way, but if anyone’s got the time to find out, it’s probably you.

That doesn’t seem like it would be the case, but the idea occurred to me while reading that part. And not that they would bother to do anything about it even if it was true…

I probably got it wrong in some way, I usually do (especially with legal stuff)…

P.S. Of course, I could just have asked when you got home, but I would have probably forgotten…

However, I used to use any old picture I found from a search and doctor it if I had to or slap it up. I wouldn’t bother to credit, attribute or any of that sort.

It shames me, now that I have a tablet and have started to draw again. I wish that more people knew about royalty free stock (and places such as deviant art offer some good free use no restriction stock of models and objects) and I wish I had known about it years ago. :3

So to make a long rambling ramble short–I sympathize and understand what Sylvia is saying because I have been there, but the artist in me cringes now every time I see it.

As for the plagiarism, my confusion on this matter is well known and I agree with what you’ve posted, as well as what a few others have posted at DM about the issue.