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Albino blues: the Winter of copyright discontent. (Citings).


"COME ON AND take a free ride," Edgar Winter Edgar Winter (born December 28, 1946 in Beaumont, Texas) is an American musician who had significant success in the 1970s and 1980s. He is a keyboard player, vocalist, saxophonist and percussionist, well-versed in jazz, blues and rock.  urged us all in 1972. But when DC comics took the Texas rock legend at his word he sued.

A 1995 issue of the comic book comic book

Bound collection of comic strips, usually in chronological sequence, typically telling a single story or a series of different stories. The first true comic books were marketed in 1933 as giveaway advertising premiums.
 Jonab Hex hex, witchcraft or one who works it. The word is of German origin, and beliefs connected with it spread from Europe to the United States, especially to the Pennsylvania Dutch country. : Riders of the Worm and Such uses the image of Edgar and his fabled guitarist brother Johnny as models for the "Autumn Brothers," a pair of half-human, half-worm mutants who are eventually dispatched by the title character. The Winter brothers might not be burning up the pop charts these days, but they make a compelling pair of models for a comic, Both are albinos; both sport long, eloistyle hairdos; and the tattoo-rich Johnny is at least a contender for the title of Most Illustrated Man in the Lone Star Lone Star (or Lonestar) may refer to:
  • Lone Star Flag, the official flag of the State of Texas
  • The Lone Star State, an official nickname for the State of Texas; derived from the flag
 State. DC also used the brothers' first names in some promotional material for the book.

This type of appropriation would seem to be covered under the satire and parody provisions of copyright law, and in fact the Winters' lawsuit was dismissed in 1998. Last year, however, the brothers' lawyers resurrected the suit, citing a subsequent court ruling--2001's Comedy III Productions v. Saderup. In that case, the California Supreme Court ruled that a merchant selling T-shirts of the Three Stooges had not added sufficient "creative elements" (the plaintiff had depicted the Stooges frowning) to "transform" a copyright-protected image.

Last June, an appellate court A court having jurisdiction to review decisions of a trial-level or other lower court.

An unsuccessful party in a lawsuit must file an appeal with an appellate court in order to have the decision reviewed.
 upheld the dismissal of the Winters' claims of defamation, invasion of privacy invasion of privacy n. the intrusion into the personal life of another, without just cause, which can give the person whose privacy has been invaded a right to bring a lawsuit for damages against the person or entity that intruded. , and misappropriation misappropriation n. the intentional, illegal use of the property or funds of another person for one's own use or other unauthorized purpose, particularly by a public official, a trustee of a trust, an executor or administrator of a dead person's estate, or by any  of names and like-nesses. However, the court reinstated the rest of the lawsuit, on the grounds that DC's work was not sufficiently transformative. "It is hard to conceive of a use of a celebrity likeness that could be more transformative than the depiction of the Winters as the villainous half-worm, half-man Autumn brothers characters," DC attorney Michael Bergman wrote in his brief.

In the end, the state appeals court agreed, in a decision that extends parody protection to comic books. The Winters' lawyer still hopes to continue the case against DC'S use of the brothers' images in its advertising.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Reason Foundation
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Copyright 2003, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Author:Cavanaugh, Tim
Publication:Reason
Geographic Code:1USA
Date:Aug 1, 2003
Words:341
Previous Article:Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
Next Article:Rape behind bars: cell block sexual abuse. (Citings).
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