Cosplay’s Fate May Rest with the Supreme Court
The fate of cosplay is on the line with the upcoming Supreme Court case Star Athletica, L.L.C., Petitioner v. Varsity Brands, Inc., et al. While the case involves cheerleading uniforms, it has a major impact on hobbyists.
The basics of the case is to whether costume designs can be covered by copyright. Can the people who copy those designs be sued for damages?
If you ask Varsity Brands, the answer is yes, they are covered and you can sue. Star Athletica is on the other side and they are of the thought that clothing designs are exempted from copyright.
The whole case revolves around the idea of “useful articles” and whether clothing falls under that. The idea of that is that there’s things that are functional and things that are creative. For example a hammer is functional, but what the hammer helps make might be creative. What happens when something is both, like clothing? It’s a gray area.
Entire clothing lines and outlets rely on the ability to make knock-off clothing and sell them for cheaper than their name brand counterparts.
There have been ten different theories of how all of this works according to courts.
If the court were to decide Varsity it would allow creators and comic companies to copyright costume designs and sue companies producing professionally made real world versions, or even hobbyists. Cosplay is growing in to a big business, and there’s money to be made by publishers and creators in licensing of designs.
If you don’t believe me, a court recently decided in Warner Bros. and DC Comic’s favor over the copyright concerning the 1966 Batmobile. While a slightly different case, it shows companies are looking to control their intellectual property. That case was recently asked to be considered by the Supreme Court as well.
There isn’t currently a date set as to when the court will hear the case, an extension has been given for those involved to file responses to the petition. The date for that has been extended to March 4, 2016.
(via Public Knowledge)
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The outgoing link to PK is bad.
On second thought, it looks like their site is broken.
When back in front of a computer I’ll check. Thanks for the heads up.
It’s completely constitutional if it’s under the pretense of freedom expression. So long as the costume is not identical, which would mean COMPLETELY identical, there would be not viable reason for any legal action to be taken upon a person. This is done with military uniforms in movies all the time, with a medal or nametag in a slightly different position then the actual military uniform.
We’ll find out! But with the legal battle over the Batmobile, and lawsuit regarding a Star Trek fan film, it’s clear folks are defending their IP/copyright. I’m not for giving more tools when the existing ones are abused as is (DMCA).
With military uniforms it’s a bit different as there are specific laws regarding them, and depending on the use the military may be involved.
So long as there are variations or alterations made to a person’s IP depends on each specific case. Maybe money from these big companies will win at first, but eventually civil liberty argument prevail over a these BS rulings.
It’s not the variations that this would impact (though that’s not guaranteed). This would impact individuals who make money from “accurate” depictions, especially those who sell items en mass.
I hope it doesn’t turn out this way. Companies that are fighting this aren’t struggling and just want to secure their property. I personally feel their justification is mostly greed in disguise.
I know it’s not a perfect world but legally here is how things should ideally shake out. Yes, any company owns the copyright to their costume designs as they are intellectual properties. With that in mind, a company who owns a copyrighted costume design may only sue entities that are illegally replicating their designs with the intent of commercial gain. This way companies and people may be sued by the copyright holder in order to stop and prevent other companies or people from illegally infringing on and profiting from their copyrighted material. However, private cosplayers would be exempt from being sued as they are private citizens who are partaking in a hobby and not trying to gain in any commercial manner. It’s a win-win scenario.