Question:
Not that I'd ever sell or part with my custom figs, but I was wondering, "What
are the legal issues surrounding the sale of custom figs?" I have seen people
post ads selling custom figs not just on thewebsite but in mags as well. I
remember seeing on the Mego Museum, I think, a guy who was advertising custom
POTA figs, including a Charleton Heston fig. Is it okay or not? I saw a
custom Death fig go for $40 on e-bay once. And in this month's issue of
Toyfare, they had a letter about this topic. The DC exec/representative's
remarks made it sound like a definite no-no. I can see how it would be
illegal if you were producing quantities of figures but if you're selling,
say, 1 homemade fig, why isn't that the same as the people who sell videos of
TV shows and movies on a "collector-to-collector with no rights implied"
basis? Dave or Chet, do you have any answer to this? Or any of you
legal-minded rtafers?
Answer:
Alright, here's an attempt at an explanation. Custom figures definitely
violate a copyright holder's rights. One of the rights that copyright owners
have is the right to derivative works based on their original copyright.
Since Chaos!, for instance, owns the copyright on Lady Death, they also own
the copyright on any custom figs based on Lady Death.
As far as the "collector videos", these may or may not violate a copyright.
If someone tapes a show merely to "time-shift" (ie. watch it later), it is OK
as long as it is for a noncommercial, nonprofit purpose. So, how can
"collector videos" be illegal? Well, even though these tapes are nonprofit
(I'm assuming you're referring to trading and not selling tapes), they still
harm the potential market for the original product and are, therefore,
illegal.
