From: lambda@cis.umassd.edu (David G. Beals)
Subject: Re: Sigs and all that
Organization: University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 20:11:22 GMT

In <1993Jan8.172806.8232@cs.wisc.edu> gopher@yar.cs.wisc.edu (Chris Bovitz) writes:

>In article <93008.115829DVAN@auvm.american.edu> <DVAN@auvm.american.edu> writes:
>>IN light of super-fan Lisa Jenkins communication breakdown with BB
>>I think that all parties involved should repeat to themselves
>>"It's just a show, I should reallly just RELAX!"
>>I have visions of  J Mallon sitting out on a frozen   Minnesota lake
>> ice fishing....
>>and of Lisa J kicked back in front of a terminal compiling unauthorized
>>machine readable reprints ....
>>"I think I know one robot who needs a 'time out'"
>>    Joel
>>
>>  FU*K a bunch of lawyers!  was it Shakespeare who said "we _WILL_ kill


Ordinarily, I don't like to post articles to USENET (I suffer from post-
traumatic flame syndrome :-) ), but I hate to see a group that I enjoy reading
so much get so upset over what's probably just a simple misunderstanding.

First, there is absolutely, positively nothing wrong with putting ASCII
drawings of Crow, Tom Servo, TSOL, or any of the other MST3K characters in
your .sig. Legally, this isn't copyright infringement. If you were trying to
pass off those characters as your own creations, or if you were trying to
merchandise an unauthorized product using those trademarks, then you'd be in
trouble. However, just using your drawings of the characters in text on
your personal .sig file is not a problem. If it really were a copyright
violation, Paramount would have legally skewered hundreds of folks on the
Star Trek newsgroups for reproducing text sketches of the Enterprise all over
the place. :-)

I think Lisa removed the (IMHO, quite good) ASCII Crow and Tom Servo sketches
from her .sig is because of the current tension between her and Best Brains.
I don't want to comment on the situation because 1) I don't know that much
about it, and 2) whatever I say is just likely to cause tempers on one side
and/or the other to rise. I'm just content to say that the matter will prob-
ably be worked out with time, life will go on, and the anxiety over the whole
situation will (hopefully) go away with time.

I guess the main thing I want to say here is, can't we just take a breather and
let things cool before things get too tense? I like to think of this as a 
"flame-free" newsgroup where people can just kick back and read about a really
enjoyable cable program that's brightened many a rainy day for a lot of us.

Having said that, I'll quit while I'm ahead. :-)

                                                    -David G. Beals
                                                     lambda@cis.umassd.edu

P.S.- Does anyone here know if Best Brains will ever sell episodes of MST3K
      directly on tape, like the way Columbia House does with Star Trek: TNG?
                                                            -DGB
-- 
______    David "Bealzebub" Beals
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