From: matt@unidata.ucar.edu (Matt Hicks)
Subject: Re: Calvin & Hobbes Bootlegs
Organization: Scientific Computing Division/NCAR Boulder, CO
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 17:57:43 GMT

davis@gauss.enet.dec.com (Peter Davis) writes:

>In article <matt.714865708@unidata.ucar.edu>, matt@unidata.ucar.edu (Matt Hicks) writes...

>>In my opinion, this is a case where the black market stuff isn't hurting
>>anyone. Someone else is making money that Watterson _chose_ not to make.
>>The t-shirts allow fans of the strip to display their affection for it,
>>just as any authorized version would. Reproducing the strip or the characters
>>faithfully does nothing to corrupt the original, whether it is legal or
>>not.

>This is about the biggest crock I've seen in a while.  The question is does
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
	Then you need to start getting out more. Did you by any chance see
	the Republican National Convention?:-)

>the creator (ie, Watterson) have the right to control how his characters are
>used?  I claim that he does (or should).  It's not up to us or anyone else to
>second guess what his motives are, or to say that he won't be hurt by one
>illegal use or another.  The fact is that Watterson has decided that he
>doesn't want images of Calvin and Hobbes appearing on t-shirts, etc., and that
>should be respected.  If you're going to go ahead and violate the copyright
                          ^^^^^^
	I neither make nor own C&H bootlegs.

>anyway, don't try to justify it by saying that Watterson won't be hurt by it.
>Watterson, and all creators, ARE hurt by it.  They lose control over their
>creations.

The primary intent of copyright law would seem to be the prevention of a 
creator from _losing money_ to someone else who steals their words or 
characters. Calvin & Hobbes is my favorite comic strip, and I've seen it
misused in really funny ways that really only worked because of my enjoy-
ment of the strip. A shirt I have seen locally features Calvin, his eyes
in the shape of X's, standing next to Hobbes, the two of them surrounded
by empty bottles. Calvin is pointing off somewhere and saying, "Hey! How
about her?" as Hobbes covers his eyes with one paw. The caption reads
"Friends shouldn't let friends beer-goggle." I would love to have one of 
these shirts, and if I actually believed that Watterson couldn't have a 
sense of humor about such things, then I would think much less highly of
him than I do. Watterson would have to be incredibly naive to believe that
no one would put C&H on t-shirts, and pretty anal to get worked up over
it. These are small scale operations. C&H is an extension of Watterson's 
mind; he is his creation and can never really "lose control" of it.
If Shulz stopped producing Peanuts, or Davis quit drawing Garfield (as
it is rumoured elsewhere here that he has), no one would know because
these people _did_ lose control of their creations by intentionally
marketing them. They have become entities entirely independent of their
creators and driven by corporate America. This is what damages the
artists, not a few underground t-shirt manufacturers. Lighten up.



--
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Matthew  B.  Hicks     | Unidata Program Center | ((ovo))  The spotted owl:
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Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.strips