Week1 Peer Comment 1

                                                    Image courtesy of Microsoft

http://web.me.com/megisgem/Meg_Williams_EMDT_MAC_Blog/Week_1_Blog_Entries/Entries/2011/6/28_Copyright_-_wow.html#

My experience with copyright issues has been if someone else won’t create something on your behalf without permission, then you need to get permission. This came into play in 2008 when I married my husband. We are both huge Iron Maiden fans, he more than I. It is son ingrained in his being that we both wanted to have something of Maiden as part of our wedding. We decided to have the grooms cake made in an image of one of their album covers. Of course, Publix would not re-create the image without permission.  So, my husband contacted the artist to ask for permission. We found out that copyright isn’t always owned by the creator. We had to contact the band in order to get permission to use the image.  What we found amazing was that it was incredibly easy in this particular case because the band feels that the images and the music belong to their fans. Even though they were on a whirlwind world tour, we got an official letter within a couple of days.  The funny thing was when my husband actually did one of those special fan events where he met the lead singer, Bruce Dickinson. He explained what had happened and Bruce was shocked at all we had to go through to get permission, until he realized my husband was American.

 My Comment:

Meg,

Thanks for sharing your experience with copyright issues.  It was amazing that you had to jump through so many hoops and still be focused on the prize.  I think the fact that Publix would not recreate without permission is noteworthy.  If more individuals and businesses would follow this practice, artists would be more willing to allow access.