Copyright Question

[onehitwanda]

Ah, how I've missed the boi/bear discourse!

It's the circle of life.

 

[Devinter]

There’s a ton of stories here with punny titles like this. Heck, I committed two myself (“The Perks of Being a Futanari” and the recent “Gym Girl, Interrupted”).

I still think that “One Flew over the Cuckold’s Nest” is probably impossible to beat, though.

Powerful titles. I almost named my Midsummer story "A Midsummer Night's Cream" but then I sobered up and changed it.

 

[Bramblethorn]

It's the circle of life.

You'd better not be lion about that.

 

[VallesMarineris]

If I do a story called "Build-A-Boi Workshop" does that violate the copyright of Build-A-Bear?

The situation could be more complicated than just trademark. You would presumably be writing a parody. I don't know either your plot or how Build-A-Bear works, but if you follow the BAB process too closely you could be tacking too close to the wind. Take a look at what happened with The Wind Done Gone. This was a parody of the famous Margaret Mitchell novel, following a lot its plot and with the same cast (thinly renamed), written from the point of view of Scarlett O'Hara's personal slave (who was also her half-sister):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_Done_Gone

TL;DR: the author and the publisher got sued by Mitchell's estate. They won, but it was a close call. There's a gray area between parody and imitation.

 

[Ren_eh]

The situation could be more complicated than just trademark. You would presumably be writing a parody. I don't know either your plot or how Build-A-Bear works, but if you follow the BAB process too closely you could be tacking too close to the wind. Take a look at what happened with The Wind Done Gone. This was a parody of the famous Margaret Mitchell novel, following a lot its plot and with the same cast (thinly renamed), written from the point of view of Scarlett O'Hara's personal slave (who was also her half-sister):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_Done_Gone

TL;DR: the author and the publisher got sued by Mitchell's estate. They won, but it was a close call. There's a gray area between parody and imitation.

I don't know about that. Willie never sued Tom Stoppard over 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'.

 

[Britva415]

The situation could be more complicated than just trademark. You would presumably be writing a parody.

Of what? Is there a body of Build-A-Bear story content out there to parody?

Take a look at what happened with The Wind Done Gone. This was a parody of the famous Margaret Mitchell novel, following a lot its plot and with the same cast (thinly renamed), written from the point of view of Scarlett O'Hara's personal slave (who was also her half-sister):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_Done_Gone

TL;DR: the author and the publisher got sued by Mitchell's estate. They won, but it was a close call. There's a gray area between parody and imitation.

There's no Build-A-Bear works of fiction to imitate - or to parody, for that matter.

I do get that "name parody" is a thing, but comparing a trademarked name to a copyrighted novel is apples and eels.

 

[Yarglenurp]

Lol, I'm sure there is an actual answer to this. Ask a real lawyer. Us arguing this is like debating the width of the sun. I'm sure there's a right answer, but none of us are going to get to it by debate.

 

[onehitwanda]

You'd better not be lion about that.

 

[Bramblethorn]

The situation could be more complicated than just trademark. You would presumably be writing a parody. I don't know either your plot or how Build-A-Bear works, but if you follow the BAB process too closely you could be tacking too close to the wind. Take a look at what happened with The Wind Done Gone.

Build-A-Bear is a chain of stores where customers can assemble a teddy bear from various choices - pick a body, pick an outfit, accessories, a voicebox, etc. The individual costumes/bear designs/etc. might be copyrightable, but I can't see how a description of the process would be; "systems or methods of doing something" aren't covered. Maybe patentable, but a patent doesn't stop others from describing it, only from doing it themselves. Very different situation from publishing a book that retells another book.

 

[Ren_eh]

Build-A-Bear is a chain of stores where customers can assemble a teddy bear from various choices - pick a body, pick an outfit, accessories, a voicebox, etc. The individual costumes/bear designs/etc. might be copyrightable, but I can't see how a description of the process would be; "systems or methods of doing something" aren't covered. Maybe patentable, but a patent doesn't stop others from describing it, only from doing it themselves. Very different situation from publishing a book that retells another book.

As a self-appointed "legal expert" (I took a "business law" class at university and have written a large number of stories published here that contained attorneys . . . including a whole series in which the MMC was a rather unethical attorney [ah, but I repeat myself]) it is my opinion that if this is sort of imitation is someones legal problem . . .

It's Build-A-Bears problem.

 

[SimonDoom]

"Life's not fair."

No more "Hakuna Matata" for him, I guess.

 

[bumpercars]

A singer named Bella Poarch had a song a few years ago called "Build a Bitch," and seems to have avoided getting sued, so I think you're fine.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Yeet the new boss, same as the old boss...

 

[SimonDoom]

Thank you for this. I got a good laugh out of this. I'm twisted that way.

It's funny, but it's also true. You know all those herbivores are thinking, "Fuck this 'circle of life' shit. That little shit is going to grow up one day and eat us."

 

[onehitwanda]

Thank you for this. I got a good laugh out of this. I'm twisted that way.

It's funny, but it's also true. You know all those herbivores are thinking, "Fuck this 'circle of life' shit. That little shit is going to grow up one day and eat us."

This was my biggest issue with books like "The animals of Farthing Wood".

Right, on one hand, we've got a bunch of anthropomorphic animals chatting away with one another.

On the other hand, one set of them are foxes, the others are rabbits, and even at age fucking eight I knew that foxes are basically the spirit animals of the God of Murder.

 

[SimonDoom]

This was my biggest issue with books like "The animals of Farthing Wood".

Right, on one hand, we've got a bunch of anthropomorphic animals chatting away with one another.

On the other hand, one set of them are foxes, the others are rabbits, and even at age fucking eight I knew that foxes are basically the spirit animals of the God of Murder.

I could see a funny parody of the movie called, "Overthrow of the Lion Czar." The zebras and wildebeests rise up in the end. "We got rid of that damn Mufasa. Let's finish off his son and the rest of them."

 

[Bamagan]

I could see a funny parody of the movie called, "Overthrow of the Lion Czar." The zebras and wildebeests rise up in the end. "We got rid of that damn Mufasa. Let's finish off his son and the rest of them."

I, for one, will look forward to their many failed attempts to assassinate a Rasputin monkey.