Here was my question:
>The new fire safety regs have made our school halls look deserted.
>We had to take down everything paper (and our walls were covered with
>student work all the time). It happened right about the time the
>budget cuts were raining down last spring and, as several people
>pointed out, it was all too literal. So the principal got a bunch of
>parents with artistic talent to design and paint the walls.
>
>The idea they came up with for the library hall was a huge story book
>with all the kids' favorite story characters coming out of it. Cute.
>Until someone asked about copyright and I got this sinking feeling
>that I should have remembered about this. I alerted the artist
>parents yesterday and said I'd check with you all today. One said
>she would do the characters freehand, not traced. I said I didn't
>think that would make a difference. Am I right that we can't have
>Amelia Bedelia, Clifford, Captain Underpants and Swimmy on our walls?
>Is getting permission a remote possibility?
Here's Carol Simpson's answer (with her permission):
>A copy doesn't have to be exact to be considered a copy. As long as
>you are doing characters from books published BEFORE 1923, or
>characters from fairy tales (which are in the public domain in the
>original versions) you are OK. HOWEVER, you can't use Disney
>depictions of fairy tale characters. You need to be creative and
>come up with your own. So the goose that laid the golden egg could
>be painted, but not the MICKEY AND GOOFY version of the goose. Get
>the idea? Same with Snow White, Cinderella, etc.
>
>The characters you describe are certainly under copyright. Getting
>permission will be a long and perhaps not very productive process.
>
>Carol Simpson
>UNT SLIS
Other suggestions were similar - to paint generic characters (dragon,
princess, unicorn, elf,etc). I also learned (or relearned, I'd heard
it before) that Disney can be vicious when going after copyright
infringement. DO NOT use anything can can be construed as a Disney
character.
--
Johanna Halbeisen, Library Media Teacher
Woodland Elementary School (preK-4)
80 Powder Mill Rd, Southwick, MA 01077
johanna.newsong@rcn.com
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