A Calvin and Hobbes fan put together some images overlaying Calvin and Hobbes onto real photos. The lawyers told him (nicely) to take down the images because they violated Bill Watterson’s “unwavering” wishes that Calvin and Hobbes only exist in specific formats as he created them.
There is a clause in the copyright law for “fair use”. From wikipedia:
Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders…
The first factor is regarding whether the use in question helps … stimulate creativity for the enrichment of the general public, or whether it aims to only … for reasons of personal profit.
As a side note, the creator of the images did put up a “donate” button to which he netted about $85. However, as someone who did something out of his love for Calvin and Hobbes, there’s no way he could have afforded a lawyer to go to court, so in the end, he complied with the request to take down the images.
This marks a sad day for Calvin and Hobbes…
We may have to worry if David Hasselhoff’s lawyers ever get wind of 43T.
Reference:
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