Would This Be Illegal?

As far as I'm aware a copyright is for 70 years, if a copyright owner chooses he/she/they can take it slowly and take all monies you make.
If you are putting their product on your site even if it's not for your profit, it is still a breach of copyright. It is much easier to ask for permission first, rather than face an expensive court case.
Is it ok to take/use some-one else's property ? and then say I wasn't going to sell it ?
 
I know it sounds weird but that is just how it works.

ASSUMING, of course, that DarkHorse/Joss/random other people affiliated with the comics aren't already SELLING transcripts. Which is why transcripts of the show would have been pulled because they have published books of them for people to buy. At which point, handing them away would be breach of copyright.

But, copyright isn't just absolute. A transcript isn't the comic. And, if you think about it, what people USUALLY buy comics for isn't the story...or else there wouldn't be those handy plastic sleeves and variant covers.

You can't profit from another person's work and you can't give away what the other person is selling. My paintings, for instance, since it's what I know.
I can make a painting, but I don't have absolute power. The buyer has some power. I can stop them from popping it into Photoshop and making an animated cartoon for a commercial for their store. I can stop them from painting over my name and putting theirs on and selling it as their own. And I can stop them from making prints and selling them or even giving them away.
I CANNOT stop them from posting it on their website on a page saying, "My Art Collection" even if the file is easy enough for others to download and print out in a full canvas sixed format. I can't stop them from taking a picture and putting it on their desk at work. I can't stop them from taking a picture, making a print and giving it to their Mom. I can't stop them from selling the painting or giving it away, as long as it's still given or sold under my name. I can't stop them from taking a picture with it in the background and having that picture published in Pedaphiles Weekly.

A transcript is different from the comics. And doesn't really cut into their sales...assuming they aren't already SELLING transcripts. In fact, it would be no worse than the THOUSANDS of threads on this very board that give out spoilers. I could easily click on any of the threads for the comics I haven't read and in some cases, know EXACTLY what happened, even the extra busty women in the pictures of the Angel comics.
Unless and until they sell the transcripts, just telling people the info contained in the comics isn't cutting into their profits. Now, if you were SELLING them, you'd be profitting off of someone else's work, which you can't do.

Think of it like someone's song. You buy a CD and you can legally make copies of that song for your iPod, car, a spare CD for your hubby, even post the song to PLAY on your website for people to HEAR. You can't post it up for them to download though and you can't ask people to pay YOU for copies. And you can't take the lyrics and claim their your personal poem. But, you CAN write out the lyrics and post them on your website, because that isn't the format for which the artist is profiting.

The only glitch would be keeping on top of when or if they ever decided to make transcripts and sell them. Which could be tricky because the amount of stuff thrown out there for Buffy and Angel is MIND BOGGLING! The amount of script books at the 2nd hand store the other day was enough to make your head spin. You'd could even be in trouble if at any point they ditched the artwork and just turned it into a novel.
Well, there would be a 2nd glitch in there too. Which would be if you were to post them on a website, for free, but on the same website had scripts of your own that you were selling. Which they could easily say you were using their work to draw customers of your own in. Just like I can't put Donald Duck as my store logo even if it's all my paintings.
 
A transcript is different from the comics. And doesn't really cut into their sales...assuming they aren't already SELLING transcripts. In fact, it would be no worse than the THOUSANDS of threads on this very board that give out spoilers. I could easily click on any of the threads for the comics I haven't read and in some cases, know EXACTLY what happened, even the extra busty women in the pictures of the Angel comics.
Unless and until they sell the transcripts, just telling people the info contained in the comics isn't cutting into their profits. Now, if you were SELLING them, you'd be profitting off of someone else's work, which you can't do.
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See here is the issue.
You can't say they aren't cutting into their sales. By placing a transcript of the story online you are telling enough of the story that could be deemed plausible for people to not need the comic. If people don't need it they are getting the story for free thus not purchasing it.
I for one have not bought the comics, i've thought about it but I'm never near a comic store. It's not a big enough draw for me to go really out of my way BUT if I was in the vicinity of the store, I'd buy. However, if I had the transcripts online then I really wouldn't buy them.

As for comparing them to spoilers, again not quite true. A spoiler gives an outline with some event, the transcript tells the story. You will also have the actions of the pictures detailed in the transcript so there really is a full account of what is happening.

There is a difference evenm between a synopsis and a transcript. The Synopsis does give you the storyline, the key characters and the events/issues, but the transcript gives you every detail, gives you everythings that is particular to the writers.

This definitely goes into the intellectual property issue and is a facet of the continuing writers strike in the states.

Basically, transcripts of comics, as they are written word, should be illegal and as much as it would please people to have them online, well heck it's a few quid a month, go out and buy them!!
 
I buy them. I also keep a scan of them on my hard drive. They're handy for study. I don't have to risk damaging the original with rereads. If transcripts were available I'd use them too. It would be quicker, if I was looking for some particular point, or quote.

As far as would it cost them sales, I seriously doubt it. In fact, I think what's more likely is people might read the transcripts, and decide to buy the actual comic.

None of that changes this fact though. If you did put transcripts up, and whoever owns them told you to take them down, or face a lawsuit, you'd take them down. It wouldn't be worth a court action.

Come to think of it, who does own the copyright on the comics? When Universal purchased the rights to make Serenity from Fox, they took control of a limited section of the Firefly copyright. At least I think it was limited control.

Edit

Here's my opinion. I can't see the advantage of an established board like BB putting up transcripts. It wouldn't be worth the risk of attracting a legal department's notice to send a takedown notice. On the other hand if I was trying to get a smaller board like TC's going, I'd do it. Then again, that's just me.
 
See here is the issue.
You can't say they aren't cutting into their sales. By placing a transcript of the story online you are telling enough of the story that could be deemed plausible for people to not need the comic. If people don't need it they are getting the story for free thus not purchasing it.
I for one have not bought the comics, i've thought about it but I'm never near a comic store. It's not a big enough draw for me to go really out of my way BUT if I was in the vicinity of the store, I'd buy. However, if I had the transcripts online then I really wouldn't buy them.
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And that may be true for some people. Maybe even me...for a while. Eventually though, I'd get the comics just to have them. And, if the story was what people bought comics for...there would be more of an issue. They buy it for the artwork, the variant covers, the sheer fact that it IS a comic book, who drew the pictures, who published it, what kind of condition it's in...etc. I might rather READ a transcript, but it wouldn't stop me from wanting to have the comic...one day.
Just like a transcript isn't the same has owning the DVDs.

Writing a Transcript so that people who haven't bought it can gain free access is the same as taping a movie at the cinema and passing it on.
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And, technically, it would be like audio taping the movie and passing it on. Could someone kind of know what's going on? Sure. But, would that necessarily stop them from seeing the movie? Maybe, but not the bulk of the world.
The bulk of the world that is BUYING the comics want them.

It's also hard to compare it to a summary. Because there are too many levels to a summary. You have the summary on the back of the book that says, "Buffy's back from the dead...again" and other things, but that tells nothing. Then you have GOOD summaries that would actually tell you what happened in great detail.

In truth, after reading the comics...at least the first 5, I'm not sure I would put a lot of faith in a transcript if I were to just happen upon it. First off, assuming you hadn't read any of the comics, how would you KNOW this was the REAL THING. Second, even if I read the first one and was looking for the next 4 online...Joss is good at leaving things for us to ponder about and see different parts of. (Please refer to the zillions of posts with differing opinions about how or why things happen) I'd be too scared that the person who wrote the transcript was emphasizing parts that THEY found important and leaving out other parts. Which is why I'd want the comic.
There may be a FEW people who might just want to cut to the story and be done with it and wouldn't buy it. But, they may also be the type people who would come here and read the posts or might ask you about the comics, you tell them and they don't buy them. That's a RARE person though.

It's why I don't put a "no right click" on the paintings I list online. The resolution isn't good on them and people could MAYBE print out a half decent copy on an 8x10. But, that doesn't really cut into my sales. Anyone who would settle for an 8x10 printed out on paper isn't really going to be dishing out the big bucks anyway.

It's more about what they'd LEGALLY have rights to. Legally, they can't stop you from passing along knowledge. Just like they can't stop you from telling me what happened on Law and Order last night and they can't stop me from seeing the next 6th Sense and telling you how it ends. They can't stop me from posting it up everywhere either.
They can LEGALLY stop you if they can 1.) PROVE that you're costing them profits or 2.) benefiting from their work.
They do have the right also, to ASK you to take it down. Which would be smart to then take it down because they have the right to then sue you and say, "Lookie, we just put out our own transcripts for sale and they're giving it away for free" and you have to pay them.

As for morally wrong, it would all depend on your motive. If your motive was to make a dent in the comic sales then that would be wrong. But, I can think of logical reasons to do it.
I have A.D.D. and I must admit, the comic format is rough on me. I'm easily distracted by the pretty pictures. In fact, all of them are going to have to be read again at least two more times before I'm sure I can relate the story to people.
My brother, he's colorblind. I showed him one of the comics the other night (because of this thread) and he said he would have given up. He can read the words, sure, but when the colors run together in your head...I can see where you wouldn't get much out of it. It would be easier to just read "Buffy bashed the demon in the head with a big sword" than try to make out what the picture is. (we noticed there is a LOT of red and green in those books which is what he's the worst at seeing.)
My sister is a 36 year old who works in an office. She was saying she couldn't borrow my comic this week, even though work is slow because she can't read comics at work and even if she could, she'd look like a big dork. Although, she COULD read a pile of papers without obviously looking like she's being a slacker. Since she was just planning on taking my comics until an Omibus came out, it would be helpful for her too.

Legally, it would be okay...with the knowledge we have NOW and assuming there are no transcripts to buy floating around out there and you aren't personally making money off of them...and are willing to take them down if and when Dark Horse or the writers ask you to. Morally, you'd just have to have a reason that was more to helpful than "I'm out to keep Joss and Co. from getting money from these books."

I had to look into the whole thing about 6 months ago when we happened upon a woman who was using a picture of one of my paintings as the logo for her eBay store. She didn't own the painting, just had copied it off the internet somewhere. I was able to ask her to take it down or to pay me for the rights to use it. Luckily, she DID take it down. But, I really had no LEGAL action I could take if she hadn't, unless I could prove that 1.) I was losing money off her using it or 2.) she was MAKING money by using it. Sadly, I couldn't prove either. It would be pretty far fetched to go to court and claim her LOGO was the reason that her auctions for slippers were selling. The best that would have happened is that the court would have made her take it down. I couldn't collect any damages. And, it's nearly impossible to prove NOT making money off of something that isn't the same as what you are selling.
 
Here's something you might want to consider if you ever have to deal with that again Diou. Providing the offender is American you can issue a DMCA takedown notice. In Europe there's something similar called the Eu Copyright Directive.

Question: What are the notice and takedown procedures for web sites?

Answer: In order to have an allegedly infringing web site removed from a service provider's network, or to have access to an allegedly infringing website disabled, the copyright owner must provide notice to the service provider with the following information:

* The name, address, and electronic signature of the complaining party [512(c)(3)(A)(i)]
* The infringing materials and their Internet location [512(c)(3)(A)(ii-iii)], or if the service provider is an "information location tool" such as a search engine, the reference or link to the infringing materials [512(d)(3)].
* Sufficient information to identify the copyrighted works [512(c)(3)(A)(iv)].
* A statement by the owner that it has a good faith belief that there is no legal basis for the use of the materials complained of [512(c)(3)(A)(v)].
* A statement of the accuracy of the notice and, under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on the behalf of the owner [512(c)(3)(A)(vi)].

Once notice is given to the service provider, or in circumstances where the service provider discovers the infringing material itself, it is required to expeditiously remove, or disable access to, the material. The safe harbor provisions do not require the service provider to notify the individual responsible for the allegedly infringing material before it has been removed, but they do require notification after the material is removed.
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http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512/faq.cgi#QID130
 
Oh, wow...I think I'll hold off on the transcripts. Lmao!

Or, an alternative: What if I handed them out freely privately? Like it wouldn't be a public thing. I just ask, "Does anyone not want to read the comic but want to understand what's happening?" and to those that would answer yes sent it to them?
 
It would still be illegal. The chance that they'd find out and take action would be considerably smaller though.
 
There are tons of websites on the net devoted to transcribing series. No legal action has been taken against them. The sites clearly state that their purpose is not for profit, yada yada yada, so I don't think networks would bother. It might be different with a TV series, because those are usually used by fans who missed an episode, and broadcast networks rarely show reruns of every episode anymore. And with comics you can easily go buy it at any time.

And if you don't have the money to buy one, just go to the bookstore, sit down, and read it, and put it back on the shelf. 🙂
 
Thanks, guys. I think I kinda get that it would very kinda sorta be illegal. Lol. And just so you know I never even planned on jeapordizing BB -- ever. 🙂
 
Funny thing ya know...I just discovered there is a message board offering Season 8 transcripts.
 
Wierd! What board is it? Actually, don't post it. No one needs to get banned here lol. And if you're all pointing fingers going "Ooh! TC did it!" I just wanna let you know that is not my board. Lol.
 
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