Comments on: Moderately Monday

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 22:21:59 +0000

The men are standing very close, could it be a bit of “hands” on conversation happening?

By: bAT L.

bAT L. — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 11:02:05 +0000

Divergence of comments aside, I think the joke for this comic (if one is to be found) is self-referential. The creator of the comic is equating oil tycoons with comic creators, thereby pumping his or her own ego. Of course, in that case, the joke could be that comic creators are incredibly poor and this would just be a reversal on that obvious truth.

By: Mark in Boston

Mark in Boston — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:04:30 +0000

You would think it would be fair use to buy one hymn book and make photocopies of your favorite hymns for everyone in the congregation, because it’s for religious purposes.

But it’s not fair use, because hymn book publishers need to make money to stay in business.

By: Winter Wallaby

Winter Wallaby — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:05:48 +0000

Powers - One of the factors determining whether something is fair use is the uses impact on the copyright holder’s ability to profit from the creative work. Another, separate factor, is whether the use is a moneymaking venture:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use#Fair_use_under_United_States_law

(BTW, I refer to US law, because that’s the only sort of law that matters. )

By: The Bad Seed

The Bad Seed — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:54:56 +0000

CIDU Bill (47) - And as for the one who’s still alive, at least you have rules here! A certain totally-unmoderated blog devoted entirely to his strip is definitely still alive - even though the owner is currently MIA. Maybe TB had him rubbed out.

By: Powers

Powers — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:10:47 +0000

Wallaby — more accurately, fair use is guided by whether the use has a negative effect on the copyright holder’s ability to profit from the creative work. When that’s the case, it’s often because the infringing use is making money that would otherwise go to the copyright holder, but I believe it can still be fair use as long as the money would not otherwise be going to the copyright holder.

And in any case, it’s still correct to say that copyright doesn’t distinguish. =)

By: Winter Wallaby

Winter Wallaby — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 04:54:19 +0000

Copyright doesn’t distinguish between moneymaking and non-moneymaking ventures.

Well, one of the factors used to determine whether a use of copyrighted material is “fair use,” is whether the use is a moneymaking venture. My guess, though, is that even with the $50/yr, this site falls pretty firmly in the “fair use” category, and isn’t even technically illegal. But IANAL.

worst case of thread drift ever

So, who’s up for a good round of global warming discussion?

By: Elyrest

Elyrest — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 03:35:54 +0000

“there are only two comic strip writers I’ve ever given reason to dislike this site”

I’m guessing J.H. and T.B. I think J.H. thought most of us were going to hell.

By: paperboy

paperboy — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 02:37:30 +0000

Thanks, Morris Keesan#42- “we” DID feel wrong, but I had just seen Kenneth Branaugh’s “Henry V” and was thinking of the St. Crispin’s Day speech (”…We few, we happy few, we band of brothers…”) and I felt like giving the sentence a little touch of Harry, however ungrammatical.

By: Cidu Bill

Cidu Bill — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 01:58:27 +0000

I think Ian’s essentially correct: I sincerely believe that everything I do here is legal — but if any comics creator believes otherwise, I’m not going to fight him over it.

Without mentioning any names, there are only two comic strip writers I’ve ever given reason to dislike this site: one of them is no longer with us and he probably figured I was going to Hell anyway; and the other, well, I guess either I’ve remained under his radar or he just doesn’t care.