• I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...

Copyright Infringement??

BadAss

New Member
O.K. after all the talk this last week on Copyrights here is one for ya. In the new Fellers catalog on page 105 is a squeegee from Geekwraps.com Well the logo the have is without a doubt a rip-off from the comic Evil Ernie (Artist Steve Hughes) of Chaos Comics. I know this as I had a lot of stuff from the Chaos Comics guys back when I did tour work. Here is a pic of the 2 side by side. Tell me what you think....
 

Attachments

  • new-1.jpg
    new-1.jpg
    65.7 KB · Views: 195

Pat Whatley

New Member
If you're just making the comparison based on evil smiley faces with crossed bones then they've obviously both ripped ME off. I've got high school sketchbooks from the mid-80s with variations of that theme, including the dog collar.

....and I'm not claiming originality over it either, I'm fairly sure the smiley face drawings were just a natural progression from drawing that green guy off "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" book covers.

Am I wrong or is the 3D mesh showing on the Fellers version? That's kind of odd.
 

Fred Weiss

Merchant Member
While there are some of the same bases being covered, one could, at most, conclude that one was an inspiration for the other. It certainly is not a copy or a derivative. And the ultimate test is not, IMHO, met either, which is:

Would a normal person viewing the one be confused and think it was the mark of the other?
 
the subject matter aside i think the title of this post kind of stinks. as it implies fellers is engaging in copyright infringement...when more correctly your post is about a vendor of a product who submitted an ad that may or may not be infringing on someone's content. sort of like those misleading headlines on tabloid newspapers to sell copies when the story is very different than the implied headline on the cover. but i am sure many people will look at this topic because of the title...not cool imo.
 
Copyright would make it a "COPY" they are not 100% the same so in comes trademark
TOO ME-- they are very different not close to being the same
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
dan, I have to agree with you 110%. I thought the same thing when I first opened this thread.

It doesn't matter much what we say or do.... everyone is trying to make a big deal out of nothing at someone else's expense and in this case.... Feller's

No regards for truth or claim.... just waving their hands around yelling they got someone and want to nail 'em to a cross.

I would feel so happy if Feller's swooped in here and nailed your butt to the cross for misrepresentation, falsely accusing others and defamation.

It has to do with the way you handled it coming in. Content means nothing. You just made a public spectale of someone totally unwarranted.


I would like to ask the administrators if this title could be corrected to help save the innocent.
 

BadAss

New Member
Sorry Dan,
But read it and you can see it isn't directed to Fellers, But since most of us use them and have the catalog sitting on our desk, it would be easy for you guys to see where I was looking . And yes as soon as I saw this I knew it was a rip from the Chaos comics. But as Steven died (February 12, 1954 – February 18, 2000) I guess no one is pointing a finger. Funny how many here are the first to point out things, but something that many don't know of (Chaos comics) then it seems less important. And you think the title stinks. Well here we are again with yet another question. Is it O.K. for someone to publish pics that are infringed upon by another party? Don't get me wrong I am not saying Fellers is bad. I do 95% of my business wuth them. But thumbing through the catalog and coming across this logo was like getting smacked in the face with the comic book character I know so well. An as a side note Chaos Comics is also out of business as of 2001..
 

Lunatic Taskbar

New Member
I dont think they are close enough to be misconstrued as one being the other. Certainly not a copy. I think the fellers one is possibly inspired by the other one. I wouldn't say there was a copyright issue there.

On a side-note my 6 year old grandson thinks they are different. And he wouldn't see the nuances that we might.
 

BadAss

New Member
Well, maybe it's trademark, I don't know which is which. But as many have said ask Harley about someone using a logo that may even remind you of their logo and you will get a letter to stop...
 

BadAss

New Member
Gino,
You want someone to come in and kick my butt for bringing up a question??? Man I have so much respect for all you had done and do here... And now I am getting SH^@#% for asking a question that has been brought up here so much over the last week... Sorry it makes you feel bad. But I am sitting here looking at it (FELLERS CATALOG) so how was I suppose to ask the question??? Seriously, some of you guys are just hipocrites...
 

BadAss

New Member
I don't care if someone wants to change the title. Why should anyone ask a question when people make their own assumption of the content. IT WAS A QUESTION!!! Not a remark...
 

Checkers

New Member
If the creator wishes to pursue infringement, he has every right to. It doesn't mean he'll win a suit though.

Here's a story of a similar case...

http://www.centralpennbusiness.com/article.asp?aid=71983

and their respective websites with logos in question...

http://members1st.org/

http://mymetrobank.com/

I think what makes this case interesting is the similarities with the logo "M" and the fact that they're both "financial institutions".

If they were in different industries or offering dissimilar services, members 1st would have a much more difficult case.

Checkers
 

BadAss

New Member
Hey, I just wondered with all the questioning lately what you guys thought on this likeness. Now to me it was VERY obvious. As I am a huge fan of that comic. But that is why I asked. To see what people who didn't know the comic and see what others thoughts were. In no way do I think Fellers would do anything wrong in good coincience( I don't know how to spell that) But just wanted other artists take on it... So read into what you will and say what you want. But it still was just a question on others thoughts...
 

BadAss

New Member
Good comparison Checkers. Nice to see someone actually looked at the question and gave their opinion on just that.

O.K. I got to get back to work now. I was ordering from the catalog when I noticed and wanted to see what others thought.. See Ya...
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Gino,
You want someone to come in and kick my butt for bringing up a question??? Man I have so much respect for all you had done and do here... And now I am getting SH^@#% for asking a question that has been brought up here so much over the last week... Sorry it makes you feel bad. But I am sitting here looking at it (FELLERS CATALOG) so how was I suppose to ask the question??? Seriously, some of you guys are just hipocrites...


No. Not someone come in and kick you butt.... Fellers come in to see how you titled it, worded and tried to implicate they are doing something wrong, when it just happens to be your personal opinion.

Although you title it as a question.... the damage is still being done. You put it out as if the reader is going to open your thread and find some horrible practices by Fellers, when in fact.... there's nothing wrong here.

It's one thing to pose a question and try to find all sides of an argument, but to take someone's good name and do what you did..... well, that's just plain wrong in my book.

I don't try to make anyone feel good or bad at someone else's expense. However, I will point out what I see wrong and try to make the guilty pay, but if I'm wrong... I'll admit it.

Last week's discussions were not like this. Anyway, my main beef is your title. The cheap way you tried to get people to check this out. Heck, look at who many of your first responders are. Look at their reactions. Doesn't that mean anything to you ??

Respect does not justify false claims at someone else's expense. There has got to be a better way you could've treated this, but you took the cheap route. I'm not trying to belittle you, but you did a rather mean thing here and don't seem to have any regrets for doing it. That's what messes with my head.

:banghead:
 
Top