The company behind Trump Watches prominently features an iconic image of the presidential candidate on its timepieces. There’s one big problem: It’s not allowed to.
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According to the Associated Press, though, TheBestWatchesonEarth LLC advertised a product it can’t deliver, as that image is owned by the 178-year-old news agency. This week, the AP told WIRED it is pursuing a cease and desist against the LLC, which is registered in Sheridan, Wyoming. (The company did not reply to a request for comment about the cease and desist letter.)
Evan Vucci, the AP’s Pulitzer Prize–winning chief photographer, took that photograph, and while he told WIRED he does not own the rights to that image, the AP confirmed earlier this month in an email to WIRED that it is filing the written notice. “AP is proud of Evan Vucci’s photo and recognizes its impact,” wrote AP spokesperson Nicole Meir. “We reserve our rights to this powerful image, as we do with all AP journalism, and continue to license it for editorial use only.”
I’m very interested in a creative perspective who is against copyright. I know there are some comedians that self publish but the expectation is that people will support them because they know the money actually goes to them. They don’t do any DRM, but there are rules about how many times you can download their media, and whether you can send copies or not.
Louis CK comes to mind, who has copyright and licensing information in the terms and conditions on his page. There is an understanding though, that he doesnt care if you break the license. He has said he doesnt care of you pirate it even.
Would he be better off without copyright at all?
If copyright protected the creatives then there would be a lot less antagonism against copyright. Most people are against it because it’s become a lever of control for big companies to use against both the creators and the public.
Note, for example, that in the article in the original post, the Associated Press is careful to say that the person who took the famous photo doesn’t have copyright over it. They do.
And none of them should.
That’s a moment in history, we should all be able to look back at history without a paywall.
I don’t make a living off of my calligraphy or anything like that. But I think that the value is in me being able to create more unique pieces.
Sure you can make a copy, but it’ll never be the same as having a hand made original. Then Again I’m not very good or successful.