Also, many of my images are made after quite a bit of manipulation of the original icons that came with my other programs. Am I supposed to get permission from each of those companies before using their potentially trademarked logos?? Or wouldn't this be a case of fair use?
That is considered fair use here unles BigCo, Inc. asks that they be removed.
The problem there is that I have no way of finding out who the original artists are in that case. So, do I need to get permission from Stardock to use those images??
Yes
There are "rules" and there are "guidelines" and there is the space in between where Wincustomize tries to protect the artists IP.
From the Dream submission policy:
Additional rules on fair use of video clips:
Fair Use allows for the limited reuse of copyrighted material so long
as it is not done for financial gain of the person reusing the work,
nor does it financially harm the original author by denying them sales
etc. In the case of Dream animated wallpapers, users can make limited
reuse of video files created by other authors provided they meet the
following requirements:
- The animations used in the .Dream file is either 15 seconds in
length of shorter OR less than 25% of the original video file in length
(whichever is shorter). So if you found a 20 second video you want to
use in a Dream, you can use no more than 5 seconds of that video.
Anything else, you are limited to 15 seconds.
- You provide credit to the original author in the skin comments AND provide a link to your original source.
- Understand that if the original owner of the work asks us to take
it down, provided proof of ownership, we will comply immediately.
Failure to comply with these fair use rules will result in an item being rejected from the submission queue.
If you find your work is being redistributed here against your wishes,
please
And
here is the word from the owner of WC from 2006:
WinCustomize allows FAN art. This isn't open to debate. If someone
wants to upload a Superman wallpaper that they made, that's fine. If
they want to submit an X-men wallpaper that is fine. If there is an
issue with it, Marvel, Warner, whoever will let us know. However, in
"real life" there are thousands of fan sites that post the same thing.
WinCustomize does not exist in a vacuum.
We allow fan art because no one will be "confused" or "misled" by
what the fan art is about. There is no confusion over the ultimate
owner of the trademarks or trade dresses involved.
Ripping, however, is something different. No individual skinner or
icon artist has the fame or distribution in which a "casual user" would
recognize their work as opposed to being the work of someone else who
uploads it or uses it in their product.
WinCustomize takes copyright and trademark rights very seriously. So
if someone sees a product, service, website, skin, or theme that is
making use of another individual's work that they don't think they have
permisison, you should feel free to post it here to draw attention to
it.
In the past we have seen our own content made use without our
permission. We have seen Paul Boyer's icons used without permission.
We have seen our own skins used without permission. So it is clearly a
problem and as a community we should work together.
I realize there are some people who have much more stringent
definitions of what copyright protection means and I realize there are
those who have much looser views on what copyright means. This is not
the place to debate that. We have struck a middle ground (so no one
will be quite happy).
It might not be as lawyerly an answer as you might like . . but that's what I got.
