Really want to get my hands on one of these eventually. The design is so demented and sick, I love it. Especially the siamese one. The header art is very kick ass as well. Also, the Mishka release header art (i think?) with the acidic defecation melting that girl...classic! Hahaha.

Now what's this remind you of?

Found it in the "non-toy pics of Japan" thread: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=34608
A thread started by? Wait for it... yes, Mr. COOPr himself!

In the states Tim, if the "Orphan Works Act" had gotten it's way, artists would have to file their work at exorbitant costs with government imposed for-profit registries among other disastrous consequences . Luckily it hasn't gotten past the House.
Under current law, the moment an artist/author creates something, no one can duplicate that art without your written permission.

For good reasons such as establishing a public record and a step in being able to sue someone for infringement, you can also formally register the work with the Library of Congress Copyright Office. All my published books are automatically registered by my publisher so my work becomes protected.

I go even further in some instances if I've created a character based intellectual property or brand and trademark the name as well with the USPTO (United States Patent & Trademark Office.

Not sure how similar copyright laws are up north.

Reminds me of any one of the many diseccted kaiju illustrations made through the years.

Kaoshead,

are you trying to imply that Coop is somehow ripping off Mizuki Shigeru ?

the kaiju/yokai/monster dissection stuff has been around a long time...

Only blue pubes would make this thing "sicker" as the kiddles like to say.

(hypehypehypehypehype)

Just trying to be a funny-ass retard. In my excuse tho, I live a life spent in 99.99% confusion, so..

the Japanese have been doing cutaway drawings like these for a long time:

Yokai daizukai by Shigeru mizuki, these are great !





both from pinktentacle.com

inanimate objects get the treatment too:


(Japanese Noah had a dinosaur.)

So do giant snails that one can live in (with a pet monkey !):


the two above from http://www.art-micbox.com

and some the usual suspects:


...from the Monsterbrains blog (so rad).

Heres one from the old school:




...so this nagnagnag cutaway is riffing pretty tight off of a long japanese tradition, which is how its done. Super-cool doesn't necessarily mean super-original...

Thanks for the legal info Josh and Ralph. I appreciate it.

I'm mostly interested in this because the copyright and ownership issues that have arisen from the woodcut vs. COOP's art are both creations that stemmed from the work of another party. It's clear that COOP's artwork was blessed by Mr. NAG, whereas zapatoloco's was not by either artist, but at what point do derivatives of someone's creation move far enough to become something new? It's this that is of interest to me.

Initially I thought zapatoloco's woodcut was simply his own creation and had nothing to do with COOP's work at all, clearly I was mistaken and that's why I raised the question about COOP's reaction.

And what about international copyright in a situation like this?

It seems any protection to be sought under local or international copyright laws is rather difficult after release. It's particularly true for digital content. Then again, most of the Chinese economy is based on copying stuff without much retribution, so the original form probably doesn't matter that much anymore.

Nice.

Ok so here's what I'm curious about? NagNagNag is an original character right. An illustration of him might be copywrited. Ralph was saying you could trade mark the name. What about registering the character so others wouldn't be able to reproduce him? How is that done?

I have a NagNagNag from the first release and this thread is making me dislike the figure more and more.
Too much fucking drama...

PS don't fucking PM me about it either

From your description it sounds like you're still referring to registered trademark (which is very different from copyright.)

Coop retains copyright to his original image automatically. There are things an artist can do to establish originality for the sake of copyright, but the right defaults to the creator whether they do that or not in the USA.

crazyshoe's derivative work, as Coop kinda noted, isn't a legal violation given that he didn't profit from it or damage Coop's opportunity for profit. However if he tried to sell the prints or woodcut, that'd be a problem.

Unfortunately there are still gray areas in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act but I'm pretty confident on the points mentioned in this post. I guess this is the point at which I say I'm not a lawyer, but I've worked with them.

PM'd . . .

The hell with the drama. The toy is the thing.

sorry, andy.. i pm'd him first, so you're SOL

Well, I don't know Japanese trademark or copyright laws but...
in the states, if that was his (nag's) character design, as I stated previously, it/he is protected under US law and cannot be reproduced for commercial purposes without his permission even if it's an illustration of the figure he designed. Coop is obviously working with the creator so there is no issue there. Someone can't create an illustration of Spider-Man and begin selling prints of it because the character is copyrighted and trademarked by Marvel. Unless they've licensed that intellectual property to do so.

As Krudler mentioned, someone could parody the character in some way much like "Mad" magazine did with characters, films etc.... and copyright that work as well.

Trademarking is all together a different animal and pertains more to the name of a company, product or brand. Sorry if I wasn't clear. Nag could Trademark the name NagNagNag and even some sort of logo in the category of goods he is selling in so that someone else doesn't use his exact name and sell similar goods.

I'm not a lawyer either but have had experience dealing with my own character properties and licensing.
I could go on....I had an interesting experience utilizing a public domain character...sorry to derail the drama.

i find this photo extremely offensive Paul!

Do you know how many kids on Maury have NO CLUE who their father is because of gang bangs!

You should be ashamed of yourself, ASHAMED!

Mod have this picture removed immediately! No justice, No Peace!

Fan art is permitted unless you manage to offend Disney or Paramount.

I remember some years ago when board members were creating fan art of Secret Base figures like the Ghost Fighter and S7 and Secret Base getting annoyed even though it was just low-key sales to other fans.

Searched for Flynn's post about that situation but can't find it...

Wow, must have been before my time here. Sounds like the mitigating factor there was the exchange of money, but given the occasional culturally-based misunderstandings and offenses "overseas," who knows? It'd be interesting to find that old thread. There was a more recent sort of incident like that but nobody wants to talk about it, which is cool for keeping the peace and all that.

And Mr. Bemon came down with the heavy hand on Joel for an awesome painting of his figure.

I'd like to hear this.