Stargate SG-1 Artwork want to sell.

[Indiana]

I am not sure if I am posting this in the correct place, but I will give it a bash. At the moment I am working on building a website called StargateSG-1.NET and for the design of the page I recieved some help from an artist I met on the internet called Paul Shipper He has created this painting which is looking very good and my thought was that he could make some money out of the paiting by making lithographs of the painintg and selling them online. However, we have some worries about legal reasons that we may not be able to sell the paintings due to the fact that MGM owns the rights to Stargate and we might be liable to be sued for making a profit of Pauls work based on Stargate. My idea to sell the work was from the fact that Simon Thorpe's work has sold quite well. The painting is really good and fans would love it addoring their wall. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on this? I noticed at a Wolf Event (one of the Mihael Shanks evenings) that people had stalls for which they put on sale photogrqaphs and among other, paintings by Simon Thorpe. I don't suppose there is any way of trying to sell lithographs at conventions and how one would go about setting this up?

The painting Paul Shipper has created is in panoramic frame. It is a heroes and villians collage of Stargate SG-1, with the everyone who has served on SG-1 on the left hand side of the painting and several of the most famous villians from Stargate SG-1 such as Apophis, Osiris, Hathor, Yu, Heru'Ur and Anubis (accompanied along with scenes of battles and Jaffa of of the Serpent, Flacon and Jackal Kind). The painting is reminiscent of the Star Wars posters. I think fans would like it.

The difference between the work of Simon Thorpe and that of Paul Shippers is that Simon Thorpe's work is Officially Licensed MGM prints and Paul's is not. Would we be able to sell prints of Pauls paintings on the basis that they are not Officially licensed, but not have to worry about the corporate business of MGM breathing down our necks?

If anyone on these boards has any advice they could offer or any help I would really appreciate it.

 

[webmouse]

Not really my area of expertise, but I wouldn't want to take on MGM's marketing and legal department without consulting a lawyer of my own first. This sounds like a conflict between freedom of expression and intellectual property rights issues. Good luck.

 

[Piglet_Of_Oz]

I contacted MGM recently about seeling some artwork and they told me if I wanted to sell it I would have to get a license which came to the region of at least $10,000, other wise you are liable to be sued not only by MGM but the actors for using their faces. Obviously I turned the license down because it was sooo expensive and all I wanted to do was sell a few hand painted pictures which would hardly make me $10.000.

If you need any more advice/info contact me off list.

Piglet
xox:alienooh:

 

[Indiana]

Well I hope they can't at least stop me from using a fan made painting on my website as my main graphic

 

[PTeppic]

Theoretically, they probably can. As mentioned above, they DO have the copyright on the images of the show.

BUT, and this is entirely my own opinion, and I'm not a lawyer, if you are not making money, and you are a single site, they MAY think it too much hassle to bother about. {Or may not, and sue your socks off.}

 

[webmouse]

There are "fair use" standards for most copyrighted materials -- especially if no money changes hands. Usually there's no problem unless a corporate legal shark smells $ in the water. Most of us, fortunately, are very small fish.