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Newcastle, Ontario
I have a quick question - I found this paper doll that I drew years ago, in the for sale section of Dolls and Bears on Ebay. It was published in Doll Reader in 1990 and she has torn it out of the magazine and has it for sale. It states on the page, I have the copyright to it, but since she owns the magazine, does she have the right to sell it?
You can sell magazines ....but that's an interesting one...so long as she isn't claiming she designed it perhaps she can. I'm waiting with interest to see what the answer is. I don't think you can reproduce anything from magazines without permission...I am sure it always says so somewhere in the magazine! So maybe you can't sell patterns etc taken from it.
PennsylvaniaYou hold the copyright. She does not.
However, this might not be a question of copyright but of "Doctrine of First Sale."
For example...
You are a book publisher and I buy one of your books. Once you sell that book to me you do not have the right to stop me from selling it to somebody else. This is why it's legal to buy and sell used books on Amazon.
However, I can NOT copy the book and sell the copies. I must sell the ORIGINAL book in complete form.
So, here is the question: Is she simply reselling a book or is she copying a book and representing it as her own?
I'm going to say that she is in the wrong because she is not selling the complete book.
If she is representing the work as her own she's violating your copyright.
I say you should report it to Ebay and let them handle the questions.
Newcastle, OntarioHere is a link to the page: http://tinyurl.com/23g4yrl She gives me credit for the paper doll and says she has torn it from a magazine. I think it's like when artists publish books of their art and then the galleries take the books apart and sell the prints from the book. I don't think there is anything I can do. I still have the original work.
Brenda
