Merbellas Thread

[Naufra]

The second pic you posted is of her she creature tail it's her personal tail and she doesn't let anyone use the fluke style (pretty sure) here's picture of it without filters n stuff


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<3 = Totally broken. I love that fluke sculpt more than any I've ever seen, but I fully respect her wishes if she doesn't want to share. I literally gasped when I saw it, it's just so beautiful!

[Vicky Mermaid]

When you look at Raven's work you can actually tell that she loves what she does. And i think its just fabulous the way she is doing publicity right now. This way she keeps the spirit of what a mermaid/merman is. Beautiful and mysterious.

[MerEmma]

Fairly certain it's because it's a close replica/inspired by She Creature and she doesn't want to infringe on that design or anything, not that she just wants to keep it for herself (or maybe so, I just recall that being said at some point).

[Naufra]

I hadn't seen She Creature before, but having looked it up I can see the similarities. Intellectual property might become an issue if she decided to sell that design, but I don't think the case would have held water, and I apologize for the pun but I couldn't think of a better way to phrase it.

[MerEmma]

Found it: https://www.facebook.com/MerBellaStu...type=3&theater

In the comments she answers some people about it and says so.

[AniaR]

yup. but hey Im swimming around in the splash tail and nobody says/can do a thing. Hahah. tails can't be copyrighted, so I think on her end it's more out of respect . And haha at merman mar who thinks plagiarism is anything other than copying words. lol some people...

[MermaidMichelle]

C'est vrai; I don't expect to be sued as a Hunger Games copy just because I'm ​THE MER ON FIRE!

[Lily]

I'm not a lawyer (that's my sister's job) but from what I understand, intellectual property is a fairly murky area of the law. Likely Raven would receive a cease and desist order before any more extreme legal action, like a lawsuit; even then, she could argue that her designs are protected under fair use or that they are simply inspired by, not entirely based on, their TV/movie counterparts. I mean, just look at 50 Shades of Gray. Here a woman took a published, copyrighted piece of work and rewrote it in an alternate universe (keeping characters, situations, and whole scenes and lines of dialogue perfectly intact, mind you) and not only has she not been sued, but her book has surpassed the original in terms of sales and readership.

Not that it'd would be slightly fair to compare Raven to EL James. That's like comparing a Michaelangelo to a 3-year-old's scribbles. (Hope it's clear who's who in that analog. ) I really respect that she has enough integrity to not want to profit on a design she knows is not truly hers. Many artists don't have that much class.

On a purely selfish, personal level, though, I'm bummed she has no plans to sell that fluke design...

[AniaR]

No we already made loads of posts about this for the past 6 years. Tails aren't copyrightable. Certain tail makers went to town trying to make it so years ago and they just aren't. There's multiple threads about it in here documenting applicable laws and lawyer quotes. Not copyrightable. The only thing that can be done is if a tail maker is hired for a particular job they can sign a contract saying they won't remake the tail. But in this sitch Raven could make 100 exact replicas of the tail and she's fine. If she sold it to a movie company then the she creature company could possibly have a case against the rival movie but even that is difficult to actually do as you can see from the parody industry.

[MermaidMichelle]

Thank you for providing us with that wonderful analogy, Lily! It might be safe to assume that everyone on these boards has read the Fifty Shades trilogy; I even reference it in Why GOD Doesn't Hate You (to find out exactly how a Roman Catholic Sister-in-training gets away with having read the books, you'll just have to either read my book or maybe ask Raina...but don't bug her because she's very busy....)

To clarify just in case, though, Fifty Shades of Grey started out as a Twilight fanfic titled Master of the Universe (that's nearly TWO copyright infringements already!) which she posted online under the pseudonym Snowqueen's IceDragon (Frozen wasn't around yet or we might add a third!) I'm not sure if it had Edward becoming a super-rich businessman like the Phantom of the Opera in Andrew Lloyd Webber's scrapped original script for Love Never Dies, but whatever the case "Snowqueen" eventually took down her uber-popular fic and posted it on her own page in an alternate universe in which the man of her dreams was Master as the new title suggested.

Incredibly, not a single part of that last paragraph was made up! Anyway, this is all the more reason to respect Raven's integrity, as her tails really are artwork originating from her own mind (as I said, she may already have improved upon my original design)!

EDIT: I was going to add that obvious parody is legal in virtually all cases, but it didn't fit until Raina made her post.

[AniaR]

And you know the entire cosplay industry.

[Blaze]

And you know the entire cosplay industry.

I have no idea what you are talking about.

Don't look at my signature.

[AniaR]

I don't mean to come off too crazy about this, it's just that in the past certain tail makers use to use legal bullying and make loads of legal threats against other tail makers, threatening to sue them for copying (when in reality they typically were the copier). As a result, the community invested loads of time and some of us money into finding out the answer. So I absolutely don't want anyone ever thinking something like that can be used as a genuine threat against anyone here. If it could, don't you think we'd all be suing each other left right and center with the amount of accusations that surface on here about copying?

At best, the only real thing we could find was that one single tail could be copyrighted as a sculptural work of art. and even that doesnt cover someone else making a copy of it.

I'd be in big trouble with Rob Short and Thom Shouse if you could copyright the splashtail I think ol Rob woulda come after me for my book cover with my two splash tails on it in a second if he could of.

I think when it comes to Raven, people just gotta respect her reasons whatever they are for wanting to make one of something for herself. She doesn't really owe anyone the design or option. She outputs seriously creative stuff constantly IMO and still wants her merbellas to be unique.

[MermaidMichelle]

...And they are!

I also like how often mer-related terminology unconsciously appears here: remember, copyright law is a rather murky thing, so be careful about any threat that surfaces. In fact, I would go so far as to add that such threats should be taken with a grain of salt....

OK, I'll stop now and enjoy Rita Coolidge's "Love Came For Me", which is now playing in my head for some reason....

[Vicky Mermaid]

In the past, Thom Shouse said to a fellow mermaid who asked for a Splash Tail, that he couldn't make a Splash Tail because Disney had it Copyrighted. But i gues that's over now...

[Winged Mermaid]

In the past, Thom Shouse said to a fellow mermaid who asked for a Splash Tail, that he couldn't make a Splash Tail because Disney had it Copyrighted. But i gues that's over now...

Actually, it's not so much that it's copyrighted- he signed a contract with Touchstone/Disney saying he would NEVER make another splash tail, or one even similar in design or color. It's just part of the package that came with him being part of the team that made it. If it was a copyright issue a LOT of people would be in trouble for making Splash tails. I personally think it sucks big time that all the other tailmakers can make as many Splash tails as they want, replicating it down to the details, and Thom is forbidden to make anything that's even similar :/

[AniaR]

^ yup I mentioned the contract

[AniaR]

Another perfect example I just remembered: Mike blatantly made casts of the 13th year tail and is still selling them today, their his main fluke design! lol Like and that's bought the tail and literally made his cast right from the tail.

[Lily]

Another perfect example I just remembered: Mike blatantly made casts of the 13th year tail and is still selling them today, their his main fluke design! lol Like and that's bought the tail and literally made his cast right from the tail.

Wow. That's... that's not cool. At least go to the trouble of making the master yourself so it has a little bit of your own touch to it.

Also, I had completely forgotten about that movie. Wonder if I'm too old to watch it, now (I say as I have H2O on pause in the next room).

[MermaidMichelle]

Have you not heard? 30 is the new 13! (That explains SO much modern behaviour!)