It seems likely that consequences would be several in North Korea.
And here we can talk about it and report on it. But if you do you might well find that you yourself miss your next flight to wherever you were going. You almost certainly won't go to jail but it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that you'll never fly again.
The problem here is that folks seem to have been using things without authorization. That's a problem for them but it's also a problem for Taylor Swift. I am not a lawyer so don't rely upon this as "Legal Advice", but here's the scoop ...
Copyright protection on something you create such as a song, or a novel, is automatic. You don't have to register it but you should if it'll be for sale as you can only sue someone for Copyright infringement once you're registered it.
Trademarks are very different. You have to apply for them and sometimes it's turned down. More importantly - you have to defend it. That is, if you discover that someone is abusing your trademark then you must get them to stop. If you don't take action then you're at risk of losing that trademark right.
So if the fans received legal notices then one possible action would be to request a license. If it's really a "fan club", especially an "official fan club", then they'd probably get the usage rights they need for almost-free (as long as it's not a profit-making thing). That's the way fan clubs work: ask the artist for permission to use certain photos etc, get that permission for the specific purposes, and make things. It's not hard.
A side note about trying to copyright a phrase: it turns out (and I am surprised) that something such as a book title, song title or album title is NOT eligible for copyright protection. The contents (text, lyrics, music, etc) can be copyrighted but not the titles.
On the post: Once Again, Political Speech Is Silenced By Copyright/ContentID
Licenses ?
On the post: Lawsuit: TSA Supervisor Got Traveler Arrested For Bogus 'Terroristic Threat' Charge, Lied About Incident In Court
Re: Re: commenting
And here we can talk about it and report on it. But if you do you might well find that you yourself miss your next flight to wherever you were going. You almost certainly won't go to jail but it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that you'll never fly again.
On the post: Taylor Swift One Ups Katy Perry Again: Threatens To Sue Fans For Etsy Fan Products
Copyright and Trademarks
Copyright protection on something you create such as a song, or a novel, is automatic. You don't have to register it but you should if it'll be for sale as you can only sue someone for Copyright infringement once you're registered it.
Trademarks are very different. You have to apply for them and sometimes it's turned down. More importantly - you have to defend it. That is, if you discover that someone is abusing your trademark then you must get them to stop. If you don't take action then you're at risk of losing that trademark right.
So if the fans received legal notices then one possible action would be to request a license. If it's really a "fan club", especially an "official fan club", then they'd probably get the usage rights they need for almost-free (as long as it's not a profit-making thing). That's the way fan clubs work: ask the artist for permission to use certain photos etc, get that permission for the specific purposes, and make things. It's not hard.
A side note about trying to copyright a phrase: it turns out (and I am surprised) that something such as a book title, song title or album title is NOT eligible for copyright protection. The contents (text, lyrics, music, etc) can be copyrighted but not the titles.
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