2013-07-08, 10:15 PM
I almost see DC's reply as encouraging. I read a post where a fan wrote Sony asking if they would help him rip space-ship models from one of their games that was about 12 years old. They replied with a cease and desist order ha. I don't think they even had a legal right to make him stop ripping models. The fact that DC used a passive, form letter language seems like they don't care that much. When something has been not had it's copyright renewed in 30 years (1983), it's a pretty good sign the company has no interest in it as a commercial product.
But I do have more empathy for companies than Mick seems to. They spent fortunes to make their copyrighted material and they probably have to deal with thousands of dumb people every week who want to use their material for some ridiculous fan-movie of novel. As anyone who has worked in retail knows, the customer is almost always wrong, and will usually rob you blind if you let them 
When someone writes a second rate "Super Man" novel where the super hero goes around doing unsavory things, I don't blame DC for taking legal action to protect the Superman image they've built. Everyone feels like their fan based stuff is "quality" and "meaningful" and copyright holders really have no way of differentiating between the quality and the garbage so it's almost necessary to just C&D everyone.
But I do have more empathy for companies than Mick seems to. They spent fortunes to make their copyrighted material and they probably have to deal with thousands of dumb people every week who want to use their material for some ridiculous fan-movie of novel. As anyone who has worked in retail knows, the customer is almost always wrong, and will usually rob you blind if you let them
When someone writes a second rate "Super Man" novel where the super hero goes around doing unsavory things, I don't blame DC for taking legal action to protect the Superman image they've built. Everyone feels like their fan based stuff is "quality" and "meaningful" and copyright holders really have no way of differentiating between the quality and the garbage so it's almost necessary to just C&D everyone.