| Insulting everyone by implying they haven't used common sense simply because they don't agree with you is incredibly fatuous. Chill with the righteous HEY YOU GUYS IF YOU JUST SAW IT MY WAY caps and italics; most of us aren't particularly dumb here. The pixel art was definitely published by any useful meaning of the word publish, 200 copies of the liner version. Also, it was the background of the site, clearly used as promotion. Let's say everyone accepts your argument that you can only violate artist rights if you gain a profit directly driven by the unauthorized use. It'd be perfectly fine to use a struggling unsigned band's best song to sell Volkswagens, since no one would buy a car because of music in an ad. Of course, the unsigned band was just about to license their song to sell cat food and pay the rent, but now the cat food manufacturer doesn't want the same song that's in that damn Volkswagen commercial. Oops! Shoulda moved faster, indie band! If you think that an artist or a musician should have no control over where their work is reproduced or published as long as it can be argued that it wasn't the main draw of any profit, you're not a hardcore supporter of the rights of individual artists and musicians. I wasn't around for any negotiations Maisel's or his attorney had with Baio, but it does see like Maisel was a bit of a jerk about this. A jerk solidly in his rights, however. |