Submission + - Are clothing designs copyrightable art?
clambake writes: "I was reading an article on how Prince is gearing up to sue his own fans, and I happened to notice this link pimping Prince's snazzy clothing, and a thought struck me: How are these clothes not art?
I can't help but wonder how displaying these clothes proudly to thousands (or millions, in the case of the Super Bowl) of people is not considered a "Public Performance"? What is the difference between displaying pictures of album art on a web page and displaying artistically designed clothes (or shoes, or hair styles, or make-up, etc.) in a similarly public venue? Clearly they are not any different, so clearly these designers must be getting paid royalties, right?
So my question to Slashdot is basically, how much does your average "entertainer" (musician, actor, etc) pay in royalties to their clothing designers, cosmetics and makeup artists, hair dressers, and the other artists for each and every public performance? Do they get paid royalties at all? Is it possible that there is a massive underclass of artists and designers who's hard work is being callously pirated by big wig celebrity entertainers? I hope this is not the case, of course, but I don't have any contacts in the entertainment industry, so I was hoping that some Slashdot folks would know the answer."
I can't help but wonder how displaying these clothes proudly to thousands (or millions, in the case of the Super Bowl) of people is not considered a "Public Performance"? What is the difference between displaying pictures of album art on a web page and displaying artistically designed clothes (or shoes, or hair styles, or make-up, etc.) in a similarly public venue? Clearly they are not any different, so clearly these designers must be getting paid royalties, right?
So my question to Slashdot is basically, how much does your average "entertainer" (musician, actor, etc) pay in royalties to their clothing designers, cosmetics and makeup artists, hair dressers, and the other artists for each and every public performance? Do they get paid royalties at all? Is it possible that there is a massive underclass of artists and designers who's hard work is being callously pirated by big wig celebrity entertainers? I hope this is not the case, of course, but I don't have any contacts in the entertainment industry, so I was hoping that some Slashdot folks would know the answer."
