Since we've been talking about copyright issues and such I'm sending this
article I came across recently. According to the place I got it from its a
story out of the Hollywood Reporter.
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Even Genie never imagined Aladdin exploring "A Whole New World" from his
knees on a magic carpet behind a naked Jasmine.
Nor did Steven Spielberg envision one of his furry femal Tiny Toons
characters attracting a mate from out of her species.
But those and dozens of other highly professional-looking pornographic
variations of popular animated characters from Disney, Warner Bros, and
Paramount movies, NBC, Fox and Hanna Barbera TV shows, video games and
comic books are posted on a World Wide Web site on the Internet.
While some of the drawings simply feature characters such as Ariel of "The
Little Mermaid," Marge Simpson, Josie and the Pussycats and Babs Bunny in
the nude or Als and Scooby Doo getting excited by naked women, others are
more explicit. For instance, Babs is featured in various drawings
masturbating while reading a copy of "Huge Dudes" magazine and engaging in
sex with Buster Bunny and other characters.
In fact, Warner Bros. "Tiny Toons," created by Spielberg, is the subject of
many of the drawings, one of which features new lyrics to the show's theme
song under the new title "Teeny Toon": "We're hot and we're horny, we're
showing kniderporny..."
Studio officials at Disney, Warner, and Paramount were all unfamiliar with
the site when contacted on Tuesday, but all said that copyright issues are
routinely turned over to the legal department. None would comment on the
possible illegality of the drawings.
A source at Warners said the company has been notified of similar
situations on the Internet over the past year or two.
Owen Sloane, who specializes in entertainment law for Berger Kahn of Marina
del Rey, said that there is a certain amount of lee way regarding the use
of copy righted characters when lused for satire.
But there are limitations relative to interfering with the valule of the
character, he said.
Although he did not see the drawings, after listening to a descripiton from
a reporter he said as the images could have a damaging effect on the
characters themselves, "There are probably copyright problems here."
However, he said that so far companies have not been aggressive about
policing the Internet. "Most of the time Internet issues are not worth
pursuing because the distribution is small and it has little impact."
Mark Hilts, vp of Servic Tech, a Rochester, NY based Internet service
provider for the site said he was unaware of the nature of the content on
the site. He said he would check with lawyers right away and if it was
clearly illegal or porographic the site owuld b terminated. "If it's
clearly illegal or porno graphic in any way, it will be terminated," Hilts
said.
However, he added, "Everyone's idea of pornography is different."
Hilts would not divulge the name of the ownere of the site. E-mail to the
site went unanswered Tuesday.
Although the familliar charcters are featured in soft-core and hard-core
porno9graphic postions and settins, most of the drawings are signed, such
as one in which a Tiny Toons character is depicted performing felation on a
horse.
Directory pages that categorize the drawings by studio indecate that
although the drawings are based on copyrighted characters, the modifeid
pictures are "fan art" and may be distributed freely.
The site also warns users that the pictures are of an adult nature and "not
a place to shop around for the kiddies."
Michael Kraft (empire_at_eden.rutgers.edu)
Computer Engineering Student
Rutgers University, NJ, USA
URL =
http://remus.rutgers.edu/~empire
Received on Wed Nov 08 1995 - 01:08:22 PST