Keycap designs: who authorizes whom? [e.g. One Piece, Star War franchise, etc]

[menuhin]

[Disclaimer: I'm a newbie in this expensive hobby, but I work on ideas and I respect original ideas. In my area and similar fields, when innovative ideas are copied and publicized first then the original discoverer / inventor / author / screenwriter / designer will be doomed. There are however scenarios where the original worker keeps his work incomplete half-way, and someone may come up to finish the related work.]

On my way of making my keyboards (or future boards) look sick and enviable, I saw quite a few super tempting and gorgeous key cap designs, to list a few, artisan or not, metal or resin or whatever material:
- Iron man (Marvel) by a few makers
- Darth Vader (Star War franchise) by the older very famous maker, and the newer metal cap makers and more
- Captain America (Marvel) by a few makers
- Skeletor (Mattel) by the older very famous maker and a few newmakers (e.g. Google image "skeletor keycaps")
- One Piece e.g. Boa Hancock (Japanese manga)
- Neon Genesis Evangelion (Japanese manga)
- Bleach (Japanese manga)

And many many robot-head key caps actually look a lot like designs from Transformer to me, with only a few exceptions, e.g. 'Raven' by HKP.
(There are of course very original key cap designers, such as KeyCollectiv's food, and, fruit, and cat designs, and the simple graphics of Keypop, and those who created original stories for their key cap designs)

The question is, who authorizes one to create Star War key cap or some others? These key caps will sell because of the original Star War stories and movies. Of course, if the makers are hiding somewhere far away from the law enforcement agencies for these franchises, plus if they are producing only a small amount of products then the franchises probably just keep silent.

Anyway, I support open source. Almost everyone are copying Cherry's key switch design and here we are happily buying, e.g. Gateron. The Asians invent basically nothing, including the latest "Hall Effect" keyboard - it's modelled after a US invention / patent. There's patent law (I don't study law), with an expiration date; however, it's just law which can be changed and modified; the point is that the designs of Gateron and Zealios, and Kaihl, etc are all copycats of Cherry's design. I'm glad that Cherry has not been out of business because of these copiers.
That's a different story if I want to buy a HHKB keyboard and is sold a counterfeit. But what if they advertise themselves not as the merchandise but has potentially better capability? (e.g. the case of Geekhack GH60 Rev.C vs Satan GH60 Rev.CHN if I read it correctly)

Copy right is an endless topic to discuss.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_copyright#Ethical_issues

Will you buy any of the franchise copycat key caps that are not officially authorized?
[These add a lot of moral struggles to the dressing up of my boards. There're still lots of options if I go with original designs.]

[Bambino]

Artisan keycaps are such small potatoes it's unlikely that the makers will ever face repercussions from the IP owners, despite being likely violations of copyright.  Think about all the stores on Etsy (e.g., https://www.etsy.com/search?q=iron%20man%20stickers) that surely turn over more $$ than any artisan keycap maker, but nothing serious is done about it.

IMO, the community at large still has more respect for and and finds more value in artisan makers' original, non-copied characters and designs (aside from a couple notable Star Wars outliers).  So despite the amount of copying taking place by a segment of artisan makers, I think the people still generally have their heads on straight regarding this issue.

The more worrying concern is that some serious keyboard-related vendors in the community have been dabbling in selling these questionable keycaps.  I'd hate to see those otherwise reputable vendors get slapped with lawsuits for supporting those products since they are a juicier target for copyright enforcement.

[Bambino]

Whoops double posted.

[zslane]

Most of the artisan keycaps which are copies of well-known characters escape trademark infringement lawsuits by simply going unnoticed by the rights holders.

For one thing, a license for Star Wars or Marvel characters would be so costly that it would render a keycap project economically unfeasible. But regardless, most of the rights holders we're talking about here would never award a license for something so trivial (from a revenue perspective) as artisan/novelty keycaps anyway, and so the only result anyone could expect by requesting a license would be outright denial. And of course once the request is made and denied, there is a worrisome chance someone representing the rights holder(s) will be on the lookout for a requestor who goes ahead with their project anyway, triggering a potential lawsuit. Therefore the typical practice is to simply not request a license to begin with and hope to slip under the rights holder's radar.

[mushman]

Its like the 80's all over again.  Back then you could find a lot of people copying PacMan and Donkey Kong by porting it to various home computers with a slight change to the name.

But of course those same programmers/companies would bad mouth anyone who cracked/copied their "work."

Theft is theft.  If you want to risk your house and life savings by stealing someone's work then go right ahead.  Just don't expect anyone to shed a tear when someone starts pirating your work.

[Niomosy]

It depends on what they can get away with as well as what's actually protected. 

[davkol]

Theft is theft.

No ****. Is this some "you wouldn't download a car" nonsense?

The question is, who authorizes one to create Star War key cap or some others? These key caps will sell because of the original Star War stories and movies. Of course, if the makers are hiding somewhere far away from the law enforcement agencies for these franchises, plus if they are producing only a small amount of products then the franchises probably just keep silent.

It's basically the same story as the rise of Hollywood—they were escaping existing monopolies on copying too. It's funny how history repeats itself.

Almost everyone are copying Cherry's key switch design and here we are happily buying, e.g. Gateron. The Asians invent basically nothing, including the latest "Hall Effect" keyboard - it's modelled after a US invention. There's 'Copyright' law, with an expiration date; however, it's just law which can be changed and modified; the point is that the designs of Gateron and Zealios, and Kaihl, etc are all copycats of Cherry's. I'm glad that Cherry has not been out of business because of these copiers.

That's about patents, though, not "copyright" or trademark protection. The MX switch was patented in the 80s—too long ago.

[Niomosy]

For copyright, lots of things are protected but some aren't. 

For the US, here's the breakdown on that straight from the US Copyright Office.  I'm not saying what is and isn't protected in the OP but it's good to have a better understanding of copyright protection.  Uncopyrightable Material is section 906.     http://copyright.gov/comp3/chap900/ch900-visual-art.pdf

[Puddsy]

My dad is an IP lawyer, I asked him.

It's illegal to use a copyrighted/trademarked design without express consent of the owner. Consent can be in exchange for a royalty or whatever, and come in the form of a license, but you get it.

It's also not worth pursuing because the money they're making is less than the legal fees disney/whoever would have to pay to get them to stop. Especially if they're not US based, the cases can take a long ass time, as well.

I'm paraphrasing, don't quote me on any of this.

[zslane]

No, it's not (financially) worth pursuing in actual court.

However, a cease and desist order on legal letterhead from a media giant like Disney or Warner Brothers is frequently enough to stop infringement in its tracks. Quite often it only takes the threat of legal action to get what you want.

[Pwner]

Contacting Disney is a waste of time.  I've tried.  )

[benderkey]

My dad is an IP lawyer, I asked him.

It's illegal to use a copyrighted/trademarked design without express consent of the owner. Consent can be in exchange for a royalty or whatever, and come in the form of a license, but you get it.

It's also not worth pursuing because the money they're making is less than the legal fees disney/whoever would have to pay to get them to stop. Especially if they're not US based, the cases can take a long ass time, as well.

I'm paraphrasing, don't quote me on any of this.

Quoted for truth.

[wodan]

Don't underestimate the position the copyright holder is in. Getting counterfeit/unlicenced items INTO your country is still a risk. Customs officers are supposed to keep an eye out for these items and might hold them back to check with the brand owner. There's a whole cabinet if fake LV items in my local customs office. If the item finally gets confiscated, it's your loss.

This might not happen in your country but it does in some. What are the chances they will take a closer look at keycaps? Very slim ... still, it's a thing.