Copyright And Plagiarism As Explained By A Spectacled Bear And A Baby Weasel.

“Emily, I want to draw a panda and then sell it so I can buy daddy a present”

“That is a lovely thing to do Baby Weasus” said Emily
“Do show me when you have finished”

“I’m going to copy that painting we have on the wall of the shed by Jackie Morris. I love Jackie I do”

“You can’t do that, Baby Weasus, that is Jackie’s picture. She has something called copyright on it. It is hers and you can’t copy it even if you do have the picture here in the shed. You could copy it to practice drawing for yourself to learn, but not to sell”
“Oh” said Baby Weasus. “I don’t want to be stealing from Jackie I likes her ”
Baby weasus had a think…
“What if I change it to a mouse riding a weasel? “You are still copying her idea Baby Weasus and that is wrong”

(http://www.jackiemorris.co.uk/blog/)

“Oh oh I know then, I can copy Kenji Lim’s panda. He lives far away. I’ve only seen his pictures on the internet but I want to see one for real when I go to visit my uncle who has one. He’s far away so that’s ok. I love his pandas. They make me smile”

“It doesn’t matter how far away someone lives Baby Weasus, you can’t copy their work. It is called plagiarism and it is wrong. Kenji worked hard to do his pandas. They are his and not yours. It is stealing to do that”

“Oh” said Baby Weasus. “I don’t want to be stealing from Kenji I likes him. ”

(http://www.kenjilim.com)

“Can I copy the Dreamworks panda then? I don’t really like it that much but other people do and I’ve seen lots of copies of that panda so someone will want to buy it and anyone can copy their work”

“No, Baby Weasus, you can’t copy off them, even if other people are doing it. It is still wrong and they might take your choklit away if they found out.”

“Oh I don’t want that to happen, said Baby Weasus”

Source: upload.wikimedia.org

“I can copy this can’t I cos I finded it on the internet and it is a sculpt… sculpt…. model of a panda and I’m drawing it so its ok cos its not really copying then and I don’t know who did it.”

“It is still copying, Baby Weasus and still plagiarism and still stealing and you can’t do it.”

“hmm, maybe I can’t copy any art then Emily?”
“No, Baby Weasus best not.” said Emily
“But what about an old picture from someone who has been deaded a long time? They won’t know.”
“Well, sometimes copyright goes away after a very long time but its not really polite to do it. And you shouldn’t call it your own. You could say you were doing it ‘after’ someone or say it was a copy. That’s ok. But much better to do your own. You have lots of ideas, you don’t need to copy other people’s ones.”

(Giant Panda Figure Standing on Pedestal – Marian Weisberg Sculpture see image source link)

Source: www.ebay.com

“Ok, I’ll draw my own panda. I’ll google an image and copy a photo.”
“Erm, well Baby Weasus looking at photos to get the shape is good and lots of people do that. Karin looks at lots of pictures of animals when she is making them, but you can’t copy a photo. The photo is copyrighted too just like a painting. You can’t copy photos the same as you can’t copy paintings. That is still plagiarism and it is wrong.”
“Oh.” said Baby Weasus. “This copyright thing seems to be rather important.”
Baby Weasus sat and thought for a bit. Emily sat quietly because she is a wise bear.

Source: www.google.co.uk

“I know!! If I copy the picture and put a HUGE copyright sign on it, then it makes it mine and nobody elses and I have the copyright and they don’t so I can do that!”

“Haha nice try, weaselly one! Writing copyright on it means nothing. It means you have copyright over a photo you take of it but not on the image if it is stolen from someone esle. Your work is your copyright anyway. You don’t have to write all over it and it makes it very ugly” said Emily.

“Well, what do I do Emily? I don’t know how to draw a panda and I want to get daddy a present for looking after me.”

“Well, said Emily. Jackie did a slide show for the Guardian on how to draw a panda. Our panda made a film of him drawing it do you remember? Well, you could watch the slide show and practice and practice but not sell that picture because that would be a copy of Jackie’s one but you could learn. Then you could go and really look at our panda. Look lots and lots at him and then go and draw your own panda. It will be much better than any other panda that you might copy because it will be your own”
“Thank you Emily. I love you” said Baby Weasus.

Source: www.theguardian.com

So Baby Weasus watched the film and the slide show…. and she giggled at her daddy being norty in the film.
You can see it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHfxcktcUBc

Source: www.youtube.com

And then she has a chat with Panda and really really looked at him….

And then she started to draw.

She was so proud of her original piece of art which was all her own work and she can sell it and get her daddy a present.

Thank you Emily for being such a wise bear.

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Celestine and the Hare

Author, Community member

I make and sell needle felted creatures, write and illustrate children's books and make stop motion animations featuring the animals. I also run felting workshops.

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