A stupid question about Hurricane, Tats, and Trademarks...

**ColdwaVer** · 03-29-2004, 09:46 PM

Ok, to give a real answer to the question...

Looking at this from a standpoint of US copyright law (since I beleive DC's copyrights with fall there,) DC could try to force WWE to stop showing Hurricane's tatoo, but chances are they wouldn't win in a full scale legal battle. What you have to look at is the Fair Use clause of the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. This includes the following areas of consideration:

1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.
The purpose of Hurricane's tattoo is to display his love of GL comics, and not to make him money.

2. The nature of the copyrighted work.
In this case, a visial logo.

3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
The GL symbol is a very small portion of the whole substantiality of the overall comic and attatched cartoons, merchandise, etc.

4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
Said tattoo is not going to damage sales of GL comics and merchandise; if anything it may spark interest.

So basically, Shane Helms' Green Lantern tatoo, and the display thereof on WWE programming, falls perfectly within established copyright law, and WWE is within their rights to show it.

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03-29-2004, 09:46 PM	#1
ColdwaVer Darth Teedious Posts: 4,634	Ok, to give a real answer to the question... Looking at this from a standpoint of US copyright law (since I beleive DC's copyrights with fall there,) DC could try to force WWE to stop showing Hurricane's tatoo, but chances are they wouldn't win in a full scale legal battle. What you have to look at is the Fair Use clause of the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. This includes the following areas of consideration: 1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes. The purpose of Hurricane's tattoo is to display his love of GL comics, and not to make him money. 2. The nature of the copyrighted work. In this case, a visial logo. 3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole. The GL symbol is a very small portion of the whole substantiality of the overall comic and attatched cartoons, merchandise, etc. 4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. Said tattoo is not going to damage sales of GL comics and merchandise; if anything it may spark interest. So basically, Shane Helms' Green Lantern tatoo, and the display thereof on WWE programming, falls perfectly within established copyright law, and WWE is within their rights to show it.