A project called PropertyGames asks some interesting questions by making "visual mashups" from photos of street art, and then selling these on shirts, hats, and other products. A very interesting conversation about the conceptual backing is included on the site in a chat with Sal Randolph, who we first heard about via the wonderful OpSound project. The density of interesting ideas and links is staggering, to the extent that one wishes one was present at the chat session.
One interesting comment Sal makes in the discussion is:
Well, I think you're really part of the illegal art/detritus community with this project rather than the cc copyleft world
copyleft = giving
and
mashups = stealing ?
perhaps, but
Detritus = the cycle of giving and taking that is culture.
Another outrageous copyright suit has been filed, this time by Marvel Comics against the creators of a massively multiplayer role-playing game called City of Heroes. The claim is that the game allows players to make characters that look like or are named after Marvel characters like the Hulk, Wolverine, etc.
That's like saying pencils allow you to draw something that looks like someone else's copyrighted material and that therefore the pencil company should be liable. Ridiculous.