Talk:Main Page 4

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Contents 1 Two Questions 2 TBL? 3 The Comeback Kid? 4 Something I noticed

[edit] Two Questions

Here they are.

• First of all, is it worth noting that the copyright text overlaps the Strong Bad bowling ball when you mouse over "Downloads"?
• And second off, am I the only one who thinks they should've just kept the "Renegade Master" loop? I mean, even someone who didn't like Homestar Runner (Ronnie Martin of Joy Electric, for instance) wouldn't take that to court. And besides, chances are Fatboy Slim and Wildchild dig Homestar, or they would if they saw it — and that should count as "fair use." Then again, if it didn't, then don't you lose your copyright if you don't defend it? I'm not sure. I think they should just put it back on, because —
  • One, too much of The System is Down is a bad, bad thing, and that remix is so cool it's worth risking it, and —
  • Two, anyone who has a problem with something you have on your site warns you that you're infringing their copyright before they file a lawsuit, and as I've said before, their use of the song was too brief for it to even be illegal; and because both of them seem like Homestar fan material, the worst either one of them would do is request (or demand) credit for their song.
• Of course, that's just the way I see it in my little world. I'm probably preaching to the choir (or, to a lesser degree, rambling), though, since I'm (apparently) the first one to even post something here. I'll halfta look at the discussion page history. So, I won't patrol this message and just ask whoever does to comment.

It's over! — Darth Katana X ( )

I realize this is two years old, but for the record, no: You do not lose your copyrights by not defending them. That's trademarks. (See this diatribe for loads about that.) Copyrights are yours the moment you realize a creative work, even if you don't publish it or register it, and remain yours until you assign them to someone else—in the case of songs, they are almost always assigned by contract to a publishing company—you explicitly release the work into the public domain, or they expire. The rules for the expiration period are complicated.

"Anyone ... warns you ... before they file..." As a general rule, yes, but they're not required to. Even if they do, the "warning" could very well be a demand for back royalties, and the ensuing lawsuit an attempt to collect punitive damages on top of those. When infringing the copyrights of a major label and a professional songwriter, it's much better to clean up your act before they notice than to trust that they'll play nice. Realize, in a case like this, there are two works being infringed: the song itself, and the recording of it. The recording is almost always owned by the record company, and the song is often owned by a large, faceless publishing company. The artist themselves often has no input into whether an infringer is harassed or sued. Besides, I don't know of any evidence that TBC didn't receive warnings.

Also, "fair use" does not mean "the artist doesn't mind". Fair use is a doctrine in copyright law that defines specific situations where use of a work does not infringe the owner's rights. There are gray areas and evolution of interpretation over time, but this use would probably be characterized as "sampling for use as a significant feature of a derivative work", which these days is pretty clearly established as not Fair Use. Just ask Vanilla Ice. --TheNicestGuy 01:16, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] TBL?

Haven't seen it in a while... but the 4-pointed stars on the back wall remind me of The Dude's bowling alley in The Big Lebowski... Are they the same? Can someone check? ---Ransom (--69.105.203.96 17:47, 25 March 2006 (UTC))

Actually, most likely. Pom Pom's costume in Halloween Potion-ma-jig was from that movie. Bluebry 18:51, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Oh, and in Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 13.2, there's a line similar to that movie. Bluebry 21:28, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Comeback Kid?

What does "The Comeback Kid" mean? I've heard that phrase in one other place, but I couldn't figure it out from the context. Wikipedia doesn't help...I don't think so, at least.... 71.252.44.40 21:39, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Poker player Stu Ungar was called this when he played in the 1997 World Series of Poker, because he hadn't played in years, but still looked young and still dominated the competition. This probably isn't a reference to that specific incident, but it's the sort of circumstance under which somebody would be called The Comeback Kid. - furrykef (Talk at me) 00:23, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Something I noticed

When you leave the System is Down on, the effect from Games doesn't work. Wolf O'Donnel 05:28, 11 April 2022 (UTC)