Cartoonist to sue over Islam film

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Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who depicted the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, says he will sue the maker of an anti-Islam film.

Mr Westergaard says his cartoon, which sparked riots two years ago, was used in the film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders without permission.

Mr Westergaard told Danish TV that his cartoon was a protest against terrorism, not Islam as a whole.

The Danish journalists' union is suing on his behalf for copyright violation.
"Wilders has the right to make his movie but he has not permission to use my drawing," Mr Westergaard told Denmark's TV2.

"This has nothing to do with freedom of speech," he said. "I will not accept my cartoon being taken out of its original context and used in a completely different one."

Mr Westergaard has lived in hiding in Denmark since his cartoon led to unrest in the Middle East and beyond following its publication in 2005.

'Spiteful verses'


There were further protests when it was re-published by the Danish press earlier this year.

Mr Westergaard says he is once again in danger because the cartoon has been used in Mr Wilders' film.

It may surprise some radical Muslims that the two men they have uniformly condemned as anti-Islamic do not seem to see eye-to-eye, says BBC religious affairs correspondent Frances Harrison.

Mr Wilders' 15-minute-long film, posted on the internet, uses the cartoon twice.

It also shows footage of attacks by extremist groups on Western targets, including those of 11 September 2001, alongside verses from the Koran.

Pictures of a woman being stoned, scenes from a beheading and images of the Dutch director Theo van Gogh, who was murdered by a radical Islamist in 2004, are included.

The film ends with someone turning pages of a Koran, followed by a tearing sound.

A text that appears on the screen says: "The sound you heard was from a page (being torn from a) phone book.

"It is not up to me, but up to the Muslims themselves to tear the spiteful verses from the Koran."

'Heinous'


Mr Wilders has said he is happy at what he sees as a positive reaction to his film.

But the world's most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia, strongly condemned it.

Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Kristiarto Legowo said the film was "misleading and full of racism" - an irresponsible act "done under the blanket of freedom of the press".

The foreign ministry in Bangladesh issued a statement calling the film "unwarranted" and "mindless" and said it would "offend millions of Muslims".

Iran said it was blasphemous, anti-Islamic and heinous - a sign it said of deep hatred felt by Westerners towards Muslims.

Source

 
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I believe it is not illegal to use copyrighted artwork for educational and similar purposes. Is it?
 
I believe it is not illegal to use copyrighted artwork for educational and similar purposes. Is it?

I think it is. Any use of copyrighted material without the permission of the copyright holder is illegal, whether it's for educational purposes or not.
 
There's nothing much to say about this topic other than 'I love lawyers'.
 
All right everybody.. simply don't judge the news with mixed feelings of passion or hatred or whatsoever is in your heart, then u could give a good opinion without either hurting your own feelings or others.. PEACE!
 
Okay, time to clean up the mess... (i.e. off-topic posts are in the process of being removed. I know, you love me.) The point of this thread is cartoonists suing over the film - there is already a separate thread for the film itself. Ta-da. Kindly use it.

I believe it is not illegal to use copyrighted artwork for educational and similar purposes. Is it?
They still need permission, even for educational reasons. In any case, you'd be hard pressed to argue Wilders' (Geert, not Gene. Gene is cool.) film is an educational work.
 
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In any case, you'd be hard pressed to argue Wilders' (Geert, not Gene. Gene is cool.) film is an educational work.

There is a fine line between educational and propagandist. To be fair to the film maker, the didn't make anything up for his film. He just took the most shocking clips and intermingled them with the most shocking verses that he could find.

As for the cartoonist suing the film maker, he's right to do so, especially if he truly did mean the cartoon to be speaking only to terrorism and not to muslims in general. It would have been taken to say something he didn't mean it to say - both an infringement of use and a misscharacterization.

On the other hand, he may be doing this as a way to score some public opinion points and placate those who have been calling for his head.
 
"It may surprise some radical Muslims that the two men they have uniformly condemned as anti-Islamic do not seem to see eye-to-eye, says BBC religious affairs correspondent Frances Harrison."

Do we really have to be RADICAL to condemn these movies?? What a bunch of idiots.
 
There is a fine line between educational and propagandist. To be fair to the film maker, the didn't make anything up for his film. He just took the most shocking clips and intermingled them with the most shocking verses that he could find.
Arguably the fact that it's simply a film on general release (as opposed to one specifically targeted at and shown as part of a school sylabus for instance) renders it a work of entertainment rather than education.

In any case, authorisation is still required. Could be different under Danish law.

As for the cartoonist suing the film maker, he's right to do so, especially if he truly did mean the cartoon to be speaking only to terrorism and not to muslims in general. It would have been taken to say something he didn't mean it to say - both an infringement of use and a misscharacterization.
I'd simply argue it was an infringement of use - simply using the cartoons without the copyright propiertor's authorisation is an offence under British law, however I'm not sure about Danish law.

On the other hand, he may be doing this as a way to score some public opinion points and placate those who have been calling for his head.
Perhaps. Personally, I find this sort of self-destruction of the critics very amusing.
 
Mr Westergaard told Danish TV that his cartoon was a protest against terrorism, not Islam as a whole.

Well he should take the word terrorism cut it then put in the place of Islam.
That's how most muslim see his protest.
 
Jordan group wants Dutch MP tried over 'anti-Islam' film

AMMAN (AFP) — Some 30 Jordanian media outlets filed an official complaint on Tuesday seeking court action against far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders over a film judged anti-Islamic.

The organisations, who have set up a group called "Campaign for the Prophet", said in a statement they had lodged their complaint with the Amman prosecutor.

One of the group's lawyers, Tarek Hawamdeh told AFP that the action was "based on the (film's) violation of publishing laws which ban insults against religions and attacks against Islam and the prophets", punishable by a jail term of three years.

The lawyer said the prosecutor "will hear on Wednesday the arguments of those who have started the judicial process and of witnesses". He said he hoped this would lead to a court "order for Wilders to appear".

Wilders's 17-minute film "Fitna" ("discord" in Arabic), which links the holy Koran with terror attacks, has sparked uproar in Muslim countries.

Jordan immediately condemned the film on its release and some Jordanian MPs called for Amman to break diplomatic relations with The Hague.

The media group has also called for a boycott of Dutch products.

Source

 
i understand the complaint part, but what action do they expect the court to take? whose "publishing laws" are they talking about? :muddlehea
 
eh both just want to stay in the lime light a while.. when a would be big kaboom ends up in a fizzle.. some will do anything to be the focus of public attention... I suspect the Danish cretin is a bit histrionic amongst other things... let him be. who gives a rats a**...
I say to hell with both of 'em.. no need to give them any more attention... actually to acknowledge them all together loans them a measure of credence.. when we should just let them dissolve as the miserable minute wonders that they are...

:w:
 
Yeah, you guys are right. We should just ignore them at this point. The more we talk about them, the more publicity they get.
 

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