Across Three Continents: A Tale of Tumblr, Copyright, and Excellent Posters

Preorder a (signed!) copy of the tri-continental poster that inspired this video: dftba.com/produ... In doing so, you'll support beautiful nerdfighters bringing beautiful things into the world.
In which John discusses intellectual property, the complexity of protecting it, and the total insufficiency of current copyright law. The failure of copyright law has led to a kind of Wild West mentality here on the Internet, particularly on tumblr, where strange and complex collaborations happen every day. John happened across one such collaboration, fell in love with it, and then spent weeks trying to untangle the business of who, exactly, should own what.
Nica (the original artist) has a tumblr: / incredibru
So does Ashild (who adapted Nica's art into a poster): / bestunderworldkiss
So do I: / fishingboatproceeds

[@inezhermansson1513]

John Green, as a swedish nerdfighter I challenge you to pronounce the swedish title of TFIOS accurate. Which means you'll have to pronounce the letter Ö, and believe me, it'll be hilarious to watch.

[@marissaoslick1961]

We need to actually make this happen.

[@hannaosbeck5788]

A little bit late but I agree. It would be really fun to hear John pronuonce Ö.

[@LlwtyDeer]

+Hanna Hanna is the ö you mean the same as the german ö

[@eliwest3393]

London Weekend Television Almost definitely

[@SylviaRustyFae]

As someone who put an ö in their name when they changed their name after comin out; i agree that wud be very fun to watch. The funny thing is my last name Söldner is still vastly easier for ppl to guess how to say in a close to correct way than my middle name i picked at the same time Dubh, which is Gaelic and honestly has like 13 slightly different ways to pronounce it but none sre intuitive to an English speaker who just tries to say "Dub-hu?" or somethin else if they actually see my middle name xD I made it super easy with my first name tho as be it my nickname shown here or my actual legal first name (still a chosen name mind you, just a diff one cuz i decided i wanted to have two first names); both are common English names at least and dont include any accent marks.

[@eagleontheweb]

"TWO BROTHERS SLOWLY AGE!!!" THAT WAS GREAT!

[@emmasantoy3318]

KZbin on Playstation lets me put John Green's wonderful face on 42" HDTV all the time.

[@KaLeetheOreo]

Has the app gotten better? I stopped using it because the search was a mess.

[@lukethomas658]

Thanks to Chromecast, your face is on my HD television. Sorry, John.

[@chewbear]

This was a good episode of "Two brothers slowly age."

[@WenzelSays]

I still love how much effort Hank and John put into always doing the Right Thing. Even when it's hard or not something they HAVE to do for legal reasons. They are always remembering to be awesome.

[@JonasAlbrecht]

"Two Brothers Slowly Age" I'd watch it.

[@spellkatharine]

Every time you mentioned the Philippines (and/or Filipino) in this video, I smiled! So so happy that you recognized one of my fellow Filipino nerdfighters!!!! (PS I think it's time you think of visiting the Philippines someday. Told you at the latfob before that you've gained a large following here!!) :)

[@abbiprost1652]

I love how the volgbrothers always have something meaningful and completely true to say.

[@lordscrachsniff]

you my friend are the perfect writer/creator of things. I wish everyone with ideas had the same mindset about other people being inspired by their ideas and developping ones of their own based on them.

[@littlehouseontheprepostero8457]

I know people like this are annoying but... Go Norway!! BTW here TFIOS is called "Faen ta skjebnen", which basically means "F*ck Fate"

[@sandradevries3907]

+littlehouseonthepreposterous In Holland it is called 'een weeffout in onze sterren' which is an exact translation of the fault in our stars. I wish we had such a cool title. Love your username btw.

[@mrskippythesouleater]

This tale of international copyright law was actually really heartwarming. It's always nice when people treat each other like, well, people. John Green would have been well within his rights to just take the poster, but the fact that he actually took the time to look for all possible contributors to it and give them a fair deal makes me incredibly happy.

[@WinchestGold]

"Two brothers slowly age." I'm still laughing.

[@emmagrahn]

You ARE excellent at pronouncing "Förr eller senare exploderar jag"! And it will never stop being funny so thank you for continuing to say it in videos

[@JasmyneTea]

Your face is currently on a 50 inch smart TV mate, and it's lovely!

[@MagicalDuckling]

I just wanted to tell you John, that the book, The Fault in our Stars is one of the few books I've read that legit made me cry.

[@LuneFromage]

AH! That sounds amazing. If I went to Brown then I would want to audition to be in your play. It's two of my favourite things coming together: The Fault in Our Stars and acting/theatre! I wish you all the best of luck with that. Or perhaps I should wish that you break a leg? Anyway, I hope John finds out about it because I think he would be honored. :)

[@kadeeccleston3718]

I just finished your book "Fault In Our Stars" and it is the best book i have ever read. DFTBA

[@zfilmcat]

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE MORE SIGNED POSTERS! I don't really care which, preferably the new ones, but there aren't any and they ran out!

[@OBecs]

Cool literary term for all the inspired art surrounding the text: megatext. Usually used in reference to sci-fi but certainly applicable.

[@ecilana1234]

Yay great news. I missed the other signed posters pre-orders. Thanks John.

[@rubberducky1416]

its my birthday today... this made it 100000X better :) thank you John Green. dftba. x

[@38lizzieb]

I think that's why when people are writing fanfiction (myself included) at the beginning or somewhere in the Author's Notes put "we don't own anything, we just play in the sandbox." So we can be creative with content that's already been done, but on our terms and explore other avenues that the show/movie/whatever couldn't/didn't want to.

[@XxBloodyblackcatxX]

There needs to be more people like you who recognise that the original should be recognised and we should all be fair to one another even when money enters the equation.

[@TheBlondiesNr1]

THAT WOULD BE SO GREAT! It would be even greater if you came to Gothenburg because Gothenburg is a reallyreally beautiful city and y'know it's where I live and I want to see you so yeah

[@Exousflame]

Not to mention how long copyright law lasts on most media on average 50-70 years after the creators death (in music cases there can be like multiple creators so they all have to die then you wait 70 years) but unlike published works which copyright lasts 25 years from the publication of the first edition after that the work is public domain and that means copyright transcends lifetimes (unless you are a book) and that is absolutely crazy.

[@argentinachina22]

That poster is so amazing!

[@Arewethebaddiess]

I love the closing statement!!

[@FullMoonFlight]

OMG yes please, that needs to happen. I'm going to make everyone I know here buy a copy. WE WILL GET YOU OVER HERE JOHN.

[@thejerrymobile]

The problem with the whole self-policing model arises when things in their original state get ripped off at such a rate that they become widely distributed and illegally monetized by third parties. Like, have you seen all of the sites that just rip, re-post and monetize all of our KZbin videos? It's crazy! And I don't have time to send all those take-down requests... Who does? So it just keeps happening.

[@ndickson712]

Copyright can sometimes really suck. I recently tried to put a little note on one of my drawings claiming it was my original work. The note was viewed as pretentious and apparently a little self-absorbed with my creation. I thought it was fair to claim my drawing, I was proud of it, but instead I got more criticism.

[@vaennberg]

The worst thing with the swedish book (I read some parts of it in a bookshop ehe) is that every quotes is ruined, but still, it's great that people that only can read swedish can now read about Hazel and Augustus. But it was so awesome when the book was placed right next to David Levithans books, I got a tear in my eye.

[@bekadanspell8518]

Love this poster, I'm totally going to pre-order it!

[@thehallows441]

I think he was using the tfios-painting-poster thing as more of a relatable example and is stressing the point that the original creators (not necessarily himself) need recognition where it is due (whether that means money or not). And I think what he meant from the pizza john t-shirt thing was that the person who designed it was getting their share on every shirt sale not only him :)

[@suhrealist]

FILIPINO NERDFIGHTER! I'm sorry this isn't related to the video at all but John, I think it's about time you guys take a trip to the Philippines. :)

[@ZackGomez198035]

Thank you for explaining copyright further. I am studying digital citizenship and etiquette at the university.

[@darthvaderchic]

John, I love every single one of your videos!

[@sgqberry]

John, my daughter Bailey read your book during her recovery from 2 brain surgeries and then a battle with CDIFF (which nearly killed her, check out the USA today video Teen CDIFF) I just preordered this poster for her because she will adore it. Thanks for signing it. Totally awesome DFTBA! (I use that in my class!)

[@oO_ox_O]

Certainly not just like that if it inseparably incorporates another copyrighted expression whose spirit of creativity shines through. I am not kidding that's the expressions people dealing with this stuff use. :P

[@calebpaul7811]

I just ordered Paper Towns, but I go to Basic Training before it gets here !!! Its the first of Jhon's books Ive ever ordered...

[@hiphughes]

Great story as always Mr. Green. John you make want to crawl out of my classroom, give up the edutainment and talk about anything I want to. That's it, I quit. #brilliant

[@acWeishan]

Copyright should mimic land rights. Similar to property, one should be taxed on it even if one don't use it for profit. There should be a concept like Imminent Domain, and possibly squatter rights. The concept should be to allow one to make a buck on an idea, but not hold the greater society at ransom for thinking of an idea first. It should be Copyreward, instead of copyright.

[@theend360]

I may be wrong, but towards the end of the video, I said to myself, is John still talking? I then noticed that the video was almost 4 minutes long, and I realized how much I missed these long John videos. I know that you are a busy man, and I appreciate all that you do, but not a single one of your viewers would complain about videos that consistently approach 4 minutes. Short videos of you are just not enough!

[@merissamakesstuff]

I definitely feel afraid to create sometimes because the laws are so vague in many cases and I get nervous that someone is going to sue me because I didn't know I broke one of them. I think that the fair use law should especially be updated and a bit more specific, because it really is defined by everyone. So if someone tries to sue and you say it is covered under fair use, but the judge you get decides it is not, you are in trouble. On the other hand, you could get a judge who has a totally different point of view on fair use and win.

[@ThetaAllardyce]

This reminded me that norwegian nerdfighters exist (I'm from Norway, but all the nerdfighters I know are from other countries). WHERE ARE YOU ALL? Certanily not at my school (or my town) it seems

[@nymphography]

Being Swedish, John's pronunciation of the translated title is just about one of my favourite things ever. However, and I'm saying this with as much love and adoration as I can muster, if I didn't know he was trying to speak Swedish, I wouldn't have been able to tell.

[@emilycrews3027]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make a video discussing the point of Valentine's Day and what the purpose of "having a valentine" is. It's, of course, the hottest topic at my school currently and I am still utterly confused.

[@MIAvoice24604]

That poster makes me want to cry

[@kilalamobasitoff]

It's kinda funny how people react when their country is mentioned in... something like this. Haha. And yes, I am a Filipino Nerdfighter too. Now Mr. Green, will you please come to the Philippines? My box set wants J-scribbles. :))

[@niclorium]

Woohoo filipino nerdfighters! And it's awesome how you resolved that. Smart. And the last quote, yes yes yes. dftba!

[@KleptomaniaKat]

prepaid cards usually don't work online, however prepaid visa cards do. Or, it is possible it is using something which hank's store doesn't support.(Some sort of third party credit card that nobody has heard of.)

[@J0ELLEx]

My mom pre-ordered a Don't Forget to be Awesome poster. I opened it, saw the autographs, and yelled OH MY GOD! And then my mom was like "It's autographed!" And then I half-yelled, half-whistled "IT'S AUTOGRAPHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[@drtechtek2165]

I am seeing that in Germany, the law is so harsh, that someone in Germany needs to think three times if he can take a picture, change the picture or just not do anything at all. Therefore most of them not try to get to creative stuff. Also in the Uni, a friend of mine needed to write a software with a group, he filed because the code was the same in all the group, although they worked together, crazy, not?!

[@loopylosers]

Your hair looks so cute. :)

[@xJackiGenocidex]

fishingboatproceeds. tumblr. com ask questions there, or post something to tumblr and tag him in it. Probably how he saw the poster in the first place.

[@syntacticalcrab]

White balancing is obviously the best reason to own a floofy lapdog.

[@willemkossen]

Agreed, the copyright laws are, well, outdated... But they are not going to change unless someone comes up with a better alternative and a strong enough lobby to get it changed. Neither of those are available yet. What would you brothers think is the best future copyright-type law and how do you think you could get it implemented? Until then this will be heard everywhere : Land of the free? Not with my content!

[@wolfgirl1090]

I have a question for John Green. What is your favorite color back-scratcher? (I only ask because I was at Chuck E. Cheese's today with a friend and her younger brother, and I won a small, blue plastic back-scratcher. I would say it works pretty well- for a Barbie doll.)

[@TroggacomCactus]

It seems to me that most of the difference between nerdfighters making a painting, poster, fanfiction or something and putting it online and Viacom putting a TFiOS adaptation on CBS is that the nerdfighter is probably doing it more with the intent of just sharing their art with the world and showing "Hey, I am proud to be a member of Nerdfightaria!" whereas cable companies are more along the philosophy of "How can I make tons of money off of what this guy did?" It's a social media vs. cable television kind of thing. And before you say "Oh those people on tumblr are just trying to get noticed so they can get attention and/or money too," they know that they can't well do it without Hank and John's help, so they're really more asking for permission than going off saying "I r maek munee bai do TFiOS stuffz" like Viacom would be. Note that he splits the royalties with the creators after noticing it, finding them, and putting it on dftba.com, meaning that he approves it and works with it before they're paid, unlike an adaptation on CBS which would just start making money more or less immediately.

[@inneeko]

I had a spaz when he said Ashley because I thought he was talking to me! Which is throughly impossible since we both live incredibly far away from each other and he is in the computer.

[@IsMiseDanielle]

I am so excited to see you in Dublin!! Would you be able to take some dftba merch to sell while you are here?

[@jonxehart1476]

Hah! I've been watching most of their videos from the beginning on . . . a 42 in HD TV !

[@downsidebrian]

I have spent a lot of time thinking about how copyright law might change in a way that would allow, for instance, nerdfighters to make 'A Fault in our Stars' art or adaptations, while still preventing big corporations from making a TV show about it without your permission. I have come up with a few conclusions. The first is that copyright law is complicated and confusing and I'm lucky if I'm getting anything right. Next, it seems that whatever angle I come at the problem from, it comes down to one thing: creators must make their wishes known and understood! If those wishes are respected and enforced properly, then copyright law has succeeded. Therefore, I propose an addition to the traditional method of publishing art: normally, any artistic creation, from a painting or book to a video game or movie, when published, has some kind of copyright info pretty readily available. In a book, this is the copyright page, paintings can have stuff attached to the back or on a label, etc. and movies and video games have credits. Online creations, such as fanart or fanfics, often have author info pages, etc. I propose that we use the space on those pages/credits to state the wishes of the author with regards to the use of the images or ideas in other productions. So, John, in your case, you could write on the copyright page of your book that individuals may use the ideas from your book to create more art on a scale of individuals on a small scale, but larger ventures and productions must contact you for permission. You could base it on expected revenue, for example. The only problem I see with this is that creators must decide who is allowed to use their stuff and how they can use it. This comment is very long, and I am quite proud of myself. Anyone can use the ideas here for any purpose without crediting me.;)

[@roseofloki]

My inner camera nerd exploded at the thought of using a dog for White Balance. I can now write off my new dog as a professional expense...

[@joels2923]

So many words... So much philosophy

[@laineyzosa]

it's at groups/nerdfightersPH, we have 49 nerdfighters there so far.

[@alcological]

I'm a swedish guy watching my 2nd vlogbrothers video ever and as soon as you said "förr eller senare exploderar jag" i subcribed :)

[@aurum262]

Basically, Hank negotiated his contract with John on the understanding that John could become a millionaire on a design he made. If John told Hank he would only make a shirt for himself and wouldn't sell it, that would be unfair. However, assuming an absence of fraud or threats of violence, there was absolutely nothing unfair. Hank sold because he valued $100 above the rights to his design. Even if John makes a million dollars, Hank is better off than he was at the beginning. It's a win-win.

[@AnkaFurb]

Oh my. I wouldn't even try teaching someone the difference between bønner and bønder in writing, how confusing would that be! Awes-hill, sounds about right...Ashley is _verry_ far off...but that was fun!

[@markthomasnoonan]

Have you tried playing old-time banjo? If it doesn't make you happy it will at least make being bummed more awesome.

[@DianaMcManaman]

Something similar actually happened to Joe Costantini, the writer of the song "Play That Funky Music." He wrote the song, then his band mates in the band Wild Cherry paid him like $40 for it, then the song became super popular and his name wasn't even on the album cover because he had no rights to the song.

[@swordfish1929]

The next time I see you John you will not be a collection of pixels in my computer you will be real!!! Please sign my small pterodactyl Gus, I know he is neither bug nor an incredibly attractive guy who has to come to terms with oblivion but he is awesome!

[@jayfblank]

It intrigues me in a slightly negative way, that you can copyright a feeling, in essence. A mood, if you will, when someone across the planet could very likely share the feeling and or mood, with no connection whatsoever. It almost seems to devalue the other individual. "You can't have that feeling, or benefit from it, because I had it and registered a copyright on it, sorry - you'll have to feel something else." hmmm...

[@youcancallmedoctor]

Ah! I see! Thank you!

[@MrJethroha]

I think if nerfighters everywhere decided to become politicians in their country/state/territory/town the world could solve problems like these!!! Maybe im expecting too much of the nerdfighter community to make global political shifts, but it still would be cool.

[@4lifeNerdfighter]

How specific does copyright law get on what you can use? When he mentioned paying the font designer, I got to thinking. Do you have to pay the programmer for Photoshop, or whatever was used to make the poster? Do you pay the paint company, who supplied colors for the original painting? Do you pay the food company that gave John a hot pocket to stay alive and write the book? I think you see what I'm getting at. How deep do you have to go in what people contributed?

[@wafelsen]

John, as a copyright holder (we'll assume its him & not the publisher) gets to decide to whom and for what price he's will to sell his rights. If he said, "I hate Fox for cancelling Firefly", when they called and said they wanted to make a TV show out of his work, he could say, "No, I hate you people" or "Only for a gagillion dollars". But he might be more willing to let The Learning Channel make such a show and offer it at a more reasonable price.

[@literarycircle]

My favorite case of the Internet policing itself is The Oatmeal's kickstarter against a litigious lawyer.

[@annacrisis2408]

"(....) (to NOT be) afraid to create, because that is the opposite of what (we're) supposed to do" Paraphrasing your closing line just so i can ask: What are we going to do with AI nowadays??????? Anyone? Have these guys made a video exploring posibilites or this topic at all? Can someone point me to it?

[@JCResDoc94]

my go pro still needs white balancing! but i live in 2018. hey, is that dog copyright?

[@CrunchyDragons]

Needed the dog for white balancing is the best thing to ever happen to an ex-television production major/current dog lover

[@KeltonGrayson]

The internet is slipping in the vigilance. There is an AWFUL lot of new youtubers who are just paid actors by media companies. And they seem to be getting an awful lot of subscribers.

[@DanneDaniel]

Swedish title of TFIOS: Förr eller senare exploderar jag Fur ell-r sen-a-re explo-de-rar jak Sooner or later i'll explode I have no idea how to write phonetic, but i gave it a shot.

[@katiefox3259]

Watching this more than six years later and that hot slice of crazy that is copyright law has only gotten infinitely worse 🤦‍♀️

[@SylviaRustyFae]

"My face was not designed for 42" televisions" Well John of thr past, hate to tell ya... But youre definitely on 42"+ televisions rite this moment as im writin this comment. Tons of folks use youtube primarily on their TVs nowadays! The future is weird!

[@oO_ox_O]

Through other means, being contracted to create new stuff. The reutilization value of certain is limited anyway.

[@LadyUnicornEJG]

That comes to one of the core things I dislike about current copyright. The other thing isn't copyright per-se but the methods taken to to protect it (which in turn amplify and create deterrent to creators (writers, artists, etc.)...as well as keeping people who simply CANNOT purchase from having access to copies in which literally nobody is losing anything because no money would be exchanged either way and the original is not deminished, destroyed, or otherwise removed in the process).

[@Classica_1750]

LEMME REPEAT THAT~ Filipino NERDFIGHTERS EXISTS~!!!

[@Ilovenerdsification]

Anyone know when the posters will actual ship/arrive? I'm in Canada and pre-ordered one and am eagerly awaiting....

[@Crucis119]

Sounds a lot like what Joseph Gordon Levitt is doing with his company HitRECord. AWESOME.

[@venomtest]

I would say that the difference between nerdfighters on youtube and viacom on CBS is intent to create, and intent to make money. That said, there's never going to be a way to regulate that.

[@Laura_Norda]

nahh we love you just the way you all, puff & all ^_^

[@AmyMorgan89]

I'm amazed you are so grateful and appreciative of fan's work, to go to extremes to find out who made them, so you can assure they get royalties so you can use it. I think you're the only person I've heard of doing that. Everyone else would've been like, "Alright, this is too complicated, I give up."

[@munjee2]

Judging by todays video and this one I'm just going to assume all Swedish books covers are batshit insane, I don't want to check anymore since I'll probably be proven wrong

[@gumshoecomix]

love is pheromones. I think that would be something more suited for Sci-show

[@gryphonavocatio]

Sooner or later I will explode. That lacks some of the artistic subtlety of the original, I must opine.

[@Campusanis]

Regarding international copyright law: What about the Berne Convention? At least that should ensure that you don't have to care about WHERE something has been created, making international copyright law a little easier. But I'm sure there's more to it...

[@OrbeezRando]

Hold it right there! 0:03 Man's best video recording friend? Winner!

[@lightspeedius]

Is it just me or are often the two top comments one a relevant comment, the other a scolding comment against a negative commenter? I confess I'm often compelled to see the offending comment too. Maybe I'll stop that.

[@kelseybtoney]

Could a lovely nerdfighter point me to wherever it is that I can go to find other nerdfighter vloggers? I'm just starting out and would love to find some other n00bs to support/encourage and vice-versa. :D