{"id":2455,"date":"2011-02-08T16:42:49","date_gmt":"2011-02-08T16:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/?p=2455"},"modified":"2011-02-14T13:55:19","modified_gmt":"2011-02-14T13:55:19","slug":"mardi-gras-indians-seek-copyright-protection-for-their-suits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/?p=2455","title":{"rendered":"Mardi Gras Indians Seek Copyright Protection For Their Suits"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chief<\/a>

Chief Howard Miller, Creole Wild West<\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve met Creole Wild West Chief Howard Miller through my client and good friend, musician June Victory.\u00a0 Chief Howard is a very nice, talented guy who deserves all he can achieve through his art as a Mardi Gras Indian Chief.<\/p>\n

Recently he’s filed an online copyright application for his brand new Indian costume in the hopes of collecting some of the income derived from photos, posters, T-Shirts, videos and movies of his costume.<\/p>\n

Chief Howard Miller knows cameras will start\u00a0clicking next month when his Creole Wild West Mardi Gras Indians\u00a0take to the streets with their elaborately beaded and feathered\u00a0costumes.<\/p>\n

“It’s not about people taking pictures for themselves, but a\u00a0lot of times people take pictures and sell them,” Miller said.<\/p>\n

Intellectual property law dating back to the nation’s founding\u00a0dictates that apparel and costumes cannot be copyrighted, but\u00a0Tulane University adjunct law professor Ashlye Keaton has found a\u00a0way around that by classifying them as something else.<\/p>\n

“Their suits and crowns, their regalia, are certainly unique\u00a0works of art,” Keaton said. “They are entitled to protect that\u00a0art work.”<\/p>\n

Keaton got to know many of the Indians through another Tulane\u00a0program, the Entertainment Law Legal Assistance Project.<\/p>\n

She was intrigued by their art, more so after she saw photos\u00a0sold at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and at local\u00a0galleries, apparently without their permission. Pictures of the\u00a0Indians sell online for up to $500 each, and books and T-shirts are\u00a0also available.<\/p>\n

Now they and members of the city’s other tribes are working to\u00a0get a slice of the profits when photos of the towering outfits they\u00a0have spent the year crafting end up in books and on posters and\u00a0T-shirts.<\/p>\n

Once the costumes are copyrighted, which can be done online for\u00a0$40, the Indians can either sue people who sell photos of them or\u00a0try to negotiate licensing fees with photographers either before or\u00a0after the pictures are taken.<\/p>\n

“It’s not about people taking pictures for themselves, but a\u00a0lot of times people take pictures and sell them,” Miller said.<\/p>\n

“For years people have been reaping the benefits from the pictures\u00a0they take of the Mardi Gras Indians.”<\/p>\n

\"Creole<\/a>

Creole Wild West<\/p><\/div>\n

Intellectual property law dating back to the nation’s founding\u00a0dictates that apparel and costumes cannot be copyrighted, but\u00a0Tulane University adjunct law professor Ashlye Keaton has found a\u00a0way around that by classifying them as something else- as works of art.<\/p>\n

The first test for the Indians who have copyrighted the new\u00a0costumes they will wear this year will come at Mardi Gras. The\u00a0Indians revamp or completely remake their suits every year, and the\u00a0copyright takes effect at the first public showing, said Ryan\u00a0Vacca, an assistant professor of law at the University of Akron\u00a0School of Law.<\/p>\n

Once the costumes are copyrighted, which can be done online for\u00a0$40, the Indians can either sue people who sell photos of them or\u00a0try to negotiate licensing fees with photographers either before or\u00a0after the pictures are taken.<\/p>\n

“They would be in a good position to negotiate a flat fee or\u00a0percentage of the sale, something like that,” said Vacca said.<\/p>\n

The Mardi Gras Indians have a long and colorful history in New\u00a0Orleans. Since the end of the 19th century, black men have been\u00a0making their own version of Indian dress and banding together for\u00a0informal street parading at Mardi Gras. Local lore holds the\u00a0tradition sprouted from runaway slaves’ admiration for Native\u00a0Americans who harbored them from slave hunters before the Civil\u00a0War.<\/p>\n

Mostly the Mardi Gras Indians come from working-class\u00a0neighborhoods, so their costume investment can take up much of\u00a0their disposable income.<\/p>\n

There is no accurate count of the groups, but about 35 are\u00a0believed active, many with colorful names such as the Wild\u00a0Tchoupitoulas, Black Seminoles,\u00a0 Golden Arrows, Wild Magnolias, Fi-Yi-Yi, 7th Ward Hard Head\u00a0Hunters Golden Blades and Creole Osceola. Each is led by a chief.<\/p>\n

Each Indian makes a new suit every year, and over the decades\u00a0they have become much more glitzy and elaborate. Some cost\u00a0thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n

“It takes the whole year to get ready for Mardi Gras,” Miller\u00a0said. “I can’t tell you how many hours I put in.”<\/p>\n

Miller copyrighted his costume at Keaton’s urging, but it’s\u00a0unclear how many other Mardi Gras Indians have, since the process\u00a0has only recently been available online and tracking the old\u00a0applications is difficult. Miller said he expects many more Indians\u00a0to copyright their work now that several have done it and can\u00a0provide help.<\/p>\n

He hopes having the copyright will be enough and he will be able\u00a0to negotiate with photographers and others using his image, rather\u00a0than sue.<\/p>\n

“This is art, what we do,” Miller said. “These suits cost\u00a0thousands of dollars and all we want is a little bit of what other\u00a0people make from them.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve met Creole Wild West Chief Howard Miller through my client and good friend, musician June Victory.\u00a0 Chief Howard is a very nice, talented guy who deserves all he can achieve through his art as a Mardi Gras Indian Chief. Recently he’s filed an online copyright application for his brand new Indian costume in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,3,214,4,205,210,107,10,128],"tags":[571,569,573,570,572],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2455"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2500,"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455\/revisions\/2500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}