Interesting Copyright Violation

[CoolC]

@Spitfire
I believe you are not profiting from the suits even though you win the contest. A contest have multiple participants and there are chances that you may/may not win. You made a costume in the likeness of someone's else IP. You in no way said you represent Microsoft in the contest. Hence, you did not violate any copyright law.
You are however liable to report your winning as income and IRS has the authority to lock you up in case you failed to report the earnings.

 

[CoolC]

Went through tunnel and my phone double-post the message.

 

[BLACKULA727]

This thread popped up when I was away on vacation, so I missed it. Otherwise, I would have asked the following question back then:

In regards to the legality of making a profit from a costume of a licensed product/image, where does winning costume contests fall into this? Can the winnings from a contest you entered with your costume be considered "profits", or are they simply rewards/benefits that were given to you by some authority?

In other words, you are not asking someone for money for your work, they are simply giving it to you per the nature of a competition: winners receive prizes. Perhaps they can be considered "donations"?

I would say you would be safe for a couple reasons.
1. No good or services were actually sold.
2. If the costume is that good to win a competition, you probably paid more to build it then you actually won in prize money.

I'm not a lawyer, but that's just my take on your scenario.

 

[BLACKULA727]

Went through tunnel and my phone double-post the message.

Provided those winnings are 600 dollars or greater. Also, if you itemize you can write off your loto losses against it.

 

[Tactonyx]

I read something interesting, or heard it. Can't remember it's been a while. Anyway's, everyone's noticed the new H4 armor and how theres some missing bits of armor (Codpice obviously) I remember reading or hearing that 343I purposely did that, amongst other cosmetics changes, so costume makers, such as us, could build more comfortable and functional armor. To me, it sounds like that they're encouraging this type of behavior and no one should fear getting thier pants sued off for making thier favorite Halo armor.

 

[Spitfire22V]

You are however liable to report your winning as income and IRS has the authority to lock you up in case you failed to report the earnings.

Ha! I completely forgot about that! So the guy who won the $1000 Grand Prize in the costume contest I participated in has to declare that too when he files his taxes. Sucks!

Provided those winnings are 600 dollars or greater.

That seems to be a common misconcpetion, based on what I read here?
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=175963,00.html

I remember reading or hearing that 343I purposely did that, amongst other cosmetics changes, so costume makers, such as us, could build more comfortable and functional armor.

If that's true, it's nice that they would think about us like that. However, they might be doing us a disservice instead, since the Codpiece is frequently a crucial piece in strapping the armor! lol

Now that I think more about, I remember that I actually learned about Halo costuming from Bungie themselves, from the news feed on bungie.net years ago. Back then, I'm fairly sure the 405th wasn't around yet, and it was mjolnirarmor.com at the time. If they themselves delightedly brought attention to what their fans were doing, then it really seems they lean more towards "That is so cool that our fans are recreating the game armor in real life!" and not "OMG THEY'RE STEALING OUR PROFITS! SUE AWAY!".

 

[BLACKULA727]

That seems to be a common misconcpetion, based on what I read here?
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=175963,00.html

You are right Spitfire. However, the 1099 reporting requirements for companies who pay $600 or more are as follows:

"The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires businesses (including not-for-profit
organizations) to issue a Form 1099 to any individual or unincorporated business paid in
excess of $600 per calendar year for services rendered. This is required whether these
payments are spread out over the course of the year or are paid in one lump sum payment.
This form is generally not required to be issued to incorporated businesses. The only
exception is when payments are made to incorporated law firms. A 1099 must be issued
whenever payments in excess of $600 per calendar year are made to law firms."

I believe this is where the misconception comes from.

Basically if your contest winings from a single contest aren't over the $600.00 threshhold, then their more than likely won't be a 1099 issued due to the above references 1099 reporting requirement. However, being the responsible tax paying boyscouts that most of us are, Im sure we will all report every single gift card we receive or any other item/service/winnings that would qualify as taxable income in the eyes of the IRS...

 

[CoolC]

...However, being the responsible tax paying boyscouts that most of us are, Im sure we will all report every single gift card we receive or any other item/service/winnings that would qualify as taxable income in the eyes of the IRS...

...ahem...cough..cough..yes we are...