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Not sure. It could be borderline, but, I dunno. It seems sketchy IMO.

Oh, lol! I've never had that happen before. I like that song, too though. I'm such a nut for 80s music. mrgreen

I think he meant Gaia using the lyrics in the item descriptions. But maybe they got permission? It's possible...

I dunno how it works in the UK, but I don't think that's how it works here. ANY copying of copyrighted material for any purpose is illegal unless you have permission from the copyright holder. Even fan art, fan fiction and cosplaying are technically illegal, even if you acknowledge the true owner. But since, like you said, it actually is more like free advertising, the companies don't usually do anything about it (plus they have more important stuff to do). However, I think there was at least one case where a fanfic writer was actually sued for copyright infringement. I could be remembering wrong, though. It was a long time ago that I read about it. I'm far too lazy to look it up, so if anyone wants to prove me wrong, you have an open invitation. xd

Omg, I did not realize that until I saw it here .. then I went to the shop and click it and omg .. Gaia really did rick roll us ... wow ... I am just speechless ...

Yeah, I know about the fair use thing. I wasn't sure if it applied in this case or not, since the lyrics are quoted word for word, but they are used in a humorous way.

And I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's true. Fanart and cosplay, because they use the image of a copyrighted character, are technically illegal. Same with fanfics, because they use characters created by another person. It is considered copyright infringement to use any copyrighted material (characters, places, groups, images, etc) without the express written permission of the owner. Except in the fair use thingy.

But like I said, the vast majority of the time, no one cares. It's different from, say, downloading free music or movies, because it isn't necessarily taking profit away from the copyright owners, and it would be a waste of time and resources to try and press charges against all those people. Also, many of the creators of things which get fanart/fics and cosplays are quite flattered by them.

Of course, my disclaimer here is that I'm not a lawyer or law student or anything like that, so don't take my word as gospel (not that you would. razz ).

(And as a PS, I decided to look it up, but unfortunately, it seems that actual fan fiction, fanart and cosplay are not clearly defined in copyright law [probably because they're so nerdy... lol...]. However, sometimes, they are referred to as "derivative works" which are illegal if made without permission. But it was kind of hard to understand all those big, weird legal terms, so I'm not entirely sure if that only applies to derivative works which are submitted for copyright, or [since you don't actually have to submit anything for copyright anymore] just anything at all.)

(Edit: And what you said about in not being a violation if you don't charge is not true. I found that out on this site, which seems quite good. 10 Big Myths About Copyright Law)

.......Gaia... How can I put this nicely? ....I can't. Gaia likes pissing off 4-chan. It just does. This all started back to a certain announcement that had a picture of a username called, "Long Username is Loooooooong". That was the first time the amins directly poked fun at 4-chan. Now there are items that are directly based off 4-chan memes. They know they can't be touched because of the server size, so the admins keep doing it. They probably always will enjoy touching the raw points of 4-chan. Unless 4-chan manages to do something big to Gaia that will make the admins stop. However, I don't see that happening.