Remove Homestuck Items - Admin Action In Progress! (See OP)

Do you think it was wrong of Gaia to copy and alter an independent artist's creative property for commercial purposes?

Yes	77.3%	[ 2186 ]
No	22.7%	[ 641 ]
Total Votes:			[ 2827 ]

[Really Awful Username]

YouAre_aCinema

I'm not bumping it, it's the people who can't read that do that.
I just simply tell them off.

[fin22hola]

YouAre_aCinema

Pirape

I'm going to take a page out of your book and act like a twelve year old for a brief moment here:

STOP



********




COMPLAINING

Seriously. If you hate seeing this thread so much, stop ******** posting in it. Christ. Move on already.

Seriously. You're kind of helping the process of bumping this thread.

Lol, ia.

[fin22hola]

Zerker x Saurian

YouAre_aCinema

I'm not bumping it, it's the people who can't read that do that.
I just simply tell them off.

Lol, except, yeah, you are. Each one of your replies re-bumps the thread back to the top of the page.

[Taiomi Fox]

I hate to burst your bubble, but Gaia makes buttloads of references even more flat-out than these Homestuck ones. Plus, people are enjoying these items quite a bit.
I realize that the creator of Homestuck was not advised about this but honestly, these items could be referring to literally anything on the internet. Not just Homestuck.

I know this is bumping the thread but that's the point. Intelligent discussion is needed to really balance out this ridiculous feud. I, as a big, independant artist myself, see no harm being done. IF ANYTHING, Homestuck is being popularized and supported by these references.

For the sake of all that is good and Gaia, let this nonsensical, nooblet-filled thread die already. You people are ridiculous. Get your facts straight, and start reading the previous posts carefully before jumping in like an idiot and shouting about how you support a generic symbol. It's like saying Einstein is infringing on Disney corporation for figuring out the Atomic Bomb.

[WV-]

Taiomi Fox

I hate to burst your bubble, but Gaia makes buttloads of references even more flat-out than these Homestuck ones. Plus, people are enjoying these items quite a bit.
I realize that the creator of Homestuck was not advised about this but honestly, these items could be referring to literally anything on the internet. Not just Homestuck.

I know this is bumping the thread but that's the point. Intelligent discussion is needed to really balance out this ridiculous feud. I, as a big, independant artist myself, see no harm being done. IF ANYTHING, Homestuck is being popularized and supported by these references.

For the sake of all that is good and Gaia, let this nonsensical, nooblet-filled thread die already. You people are ridiculous. Get your facts straight, and start reading the previous posts carefully before jumping in like an idiot and shouting about how you support a generic symbol. It's like saying Einstein is infringing on Disney corporation for figuring out the Atomic Bomb.

Finally someone who makes sense.

[Porcelain Toilet]

I don't sign, even though I am a fan of Homestuck. I'm simply putting out an argument.

Wouldn't Gaia be promoting his comic by making these items? People will learn what they were from, go to the comic, read it and possibly love it. It's really no harm that they made these items, to me at least. It's how I really learned about Homestuck and got into it. Even if they didn't ask him, they are simple designs. Anyone can copy that by accident, or not. Also, with the candy corn horns. That's not an original idea from Homestuck. Candy corn used as horns has been around before Homestuck. When I was a kid we used to glue them to the pumpkins as devil horns. So I hate how people say that idea belongs to Homestuck. It's like the Zodiac signs, they don't own it. They just put it into more of an extreme. With these items, Gaia was trying to please the fans and now you're all rejecting them. It's okay that Gaia never contacted them to use this, that's how businesses work. Also, it's not hurting the comic in any way. I don't see the problem. :I

[Porcelain Toilet]

Taiomi Fox

I hate to burst your bubble, but Gaia makes buttloads of references even more flat-out than these Homestuck ones. Plus, people are enjoying these items quite a bit.
I realize that the creator of Homestuck was not advised about this but honestly, these items could be referring to literally anything on the internet. Not just Homestuck.

I know this is bumping the thread but that's the point. Intelligent discussion is needed to really balance out this ridiculous feud. I, as a big, independant artist myself, see no harm being done. IF ANYTHING, Homestuck is being popularized and supported by these references.

For the sake of all that is good and Gaia, let this nonsensical, nooblet-filled thread die already. You people are ridiculous. Get your facts straight, and start reading the previous posts carefully before jumping in like an idiot and shouting about how you support a generic symbol. It's like saying Einstein is infringing on Disney corporation for figuring out the Atomic Bomb.

Huh, I pretty much JUST saw this right after I made the same argument. Well said, madam.

[spank my quaffle]

I sign.

[Really Awful Username]

spank my quaffle

I sign.

derp.
go read every post before yours to see whats wrong with what you just said.

[fin22hola]

Zerker x Saurian

spank my quaffle

I sign.

derp.
go read every post before yours to see whats wrong with what you just said.

Lol, u mad.

How about you read all the replies to you (and look at the time difference between their comment and yours) to see what's wrong with what you are doing.

[Really Awful Username]

fin22hola

Zerker x Saurian

spank my quaffle

I sign.

derp.
go read every post before yours to see whats wrong with what you just said.

Lol, u mad.

How about you read all the replies to you (and look at the time difference between their comment and yours) to see what's wrong with what you are doing.

Obvious troll is obvious.

Nobody post after this.

[fin22hola]

Zerker x Saurian

fin22hola

Zerker x Saurian

spank my quaffle

I sign.

derp.
go read every post before yours to see whats wrong with what you just said.

Lol, u mad.

How about you read all the replies to you (and look at the time difference between their comment and yours) to see what's wrong with what you are doing.

Obvious troll is obvious.

Nobody post after this.

I think it's pretty ridiculous that you're calling anyone a troll and telling people not to post, when you're the one who is posting here the most. You wait almost a day to quote someone, just to tell them off and spam youtube crap, which just re-bumps the thread. Why don't you understand that? And people aren't going to see all of your messages telling people not to post, because they are on the last page. Nobody looks at the last page of a thread before they post, especially on a petition.

[Really Awful Username]

fin22hola

I think it's pretty ridiculous that you're calling anyone a troll and telling people not to post, when you're the one who is posting here the most. You wait almost a day to quote someone, just to tell them off and spam youtube crap, which just re-bumps the thread. Why don't you understand that? And people aren't going to see all of your messages telling people not to post, because they are on the last page. Nobody looks at the last page of a thread before they post, especially on a petition.

I think it's pretty ridiculous that the OP hasn't taken down this petition yet.
If you want to continue this argument please PM me so it doesn't bump this thread back up.

Also no-one post after this. I'm being sirius.

[fin22hola]

Zerker x Saurian

fin22hola

I think it's pretty ridiculous that you're calling anyone a troll and telling people not to post, when you're the one who is posting here the most. You wait almost a day to quote someone, just to tell them off and spam youtube crap, which just re-bumps the thread. Why don't you understand that? And people aren't going to see all of your messages telling people not to post, because they are on the last page. Nobody looks at the last page of a thread before they post, especially on a petition.

I think it's pretty ridiculous that the OP hasn't taken down this petition yet.
If you want to continue this argument please PM me so it doesn't bump this thread back up.

Also no-one post after this. I'm being sirius.

If the op has left Gaia (which it sounds like they have), they aren't going to be around to take down the petition.

Lol, no, I ain't going to pm you. If you want this thread to stop being bumped, you can stop replying to everyone that posts. And if you see it on the first page again, for some inexplicable reason, you can use some restraint and ignore it, and move on with your life.

[[Dill]]

Porcelain Toilet

I don't sign, even though I am a fan of Homestuck. I'm simply putting out an argument.

Since you seem to be putting out some thought into your argument, I'm going to break this down. There's a lot of misinformation and misunderstandings flying around this thread now, and it's best to address this. Again.

Quote:

Wouldn't Gaia be promoting his comic by making these items? People will learn what they were from, go to the comic, read it and possibly love it.

This isn't the case at all. At the moment, that amount of traffic or even anything quanitifying "promotion" by Gaia of Homestuck would be amount to nothing. Gaia is not linking back to Homestuck in any way in these items, nor even acknowledging the fact that the designs are from Homestuck, therefore they are not giving them anything through these items. It also ignores the opposite: How much money has Gaia made through the sale of those RIGs? How many RIGs were sold because of the inclusion of the Homestuck mood bubbles?

Quote:

Even if they didn't ask him, they are simple designs. Anyone can copy that by accident, or not. Also, with the candy corn horns. That's not an original idea from Homestuck. Candy corn used as horns has been around before Homestuck. When I was a kid we used to glue them to the pumpkins as devil horns. So I hate how people say that idea belongs to Homestuck. It's like the Zodiac signs, they don't own it. They just put it into more of an extreme.

This ignores the other mood bubbles, and the sheer amount of correlations between images, and the rights of Hussie as copyright and intellectual proprty owner. I would also suggest you read http://lexxercise.tumblr.com/post/5965105973/intellectual-property-copyright-law-and-fan-art]Lexxy's post regarding Intellectual Property and copyright law here on her tumblr, as it explains exactly what Intellectual Property means, what rights Hussie is entitled to here as the owner of the Intellectual Property, what parody means in regards to fair use, and other great resources and information. The most important thing to remember is this: Everything made or designed by Andrew Hussie is protected as his Intellectual Property, and thus copyright to him. Hussie does not own the idea of a the images rendered in his comic, but he does own the specific rendering used for those ideas.

softest owl

Hussie actually DID draw the symbols! NONE of those symbols as they appear in Homestuck and in the Gaia bubbles have any copyright holder BUT ANDREW HUSSIE. That's because they were all created and drawn by him.

There are major differences between this image depicting a green worm and the design of the green slime ghost as shown in Homestuck. These differences set the designs apart, and show that as far as intellectual property is concerned, these designs belong to their individual owners. To use these designs without consent, even relabeling the worm as a ghost or vice versa, would constitute copyright violation. As well, slightly repurposing the designs still makes them a derivative work, and thus still violates copyright. While Hussie may not own the idea of a green worm/ghost, he does own the manner in which he has rendered them.

This is what has happened in the Gaia mood bubbles. At a cursory glance, one can easily determine the source of these items and how they are related to their Homestuck origins. There is no use of parody, very little attempt made to hide the origins of the items, and they directly profited from the release of the items through the mood bubble RIG.

Quote:

With these items, Gaia was trying to please the fans and now you're all rejecting them.

There are better and legal ways to please a fanbase than appropriation, copyright violation, and disregarding the Intellectual Property owner. There is nothing shameful in expecting a business to hold itself to better legal standards. What about the copyright owner? Shouldn't his wishes and rights be concerned as well? Or is that somehow lesser?

Quote:

It's okay that Gaia never contacted them to use this, that's how businesses work. Also, it's not hurting the comic in any way. I don't see the problem. :I

This is wrong. This is wrong in every sense of copyright law, of common and legitimate business practice, and it is wrong in the statement that it's not hurting the comic. First of all, no it is not okay that Gaia never contacted them before the sale of the items. It’s within the rights of any owner of an intellectual property to not allow third parties to sell any visual representation of that property. Which is exactly what happened here. And that really does hurt the comic, in a number of ways. One of the major ones being that if an artist does not exercise enough effort to protect their intellectual property, a court may rule that it is no longer theirs. That is an incredibly destructive thing for an independent creator. For an independent artist, as Hussie is, actually pursuing these kinds of copyright violations can be costly as far as time and money are concerned; time and money that could be put towards developing the IP. And Hussie actually loses money due to the sheer amount of traffic he gets. It's actually been documented a number of times how much actually running the site with all that traffic costs. This move by Gaia is literally just profitting on the work of an independent artist.

And it's not how businesses work at all. Wholesale copyright violations do not equate good business practice. Ever.