Let's talk Copyright infringement Gaia. (Tektek Hypocrisy)

[Bleach1114]

a Clockwork Science

I am very upset about what's happened with Tektek.

Tektek was the best tool around for putting together an avatar. Sure, for a while it lagged behind, unable to keep up with the massive, constant influx of new items on Gaia. But it was always the best. Tektek sorted items much better than Gaia's Dress Up. It was so easy to view all black shirts, orange companions, red accessories, etc. I find doing this in Gaia's own Dress Up nigh impossible. Items aren't tagged well; many times even if you search for the exact name of an item, you won't find it in search results. I would make outfits on Tektek, then come equip them on Gaia.


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Dear Gaia,

I've been using your website for nearly 11 years. It's my favorite website. I've been using Tektek since I discovered it, and I'm sure that's been almost as long as I've been a Gaian. You never lost anything from me to Tektek. In fact, using Tektek improved my Gaia experience.

This is a grave disappointment.

Signed,
One of your most loyal members

+100 -signs with you-
~Bleachy

[N l R O]

Two things everyone on this thread should note:

1. They don't give a ******** about tektek. They're literally trying to bury the competition (A.K.A. a particular avatar site that will get me banned for even mentioning it's name), because they're a sinking ship, AND THEY KNOW IT.

2. They have no legal might to back up their threats, as noted by earlier posts in this thread.

[xx I met my fate xx]

Even with no legal might Tekton won't likely put the site back up if Gaia drops it.

[The Iron Magus]

Janine Melnitz

I would imagine the biggest difference here is that Tektek uses the exact images (how could it not sjnce it is a Gaia dream avatar creator)belonging to Gaia as opposed to parodies or 'tributes' this site seems to specialize in. I think Tekton knew the nature of his relationship with Gaia all this time but has enjoyed prolonged immunity from certain scrutiny for a decade. I'm not sure what changed between Tekton and Gaia, but I agree that it's not the best thing that could have happened. I do hope Gaia has a Plan B.

I wonder if the owners of Ghostbusters will send me a C&D order. I'm a tribute/parody dammit. crying

Yeah, I love how Gaia tries to cover their asses, for instance by actually tagging items as parody on the marketplace.

Is Gaia aware of what parody means?

Parody

A humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing.

Like... yes. We took your exact character design and gave it a pallete swap! Isn't that hilarious? LOL, we totally took your serious piece of art to task. We so bad. emotion_awesome

Cartoon Fairy Ball is more of a parody that these items. emotion_facepalm



(And cheaper, too.)

[Hassli]

xx I met my fate xx

I hate to do this to you, fate, because I do agree that it's hypocritical, but gaia's Tribute items are all considered "Derivative work" under copyright law.

From the United States Copyright Act in 17 U.S.C. § 101:

A “derivative work” is a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted. A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a “derivative work”.

from wikipedia:

"For copyright protection to attach to a later, allegedly derivative work, it must display some originality of its own. It cannot be a rote, uncreative variation on the earlier, underlying work. The latter work must contain sufficient new expression, over and above that embodied in the earlier work for the latter work to satisfy copyright law’s requirement of originality."

Because they make tribute items that are creative and vastly different from the things they are parodying, they're not going to get into trouble.

The only thing I see which is too close is maybe the ninja headbands, but I'm not an intellectual property lawyer so I couldn't say for 100%.

The rest of it falls under the derivative work protections.

Otherwise every parody ever would get sued.

It's also why those homestuck dicks had no grounds for any kind of legal anything.


I mean, Gaia is terrible for this, but they definitely have grounds to do it. Tektek uses their name and their art directly.

[xx I met my fate xx]

Hassli

xx I met my fate xx

I hate to do this to you, fate, because I do agree that it's hypocritical, but gaia's Tribute items are all considered "Derivative work" under copyright law.

From the United States Copyright Act in 17 U.S.C. § 101:

A “derivative work” is a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted. A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a “derivative work”.

from wikipedia:

"For copyright protection to attach to a later, allegedly derivative work, it must display some originality of its own. It cannot be a rote, uncreative variation on the earlier, underlying work. The latter work must contain sufficient new expression, over and above that embodied in the earlier work for the latter work to satisfy copyright law’s requirement of originality."

Because they make tribute items that are creative and vastly different from the things they are parodying, they're not going to get into trouble.

The only thing I see which is too close is maybe the ninja headbands, but I'm not an intellectual property lawyer so I couldn't say for 100%.

The rest of it falls under the derivative work protections.

Otherwise every parody ever would get sued.

It's also why those homestuck dicks had no grounds for any kind of legal anything.


I mean, Gaia is terrible for this, but they definitely have grounds to do it. Tektek uses their name and their art directly.

While it's true that most of the tribute items (that's why I posted so few) are just derivitive or "heavily inspired by" there have been several cases of outright theft.

The multitude of Usagi hairstyles for one. That hairstyle is pretty well known as being a sailor moon staple and the styles here are exact replicas. The Xumbreon fur as well is an exact replica of the pokemon. And of course the new umbreon item that looks to be an exact copy of that other person's art up there.

While I doubt Gaia itself will get in trouble because you are absolutely right, it still doesn't make any of this okay. Hass....President Deidrich needs to come down and comfort us. He'd fix this...I know he would.

[The Iron Magus]

Hassli

xx I met my fate xx

I hate to do this to you, fate, because I do agree that it's hypocritical, but gaia's Tribute items are all considered "Derivative work" under copyright law.

From the United States Copyright Act in 17 U.S.C. § 101:

A “derivative work” is a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted. A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a “derivative work”.

from wikipedia:

"For copyright protection to attach to a later, allegedly derivative work, it must display some originality of its own. It cannot be a rote, uncreative variation on the earlier, underlying work. The latter work must contain sufficient new expression, over and above that embodied in the earlier work for the latter work to satisfy copyright law’s requirement of originality."

Because they make tribute items that are creative and vastly different from the things they are parodying, they're not going to get into trouble.

The only thing I see which is too close is maybe the ninja headbands, but I'm not an intellectual property lawyer so I couldn't say for 100%.

The rest of it falls under the derivative work protections.

Otherwise every parody ever would get sued.

It's also why those homestuck dicks had no grounds for any kind of legal anything.


I mean, Gaia is terrible for this, but they definitely have grounds to do it. Tektek uses their name and their art directly.

None of their items are actual parodies, though. They're just pallet swaps, and sometimes not even that.

Parody is supposed to be humorous or satirical. None of Gaia's items even come close to being either... they're clearly just cash-ins.

Seriously, all the bootlegs on this blog come closer to being "parodies" than Gaia's items. I'm laughing my a** off looking at them, which is more than I can say for Gaia's "parodies."

[Hassli]

xx I met my fate xx

Hassli

xx I met my fate xx

I hate to do this to you, fate, because I do agree that it's hypocritical, but gaia's Tribute items are all considered "Derivative work" under copyright law.

From the United States Copyright Act in 17 U.S.C. § 101:

A “derivative work” is a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted. A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a “derivative work”.

from wikipedia:

"For copyright protection to attach to a later, allegedly derivative work, it must display some originality of its own. It cannot be a rote, uncreative variation on the earlier, underlying work. The latter work must contain sufficient new expression, over and above that embodied in the earlier work for the latter work to satisfy copyright law’s requirement of originality."

Because they make tribute items that are creative and vastly different from the things they are parodying, they're not going to get into trouble.

The only thing I see which is too close is maybe the ninja headbands, but I'm not an intellectual property lawyer so I couldn't say for 100%.

The rest of it falls under the derivative work protections.

Otherwise every parody ever would get sued.

It's also why those homestuck dicks had no grounds for any kind of legal anything.


I mean, Gaia is terrible for this, but they definitely have grounds to do it. Tektek uses their name and their art directly.

While it's true that most of the tribute items (that's why I posted so few) are just derivitive or "heavily inspired by" there have been several cases of outright theft.

The multitude of Usagi hairstyles for one. That hairstyle is pretty well known as being a sailor moon staple and the styles here are exact replicas. The Xumbreon fur as well is an exact replica of the pokemon. And of course the new umbreon item that looks to be an exact copy of that other person's art up there.

While I doubt Gaia itself will get in trouble because you are absolutely right, it still doesn't make any of this okay. Hass....President Deidrich needs to come down and comfort us. He'd fix this...I know he would.

If that were true, fan artists would get sued constantly. The derivitive law was made to protect fan works. Artists make profit off of their anime paintings, etc. The only way Gaia could get in trouble for this would basically be if the original creators decided to create something that would be in direct competition with Gaia's pixel items and that will literally never happen. Gaia is careful never to directly name what their items are inspired by (which would be a trademark vialation), so they are honestly in the clear here.

Again, not really sure about the ninja headbands, because I'd have to look up if they are trademarked. Probably not?

No, even heavily inspired by, these are derivitives and no one trying to sue Gaia would have a case.

Tektek is in trouble because they are using gaia's trademarked name, and using versions of their items and bases.

Gaia didn't press the issue before, and now they are. This issue to me is more moral than legal.



President Diedrich always saves us!

But this is a hot-topic! He would probably give vague political answers and try to dodge the question!

[Hassli]

The Iron Magus

Hassli

xx I met my fate xx

I hate to do this to you, fate, because I do agree that it's hypocritical, but gaia's Tribute items are all considered "Derivative work" under copyright law.

From the United States Copyright Act in 17 U.S.C. § 101:

A “derivative work” is a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted. A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a “derivative work”.

from wikipedia:

"For copyright protection to attach to a later, allegedly derivative work, it must display some originality of its own. It cannot be a rote, uncreative variation on the earlier, underlying work. The latter work must contain sufficient new expression, over and above that embodied in the earlier work for the latter work to satisfy copyright law’s requirement of originality."

Because they make tribute items that are creative and vastly different from the things they are parodying, they're not going to get into trouble.

The only thing I see which is too close is maybe the ninja headbands, but I'm not an intellectual property lawyer so I couldn't say for 100%.

The rest of it falls under the derivative work protections.

Otherwise every parody ever would get sued.

It's also why those homestuck dicks had no grounds for any kind of legal anything.


I mean, Gaia is terrible for this, but they definitely have grounds to do it. Tektek uses their name and their art directly.

None of their items are actual parodies, though. They're just pallet swaps, and sometimes not even that.

Parody is supposed to be humorous or satirical. None of Gaia's items even come close to being either... they're clearly just cash-ins.

Seriously, all the bootlegs on this blog come closer to being "parodies" than Gaia's items. I'm laughing my a** off looking at them, which is more than I can say for Gaia's "parodies."

Dude.

This ******** painting is the classic example of derivitive work in lawbooks:



Gaia is not in competition with Sailor Moon or Guardians of the Galaxy or anything they made tributes to.

They are on sound legal ground here.

You can pretty much only sue someone for derivitive work if you are in competition with them. Tektek isn't even derivitive. It uses all of Gaia's items, bases, etc. And it mentions their trademarked name.

Don't get me wrong, here. They are ******** hypocrits. Morally, they are wrong. Legally they are fine.

[My Best Enemy]

XxRainyCloudsxX

Umm pretty sure we all knew gaia had nothing to do with it,
Hence why it was so easy to use and didn't try and make us pay for it. rolleyes

Nah, the mistake was more common than you realize. I saw people complain about it being down or behind on items in the past in the SF, GCD, and AT forums before. Rather dumb mistake, but not uncommon.

------------

Ahem.

So yeah, now that I have seen the source, I can begin to answer to this topic...
Yeah, what Tektek did is copyright infringement; yes it is a d**k move for Gaia to hammer tektek after it being up for so long with no problems in the past (I blame the current management and their business-centric assholery, but nonetheless, Tektek was directly using images created by Gaia, no matter what the reason.

Here's the difference between Gaia's "copyright infringement" and Tektek's: Gaia does not use neither the images NOR the EXACT name of the subject they are creating a PARODY item of. The only use EXACT name and details for when the item was sponsored (Mecha Neko's former use). Otherwise, it is a parody item with a different name and details (or lack of certain details) that separates it from the inspiration. The only item that can truly be problematic that I can think of is the Xumbreon Skin for Paws

[Hassli]

Where is everyone getting that Gaia has no legal might to back this up?

They definitely have legal might.

[Hassli]

Honey of the South

Are the Adventure Time items still available in the cash shop? Not to mention the ones over in Junk in the Trunk.

The adventure time items were part of a sponsorship deal. They got permission for them.

[The Iron Magus]

Hassli

Dude.

This ******** painting is the classic example of derivitive work in lawbooks:



Gaia is not in competition with Sailor Moon or Guardians of the Galaxy or anything they made tributes to.

They are on sound legal ground here.

You can pretty much only sue someone for derivitive work if you are in competition with them. Tektek isn't even derivitive. It uses all of Gaia's items, bases, etc. And it mentions their trademarked name.

Don't get me wrong, here. They are ******** hypocrits. Morally, they are wrong. Legally they are fine.

Dude.

That ******** painting is clearly meant to be humorous or satirical. Gaia's items aren't.

[Hassli]

The Iron Magus

Hassli

Dude.

This ******** painting is the classic example of derivitive work in lawbooks:



Gaia is not in competition with Sailor Moon or Guardians of the Galaxy or anything they made tributes to.

They are on sound legal ground here.

You can pretty much only sue someone for derivitive work if you are in competition with them. Tektek isn't even derivitive. It uses all of Gaia's items, bases, etc. And it mentions their trademarked name.

Don't get me wrong, here. They are ******** hypocrits. Morally, they are wrong. Legally they are fine.

Dude.

That ******** painting is clearly meant to be humorous or satirical. Gaia's items aren't.

Dude. The law has nothing to do with whether it's funny or not.

From United States Copyright Act in 17 U.S.C. § 101: "A “derivative work” is a work based upon one or more preexisting works."

Literally has nothing to do with humor. Parody is covered under this, but it doesn't just cover parody.

For copyright protection to attach to a later, allegedly derivative work, it must display some originality of its own. It cannot be a rote, uncreative variation on the earlier, underlying work. The latter work must contain sufficient new expression, over and above that embodied in the earlier work for the latter work to satisfy copyright law’s requirement of originality.

Any court would basically look at these pixel items and say "by virtue of being on a work created for a pixel doll dress up website which does not compete in anyway with the original source work, this work is derivative."

They could get into trademark issues by using names or titles directly from the source material, but they are very careful about that.

If they could get in trouble for this, that homestuck guy would have sued them.

[Hassli]

I just have to say, looking over a bunch of posts in Site Feedback on this subject.... no body understands intellectual property rights on gaia. Like, at all.

This is probably why we have lawyers.