Copyright FAQs - because theft is stupid!

[Kilted]

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[Kilted]

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[Kilted]

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[Chibi Halo]

This is why when I do anything on Gaia with graphics for other people in the Mini Shops forum I tell people that if they want images other than their avatar on them they should go to dedicated stock sites. I also indicate if they wanted to use art that someone on Gaia drew for them in anything they want me to do they had to have the artist's permission first. In the personal graphics section of the Mini Shops Gaia makes it very clear that you can't use anything copyrighted in graphics you're going to sell for gold.

And that creative commons stuff is something I use a lot when uploading my photography to DA. I don't mind it when people use the plants and animals I take pictures of as models for their hand drawn art. I've had friends actually ask before taking a water lily I took a photo of for a reference for their art class project. And that's what's important under that creative commons that you ask first and credit where needed.

[Kilted]

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[Kilted]

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[Uncle Urdnot]

I just don't get how it's a problem to use copyrighted work for things like fanart and fanfiction if you're not asking for payment. Is the government gonna arrest every 5 year old who draws a picture of their favorite cartoon chatacter?

[Evil Spaghetti]

[Kilted]

OverIy Epux

I just don't get how it's a problem to use copyrighted work for things like fanart and fanfiction if you're not asking for payment. Is the government gonna arrest every 5 year old who draws a picture of their favorite cartoon chatacter?

"Because too many people are doing it for the government to stop them all" is not really a defense... its more sort of the opposite of a defense. There is a link in the first post to a serious and in-depth discussion on the legality of fanwork. It's a grey area but I still think its important for anyone interested in fanwork and fan culture to know a bit about copyright and how it relates to fandom and remix cultures.

[Uncle Urdnot]

Kilted

OverIy Epux

I just don't get how it's a problem to use copyrighted work for things like fanart and fanfiction if you're not asking for payment. Is the government gonna arrest every 5 year old who draws a picture of their favorite cartoon chatacter?

"Because too many people are doing it for the government to stop them all" is not really a defense... its more sort of the opposite of a defense. There is a link in the first post to a serious and in-depth discussion on the legality of fanwork. It's a grey area but I still think its important for anyone interested in fanwork and fan culture to know a bit about copyright and how it relates to fandom and remix cultures.

I'm not saying "Too many people are doing it" That's a stupid argument. What I'm saying is that just because someone makes a drawing of a character they like, out of respect and admiration, why would somebody see this as infringing on their copyrights?

[nintendo_guy]

Kilted

What if you find a picture online that you really like but it doesn't say who drew it?
One thing you can do is to try a reverse image search on a site like TinEye or Google Reverse Image search. That may help you find the owner and any rules they have about using or nto using it. If no copyright owner can be established, it's called an orphan work and can't be used.

This is one of the many reasons no one respects copyrights. If someone makes something then "forgets" about it and refuses to let anyone use it like what was done with Geno why copyright the damn thing at all.

Also I rather have no copyrights than no freedom. Freedom is much more important.

[CrazyDave55811]

Kilted

What sort of intellectual property do you own? Do you draw? Write? Code? Then you own intellectual property too. You don't have to have filed a copyright to have those rights to your own work.

To be honest, I always thought that "intellectual copyright" could only be enforced via psychics. Who is someone to dictate that something they conceived is their own, especially if what they conceived may have already been released & subsequently copyrighted?

Also, as I posted in a similar thread, the fear of having your own work without copyright protection is that some bigwig can just come up and take it from you and claim it as their own. Of course, this is all dependent on circumstances, like what it is, that sort of thing.
What's also annoying is how companies enforce their copyright laws so much that they could get on your case for using their own creation (like, say, a character from a videogame) for something as harmless as fanfare-related things. Of course, such a thing has yet to happen; I'm just being too fearful or something. With all this s**t with SOPA and online censorship, my MikuMikuDance videos are sure to be targeted......because MikuMikuDance, for lack of a better example of the ills of online censorship, is a program that is rife with copyright questionabilities, because if you're real good you can rip a character from another game and use him/her on that program for whatever purpose. The point here is that it's all meant to be fun, and we acknowledge that there are rules set forth concerning how to use MMD and the models compatible with it (some models are forbidden to be distributed and/or modified).....but if online censorship becomes a huge thing, the companies can just say "******** you," and decimate the MikuMikuDance community, among other communities.

I respect copyright, but there may come a time when its enforcement goes overboard, to the point of infringing on our own personal liberties.

[Pessimist]

Oh, look. An intelligent topic in the SOPA forum. Now to watch it be ignored and crushed under spam and slacktivism. emotion_facepalm

But good work in attempting to educate, Kilted. Sad to say for me that the teaching copyright to middle-schoolers site was probably the one I understood the best. xd

[Vixianna]

Kilted

OverIy Epux

I just don't get how it's a problem to use copyrighted work for things like fanart and fanfiction if you're not asking for payment. Is the government gonna arrest every 5 year old who draws a picture of their favorite cartoon chatacter?

"Because too many people are doing it for the government to stop them all" is not really a defense... its more sort of the opposite of a defense. There is a link in the first post to a serious and in-depth discussion on the legality of fanwork. It's a grey area but I still think its important for anyone interested in fanwork and fan culture to know a bit about copyright and how it relates to fandom and remix cultures.

Yeah except I read that, and I have damn good reading comprehension, and it was still unclear.

Basically, their entire point was that it's wishywashy, and we can't really tell you if your a** is out for legal rape or not.

I mean, I have several works which are capable of copyright. I'm a visual arts, a musician, a blogger, and a writer(of both fanfics and original works both short story and novel length), so there's plenty for me to have the copyright on.

On the other hand, the ultimate ambiguity on fanworks drives me insane. Am I going to get sued, despite the fact I make no money from the work and it's in an entirely different medium than the original work(written instead of cartoon and therefore wouldn't be in direct competition at all)? Or am I not ok because it takes several characters whole sale and places them into my own scenarios, but for creative instead of factual usage? And for non-parody usage as well...(something not covered by fair usage) :/

And as an artist, would I really mind fanworks and fanart? No I wouldn't, at all. I'd find it flattering, but I also know not all artists are like that.(The hubbub about Lestat and all his Vampire ilk by Ann Rice back in the day in that fandom comes to mind. As is Viacom's stupidity, who happens to be the ultimate owner of the original work my largest fandom works are under.) So IDK, and I wish it were clearer...