Let's Pretend

[Sabre]

A guy on my FA watch list posted a hate filled rant against fans of his work. Why? RPs.

His argument was 3 fold, that

1- People were pretending to be him and damaging his profession reputation.

A fairly sound complaint, but nothing exclusive to artists. Many laws exsist to stop this kind of thing irl, but pretty much impossable to enforce on the internet.

2- That people link to his images for RP reasons.

This is one I disagree with as I can't see any harm at all in people saying "I'm going to play a Dragon Born Knight *link to picture" esp for an artist that makes a living from commissions.

and now we get to part 3, and the little more grey area.

3- People are RPing as "Him" and his "GF" which offends and disgusts him even in clean RPs.

Here's the problem. If you have an author insert fiction, people RPing as "You" are not the same as people in point 1 as they are not being deceptive, but rather are playing a character they like. It just so happens that character happens to be your author avitar. He claims they don't have a right to do that because those characters are his, and thus only he decides how they are used.

Imagine that I (Brad) made starfox and I put myself into the story in the guise of Sabre. Then a fan makes a Sabre/Krystal fiction. I wouldn't like it, but I can't really complain either.

So, my question of you is 2 flot. Where is the line between author serogate characters, and what control should a artist have over what fans do with their work?

[DZComposer]

Copyright and Trademark laws give creators complete control over their created characters, with the limits of Fair Use applied in countries that recognize Fair Use.

"RPing" as a copyrighted character is not fair use.

You may not like it, but the creator has all right to do it, and can even use the courts to enforce it. After all, it's their character, not yours.

The only one of your points that I agree with is the second one. If the artist is using a site like FA to distribute their work, and someone links to that image ON FA to illustrate an RP, then I don't see an issue. The image is still being distributed in the manner the artist chose. If you want to block people from linking to your art on a gallery site, you need to use a gallery site that allows you to whitelist or blacklist referrers.

All of that said, if the image was on one of those image boards and the artist did not post it there, the artist has all right to complain, as the artist gets the distribution method choice.

There is no right to use works created by others. Yeah, some creators may be total dicks about it while others don't give a shit, but the choice in the matter is theirs, not yours.

[ARWINGCOMMANDER 3987]

That guy seriously overreacted. If they were trying to make money off of work that wasn't theres to begin with it'd be understandable, but if it was just for fun he went too far posting a hate-filled rant like that.

[Sabre]

Copyright and Trademark laws give creators complete control over their created characters, with the limits of Fair Use applied in countries that recognize Fair Use.

"RPing" as a copyrighted character is not fair use.

You may not like it, but the creator has all right to do it, and can even use the courts to enforce it. After all, it's their character, not yours.

The only one of your points that I agree with is the second one. If the artist is using a site like FA to distribute their work, and someone links to that image ON FA to illustrate an RP, then I don't see an issue. The image is still being distributed in the manner the artist chose. If you want to block people from linking to your art on a gallery site, you need to use a gallery site that allows you to whitelist or blacklist referrers.

All of that said, if the image was on one of those image boards and the artist did not post it there, the artist has all right to complain, as the artist gets the distribution method choice.

There is no right to use works created by others. Yeah, some creators may be total dicks about it while others don't give a shit, but the choice in the matter is theirs, not yours.

What about outside the US where things are a little more loose?

Also, by that definition, fanart, and indeed RP, are copyright abuses and should be treated to the full power of the law?

[Sarita]

Also, by that definition, fanart, and indeed RP, are copyright abuses and should be treated to the full power of the law?

They are, technically. Most artists however can't be assed and/or don't have the funding to get a lawyer to enforce it.

Artists are usually pretty laid back people when it comes to "derivative works" as described in the Creative Commons licence. (I think that's what fanart falls under, anyways)

[LoneWolf]

Yeah, there's probably some legal nonsense he can use to prevent this.

[Sabre]

They are, technically. Most artists however can't be assed and/or don't have the funding to get a lawyer to enforce it.

Artists are usually pretty laid back people when it comes to "derivative works" as described in the Creative Commons licence. (I think that's what fanart falls under, anyways)

Even if they had money, not like it could be enforced anyway. Best you could do is have it pulled from a couple of sites.

[Sarita]

Even if they had money, not like it could be enforced anyway. Best you could do is have it pulled from a couple of sites.

Actually, I have heard cases of people successfully winning suing someone over copyright. So it can be enforced. That's mostly with larger companies, who have to take their copyright very seriously, however, and can afford it. Most people will knock it off if there's real world consequences, such as bankruptcy. :P

[DZComposer]

What about outside the US where things are a little more loose?

Most countries don't allow people to use copyrighted works willy-nilly.

Also, by that definition, fanart, and indeed RP, are copyright abuses and should be treated to the full power of the law?

You are correct in a sense. And there have been lawsuits over fanart in the past. It's just that most commercial content companies know better than to pick on the fans of their work that way. It's a good way to alienate them. But if they wanted to, they could sue.