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If someone on this website is using my artwork that I legally own for their game that is also on byond without my permission, who do I report it to in order to have them punished?
A couple of notes I should add to that: You're best off trying to resolve this with the person directly if you can.
Also, when you say you legally own the artwork, be sure it's YOUR artwork, not merely artwork you purchased. If you purchased artwork the rights aren't (usually) yours; they belong to the original artist. I'm not a lawyer, but I've seen a lot of people on this site think they own code or artwork that they didn't create. An artist can sell art non-exclusively, and it's also possible if you bought artwork that the person you bought it from didn't make it either. | |
So it's artwork I paid to have made on Fiverr, which makes it mine legally. and I have receipts to show that I own it. So with that being said, what can I do to have them punished? Is that something I report to you Lummox or another byond admin and you remove their game or what?
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First of all, no. You don't own the copyright to that artwork legally unless the artist actually transferred that copyright to you (source). This is why Lummox JR said:
If you purchased artwork the rights aren't (usually) yours; they belong to the original artist. I'm not a lawyer, but I've seen a lot of people on this site think they own code or artwork that they didn't create. Owning the art and owning the copyright to the art are two very different things. In any case, it's important to note that BYOND's enforceable Terms of Service only reaches the website. If the art you're talking about isn't visible on the website, then it wouldn't even be within BYOND's jurisdiction to remove. The content of the game itself is beyond Lummox JR's reach to enforce against. BYOND erected this boundary long ago to prevent the moderators/developers/owners of BYOND ever fighting the interpersonal battles of other entities within games/servers for them. Breaching that boundary sets an irrevocable precedent. Let's say this art is visible on the website. As I said, Lummox JR won't fight your art licensing battles for you. There are no punishments that I as a BYOND moderator or Lummox JR as the owner of BYOND will dish out because of art ownership disputes. So, no, there's no reporting to BYOND you can do for this sort of thing. You will have to handle this some other way. If that art is visible on BYOND's website, and you can contact the copyright owner of the art you purchased, then you could file a DMCA takedown, but that would only make Lummox JR remove the art itself from the site, not the game or hub listing. That's a lot of work for so little gain. Lummox JR made a great point: You should reach out to the person who is using your art first. See if you can reach some form of agreement or, at worst, ask for them to remove your art from their game. Be humble, come correctly, and try to avoid having to take the next step of reaching out to the art's copyright owner to try and fight a battle for you legally, because... That's probably not going to work out how you expect. | |
Hmm, interesting. Thank you for telling me that.
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I still think you all might be confused, or maybe I am, but thanks for assisting regardless. I didn't expect such a fast response from you all.
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I have one more question and it's not related to this. If I want to open one of those developer guides like the "Action Rpg framework" one, how would I go about doing that to see the actual guide itself?
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Having commissioned the artwork directly, it's possible that you do own copyright, but you'd have to review the terms of the person you commissioned it from on Fiverr. For instance, when I hired a cover artist for a book, I made it clear in my commission that I was to take ownership of copyright but the artist would still have rights of reproduction for their own direct use (e.g., if they wanted to sell prints or put it on a T-shirt). If you and your artist didn't have set terms, you might be in a gray area.
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On the topic of where this forum post was originally posted, don't worry 'bout it. Moving stuff is very easy and it's not expected that any given thread is in the right spot. No need to apologize :D
As for your art copyright ownership... I realized I *might* be wrong in the case of Fiverr. Specifically on Fiverr, per their Fiverr Business: Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights page: Who owns the copyright? So... You should double-check and see if you do actually own the rights for the delivered work. My apologies for assuming otherwise. | |
Also, ownership is premised on the Fiverr creative having actually made the art on commission and not just copying it from some other source. There are plenty of people on sites like that who can and will rip users off. So it's worth asking whomever is using the artwork where they got it before assuming they must have stolen it from you. If they can show a different provenance for their artwork, it could point to the Fiverr artist being a scammer.
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If you feel you have legal grounds to pursue action against the offender, then do so. BYOND holds no sway over these kinds of squabbles unless a DMCA is filed. I don't imagine you're interested in filing one, but if you had, then the site would be obligated to take down the copyrighted material barring a counter claim.
BYOND moderation will not fight your art licensing battles for you. You must handle them yourself. Good luck!