Hi there, I am about to venture in something a bit deeper than I anticipated.
Recently, I had some of my comics taken down and was reported for Copyright Infringement on Deviant Art. Specifically, Magic The Gathering parody strips. I am currently in the process of getting an appeal, but from what the rest of the DA community has told me, it won't be anytime soon. I don't know who exactly would report these works (most likely Hasbro Legal), but I'd like to avoid any problems like this in the future.
Is there anyone here that had the same problems or can point me in the right direction to write a disclaimer that can assist me in the future?
Here's the notice that I received:
And to be clear, all these were non-profit. I didn't make a dime off of these.
Posts
Cause I mean, going by those terms, Deviant Arts would pretty much have to take down 99% of all content on their website.
There's a few people that could do it out of spite since I've turned down a lot of pornographic commissions, but having my work removed ASAP without giving me a warning to change or modify the work changes that logic a bit. Some of my previous older works would occasionally be reassigned to different categories and I would receive a warning. It wasn't the case this time.
First, you label your works "MTG" and state that they are card-based artwork. Are you using any MTG assets, such as the Tap symbol or borders? Can someone look at what you did and think "That's funny, but it looks like a real card?" Since you name them pretty obviously, I wouldn't be surprised if someone at WoTC did a quick search and just had Deviant Art remove anything using their brand as a name.
It was either someone pissed at you or just some random rule nazi that felt like being annoying.
Just ditch Deviantart and put your work on your own tumblr or private site, and that solves your problem.
Yeah, I recently turned my Tumblr into pre-production/comic site due to the turns of events.
What's a good disclaimer so I can publish these works without someone calling wolf on them?
I want to avoid having them taken down again.
You can complain to their helpdesk, but it's completely up to their discretion as to whether they re-post. What makes you think these works were reported to them?
They don't usually scan through art to verify unless it's under the radar. Most of the process of removal is based on reports.
I'd rather have a disclaimer and when the time comes, that's enough to cause a PR nightmare if something worst happens.
How did Tyco and crew handle the Strawberry Shortcake strip a few years back?
They took the strip down and apologized profusely.
Just do what you've already done, which is take your work off deviantart to your own site. You don't need a disclaimer. If you have to put one up to sleep better, just say something like "MtG © (whoever) (date)"
Ok, that seems like sound advice. Thanks & I'll try not piss anyone off in the process.
As they said in one of the books, their lawyers informed them that using one person's IP to make fun of a different IP does not fall under the typical 1st Amendment parody protections. IANAL, but your situation seems far less complicated than theirs. I would just add a disclaimer to your page in the future that says something like "all art is (c) WOTC".
If you want to be really safe, you can probably contact them directly and ask for permission to use the cards in your strip. They probably won't even bother to respond, but it may be worth a shot.
What are the images they took down? Did you have the magic card borders on your art? Was it the legitMtg logo?
http://polishtamales.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d4y98it
Reporting images does require some leg work to file. It's not just a single click.
Is this your company or are you working for someone? Because I see the problem now and why your stuff was taken down.
It's fine to have a comic called 'Wacky adventures" where friends like to play some DnD or Magic to unwind, from time to time. It's not fine to tag every single piece of art you have with another company's IP before it.
It's more of a parody line of comics. It's no different than fan made D&D comics and stuff you'd see on Kotaku's Sunday Funnies. If you're suggesting to drop the category of "MTG" from the file and just stick with Dazzled followed by the title of the strip, then I can work with that.
That's what I'm saying. I didn't see anything in the art itself that would be infringing (to my knowledge), but I'm guessing that using the "MTG" title (even though its probably a trademark, not a copyright, but I don't know DA's policies with that stuff) is what got you in trouble.
I'd start there for sure, but that still might not fix the issue.
I'm not a lawyer, but the thing is, parody generally (to my recollection) refers to one time or every once in a while. Like for instance, I can have a comic where Iron Man shows up randomly for a strip and gets drunk and throws up on the birthday cake.
I can't have a strip where Iron Man is my room mate. Most likely, you can't do a strip where a bunch of people play Magic all the time and talk about how awesome Magic is.
There's loopholes, obviously, but that's a really, really tricky road, and for someone as talented as you seem to be, I'd start considering other options for your talent.
Thanks, I think I know what kind of direction I should be doing to avoid copyright issues in the future.
Also, and I promise this isn't me just nitpicking or trying to be harsh, but this statement above shows the difference. Fan made D&D comics are done by people just looking to make funny comics. Your stuff is being used to promote a business, using another business to help promote it without their knowledge or consent.
Even though your comics are free to read, they're being used to sell magic cards online through that site. So you're using the MtG brand to sell cards third party, which honestly could land your team there at legitMtG in some serious cease and desist trouble down the road.
I'm not one of your investors, but you need to rethink that entire business model.
Note that whether you made money or not doesn't really matter.
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
Well you might want to look into Starcitygames and Manadeprived. They've been doing this for a while and they haven't had any legal issues. They're both fronts for an online store.
That's very good for them, but it doesn't mean what they're doing is legal, and unless you've contacted them, you don't know if they've worked out a deal with the companies they use to promote their products.
"These other guys are doing it" isn't an excuse.
I feel that as long as I don't purposely cause harm or promote hate towards a specific company's IP, then that be more beneficial so big corporate doesn't blindly send out the dogs. Or maybe it could be just some random guy (as others mentioned) I turned down to do a commission with, because the said commission contained images deemed illegal in some countries. You get a lot of those on DA...
Companies have to protect their IP's and copyrights all the time, since any leeway one one issue could avalanche into much more. Follow the advice people have already given.
"When producing parodies it is acceptable under US law to use bits of the original show to enhance the comedic nature of your new creation. This includes music and other identifying elements. It does not violate copyright law, as long as it doesn't damage or harm the reputation of the original or try to pose as the original. "
http://www.open-spaces.com/article-v2n1-loren.php
It does make sense why the original Strawberry Shortcake strip was taken down, but it doesn't necessarily make sense how Robot Chicken/Family Guy gets away with theirs on some segments. George Lucas was probably approached and gave his thumbs up, but I'm not sure if they had to go through every single party to get clearance.
Using "feel" was probably not the best choice of words then. In any case, I will follow the advice of others, but I won't back down as long as I'm protected by basic parody rights in the the US courts. I will, however, do more research into the matters as well as seek legal advice concerning this issue with an actual lawyer.
And yes, they did get permission from Lucas to do the Star Wars parodies.
If that's the case, then over 90% of the site/users violated the policy. I'm still in the appeal process, so I'll let you guys know who and what exactly caused it to happen.
Don't worry about any of this stuff until you hear back from whichever DA admins take a second look at your stuff. If they still think you you're violating policy, they'll also tell you WHY you're violating policy, and then you can either ask them how to make your stuff comply or come back here and see if H/A has any more ideas about the same subject.
Edit: I do agree that the whole "promoting an unofficial business that sells official cards" thing could be an issue here, but only DA can tell you whether they have a problem with you doing that or not. I would bet they don't even know anything about that part though.