HOME | DD
LostKitten — deviantART: Crack down on Copyrights
Published: 2009-02-01 08:19:19 +0000 UTC; Views: 2389; Favourites: 358; Downloads: 0
Redirect to original
Description
This community has come together on many occasions to sign a petition to help a worthy cause. I never imagined something would have to be started because of a problem within deviantART.
If you haven't read the latest CEA Update, I'd suggest taking a look at it before you e-sign anything. I'm petitioning this revision because I think it's opening a door that will ruin this community.
Allowing members of deviantART to copy, trace, or duplicate any copyrighted artwork is giving a mixed signal to growing artists. Whether or not it's done with the intention of practicing, the act of submitting it into an official gallery here on deviantART is copyright infringement.
If we would penalize these same deviants for copying an artist within the community--who discovers it and complains about it--then we should be penalizing them for copying all artists, as all artists have legal rights to their works.
Having the practice works moved to their own little area of deviantART could be tolerated, but having them in official dA galleries is offensive. We are an art community, originality is what makes art amazing. Don't let dA become an image hosting site by allowing copied, traced, or duplicated artworks to be displayed among the sensational works of original art.
The News Article: CEA UPDATE 20090130; Issues Involving Copying
Petition: deviantART: Crack down on Copyrights
Related content
Comments: 447
It drives me nuts. Those who trace are not artists
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Forget what i just said. I souned mean but i'm tired and dbon't think about what i say when i'm tired. I agree with all of u and i do think a reguieed vid at registarton would be awesome
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I have to say I think the key is awareness. I admit that when I first joined dA I did infact copy and change someones art and resubmit it. At the time I was a naiive 15 year old that thought it was acceptable. I didn't understand much about HOW dA works back then. I was the exact person you are targeting.
There needs to be more awareness. Having someone read some FAQs and Rules + Procedures will not work. No one really reads the Terms and Conditions when they join. There needs to be something huge that is in peoples faces so they realise that it is not acceptable.
Anyone agree?
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
I definitely agree.
It would also help if DeviantART would provide their Policies in other languages, since from my personal experience most people that trace/recolor artwork are from countries where English is not their first language.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Came to look at this again for no real reason today and I do agree. The reason I know so much about dA policy today is because I used kitty images from dA artists to make signs when I first joined dA, which is a policy violation since I didn't ask anyone for permission. After that, I made myself aware of all the rules so I couldn't break them again. A lot of people don't realize they're doing anything wrong when they submit policy violations.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
the only Copyright Violations DA cares about are screenshots from movies/comic books.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I agree on everything you said! Unfortunately, my first Deviation was an annotation....
It is hopefully my last!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Here is an idea. You can try to make a petition to have traced work moved to its own unofficial gallery.
I say Unofficial because it is not true art.
Therefore we have official galleries and unofficial galleries such at the scrapbook.
A few admins already started this plan. and even banned Direct Tracing.
Though honestly I do agree with this. but I disagree at how everyone is charging and attacking before trying to come up with a better solution.
Now that is just my opinion. I am not trying to enforce it or anything
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
i like your idea
its peaceful are you aren't being mean to anyone about it
they should really do that
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
22 rejections...lol. Sad, it looks like someones missing photobucket.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Having the practice works moved to their own little area of deviantART could be tolerated
You mean like Scraps? That is the purpose of scraps, to submit unfinished or "unpolished" works.
At any rate, I do think that if tracing is allowed at all, it should go to scraps. I personally don't think it should be allowed to be submitted at all, but if staff INSISTS that tracing should be allowed then it should be kept to scraps.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
i agree with that
some people are acting like the people who trace shouldn't be able to be on DA
but i like your idea
i think they should do that
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I totally agree. This was a bad move on dA's part.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I wish that all new members were forced to watch a video on the rules when they sign up or something... *sigh* Theres so many wasted accounts made by people who just copy pasta art from google because it's "cool" or they want attention. They don't even have respect for art or artists, they don't deserve to be on DA...
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
ok i don't do that stuff but nobody does not not deserve to be on DA
maybe they don't know its wrong
because what u said is a little mean
they do have respect
and how do u know they dont?
ur not them
u dont personally know all of them
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I don't care if I'm "mean", I'm honest.
If they had respect, they wouldn't steal art or trace it. And please learn to type like the rest of us if you want to be taken seriously. :/
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
well you should care because nobody will ever like you if you are mean or take you seriously
and you have no proof that all of them don't have respect
if a picture is taken off of Google its almost impossible to find the artist and give them credit and they usually change the picture somehow anyway.
And
MAYBE I DON'T WANT TO TYPE LIKE YOU!!!!!!!
im me and not you so its not ur problem how i type
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
*sigh* Another one with a backfire comment <<
Yeah, well, I can tell. Respectful, smart people don't go "OMG, LIEK, KEWL PICTURE!!!!1 I'MMA PUT IT ON MY DEVIANTART, WHICH I THINK IS ANOTHER MYSPACE, BECAUSE I THINK ITZ KEWL & I DON'T GIVE A SHIT WHO DRU IT & I WANNA B POPULER!!!!11". If you think that's respect then you need some help. :/
And if you don't want to type like this then good luck typing up your papers in school. :3
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
OH MY GOD YOU FOOL.
HAHAHA
1) It doesn't conflict with dA rules.
2) It's only work that was floating round the net, and you tried to look for the owner but couldn't. MEANING ALL DA STUFF IS OFF LIMITS
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Of course Deviantart admins managed to get the petition closed...
I support this article fully!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
The admins had nothing directly to do with the petition closing. After reading the information dispensed by $realitysquared concerning the legal aspects of a copyright I made the choice to close the petition. I'm not a part of the anti-trace parade, my fear was the confusion and potential risks involved legally with copyrighted works. There's actually a Fair Use doctrine written in to the copyright law which allows public use in some aspects. This community is doing more than they legally have to in order to protect the rights of artists. So my initial argument is made obsolete in gaining additional knowledge about Fair Use. (This came not only from the journal but the research I did after reading it.)
With saying that I would like to toss in the fact that I do still feel that artists should ask for permission first, but I understand now that it's not a requirement unfortunately. And that lack of requirement isn't because of dA's policies, that's what's written in to copyright law. They're actually doing a lot more than they have to as far as copyright laws go.
I wanted to speak up about this because I don't like confusion or misrepresentation. It's not the admins who got the petition closed, it was solely my decision to close it after obtaining more knowledge on the topic at hand.
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
This is ... because of copyright law? God, it's even worse than I thought.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Well it really isn't that terrible... but yea it's not as much protection as the copyright alludes to. Basically putting a copyright on anything is only a warning, not an actual restriction for people to use your work. The could have a lawsuit on their hands for infringement, but a court of law could deem it Fair Use, so it's always 50/50.
There are certain guidelines a jury is supposed to factor in when deciding Fair Use/Infringement, but I didn't get all into that..
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Life sure can be unfair for artists, can't it?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yea... it's not an easy life to lead in the big picture. For those who consider it a hobby it's probably no big deal, but those of us who are in pursuit of a career.. it can get complicated.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I am sad to see this petition close
No matter how many paragraphs of bullshit they spew, my mind hasn't changed: using another artist's work without their permission is still stealing...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
yea... I can't say I completely agree with it, but I understand why they're allowing it so I'm stepping out of the fight so to speak. The main source of copy-work comes from main-stream media and those corporations welcome the additional exposure, so it's technically not a copyright infringement if the copyright holder isn't complaining.
From what I gathered in $realitysquared 's journal the copyright law is essentially for use when necessary, which is also why dA will honor reports from artists who feel they've been directly infringed upon. Maybe I allowed the journal to make sense to me because I don't care to fight a losing battle too. Only time will tell, I suppose.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I still don't feel like they're doing enough. They shouldn't have to be warned or threatened into doing the right thing. 
But whatever, if they want to let the site degrade further, I guess it's their choice. :\ I'm just going to stick to commenting on my friends' art and try to ignore dA otherwise... this is the only place I get many comments so I'm stuck here until I find a better source of feedback.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Well no, people shouldn't assume that the OA won't mind. Using art without proper permissions is taking a risk, even the artists mentioned in $chix0r 's article have faced lawsuits for using others artworks without permission.
My point of understanding comes with the fact that copyrights contain a Fair Use doctrine which gives others a certain level of permission to use an artists works without gaining permission first. It's on each individual artist to use the empowerment's granted through copyright protection in a court of law if deemed necessary. And then it would be on the court to decide if it's a case of infringement or fair use.
There's no way that the entire internet can be properly educated on the risk of using a copyrighted work. Any respectable artist would ask for permission, but those who plainly don't care will likely never care until someone slaps them with a lawsuit and even then they may continue to do what they want. Apparently that Jeff Koons guy has lost a few lawsuits but still uses others works for "inspiration".
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
The petition has been closed. After reading the journal breaking this all down in more simplistic terms from $realitysquared I decided the petition is not needed. There is no standard for art and deviantART is well within their rights to allow deviants to submit the copy-works. The before mentioned journal explains copyright laws and the loopholes which are built into said law.
If the copyright holder is made aware of a potential infringement then the copyright holder has the right to address it. This isn't our responsibility and deviantART wont restrict members of the community when the artwork their "infringing" upon is considered free promotion by the copyright holders.
That's all I'll say here on the matter. Please, read his journal in full. I hope it will bring the same sense of understanding to you as it has to me.
Journal: [link]
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I dunno.
is a great speaker and writer, but the frequent use of ad hominum in his writing instantly rouses a suspicious flag in me. You shouldn't have to make people feel stupid to shame them into believing you're right. Shit polished is still shit, right?
He does make some good points, though -- will have to go back and re-read his stuff. Don't feel silly for having an emotional reaction to what you perceived to be a dishonest movement.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
The reason I said I felt silly is because of me not understanding everything in depth before initiating the petition. It was an emotional reaction to it and it's not because I'm "oh my gosh anti-tracing!" My fear was for my own works and the works of everyone else being shared here, I felt like it was opening a door to art theft from within the community.
Actually I still feel that way, but at least I have an understanding of why this is the way it is. This journal also gave me a better understanding of exactly what a copyright is for. Essentially it's a tool for the court room if ever an artist thinks their being robbed.
Thank you for offering a sense of comfort toward my statement. I don't know another way to word that, but I appreciate you telling me not to feel silly, it assures me that I'm not a complete nut-case.
Hopefully my decision throughout all of this won't turn out to be something I'd regret later down the line. I'm thinking a reread is a good idea, I made sure to read it carefully the first time because I was determined to understand how this was considered acceptable.
One last bit and I'll bring this novella-sized reply to a close. The fact that this whole thing escalated as much as it did then a "for all the dummies" journal gets posted does make me get the impression that the community members are being toyed with. All of this initiated dArama when it could have led off with this thorough explanation as opposed to what appeared to say "you can all trace whatever you'd like because it's practice so have fun."
The vagueness involved with the policies is a continuing complaint of mine. It should be cut and dry, what's accepted what isn't. That fuzzy grey area just leaves room for interpretation, confusion and chaos. If tracing is allowed because technically copyrights are for the use of the artist and not something that needs to be enforced by the community, then the policies should reflect that. There are ways to be direct and not overly restrictive.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Will you let Deviant turn into a repetition of works???
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
i hope that dA will take this petition into consideration
and teh pretition said that to make a new category for those, which i think is resonable because it's not totally banning the tracing art.
i signed it
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I agree that any respectable art site needs to crack down on copiers and tracing when people misrepresent it as their own work.
However, I would want them to make sure that beginner artists still have places to post practice works that may be copies/tracings for input and critique so they can learn.
Perhaps they could have a special section for "practice works" where you have to say who the original is from and link to them if they're on DA (it could be easy and automatic). This section could also be searchable and formatted in such a way that people who like to help beginner artists could go leave comments, but people who are searching for original art would not get these practice pieces included in searches. So, copies/traces would be in a whole separate section with no overlap in searches.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Oops, I forgot to add: As far as the fan artwork goes, as long as you credit the original artist, that's good. An example is my fan artwork...I drew fan art from certain games in my own style, poses, background, etc but I always gave credit to the artist (ex. FFXII (c) Square Enix & Character designs (c) Akihiko Yoshida.)
And if people want to do fan art of any of our OC characters, they need to ask! I've seen cases where art theives copied my friends & fellow artist's artwork without asking permission & did not credit the original artist.
That is what I am against: allowing people to copy our OC work.
I hope DA will change to policy to not allow art theivery, copying, and especially tracing! I mean, if beginners absolutely have to trace, then they should do it at home (or wherever they like to draw) and NOT upload it on DA.
I hope DA realizes that this is affecting a lot of us. Once they change the policy & have zero-tolerance towards art theives, then I will happily make my new gallery with my new, improved artwork (all OC!) to share with everybody.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Thank you for putting up this announcement. If I hadn't read this, I would not have known about the petition (which I definitely did sign, by the way!). 
As for fan art in general, fan art is perfectly fine as long as we do it in our own style with an original pose, background, etc. And those who do pencil artwork from a photo is fine. But it is NOT okay for sombody to steal OUR artwork from OUR gallery & claim it as theirs.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I second you. I don't know what the staff was thinking with this update. As a fanartist, I'd be ruined with new "rule". Not only will I sign this petition, but will aswell feature it in my journal.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Why it's bad to trace, from someone who was once one of the most popular tracers on deviantART: [link]
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
| Next =>