Stolen avatars

I see alot of celebrity avatars on ATS and BTS and wonder if the "deny ignorance" motto applies to copyright laws. I am a member of several large art sites where stolen artwork is not tolerated. Where does ATS/BTS stand on this?

Does Fair Use and/or Public Domain come into play in this matter?

I agree that copyright infringement is a huge problem (both here and elsewhere online, realistically), but because there's obviously no profit being made from the use of those images, it'd probably be hard to prosecute anyone here for copyright infringement.

I don't feel like it's a problem here on ATS really.

Would you really want to pay the thousands of dollars it would take to hire a lawyer, over a few images?

Do you have any idea of how much it cost to go to Copyright Court ??? and how exactly could ATS monitor every single Avatar from any member ??? hpw can they possibly know where it came from ...

i made my own, but anyone could come around and claim i had stole it ... and than what ? where would it end ?

I made mine too.... and I can actually prove it. I encourage those doing artwork to encode personal information in the image. It does not have to be visible in the artwork. 3d modelers I work with frequently encode their names or a number into an inconspicuous place in the mesh, so that they can prove the model is theirs. You could do the same with an image. Just put something unnoticed in a nook or cranny to show that it belongs to you. I also keep wips on my computer so if any image of mine is questioned, I can provide a few sequential wips that show the image in various stages of construction. You cannot do that with a celebrity avatar, and I am not about to pay a lawyer to go to court for me to argue "fair use".

My current avatar isnt stolen in any form or fashion

Originally posted by BaastetNoir
Do you have any idea of how much it cost to go to Copyright Court ??? and how exactly could ATS monitor every single Avatar from any member ??? hpw can they possibly know where it came from ...

That's not really how it happens, though.

The burden of proof isn't so hard to accomplish - the original owner of "the artwork" would probably find it easy enough to prove authorship. Cost? Do you think Britney Spears worries about the cost when websites post unauthorised pics? The key word here might be "authorised". Public domain is generally considered authorised. But specific shots (usually candid) are often unauthorised, and that's where the trouble starts.

(Yes, actually, I'm horribly aware of how much it costs. I've been involved in two legal disputes relating to copyright infringement. Sure, it's not cheap - but it's not ridiculously expensive, either....and again, though an avatar isn't really much on the grand scheme of things, sometimes it does become necessary to take action)

(and seeing as everyone is doing it - the images I use are "free use" images from a particular Buddhist website. So there. )

[edit on 18-7-2005 by Tinkleflower]