Pretty much.

It's quaint...but I'm an Aussie...and until G Bush and our PM [Banzai Bush] got together with a Free-Trade agreement we [Aussies] had a different set of copyright laws to those of the US.

Ours had NO allowance/dispensation relating to 'fair use' and/or 'fan art'. It was infact illegal to tape your LP or copy your CD music elsewhere, etc.

Totally. No 'ifs' no 'buts'.

Now, we are the same as the US, but in either case Wincustomize.com is an American site and thus is controlled by US Laws [or we are obliged to, though being a privately owned site the ultimate determination remains that of the owner/s].

So...

Fair use and Fan Art are legitimate inclusions within our copyright management/handling.

In response to MountainHawk and his Ford Mustang all I can suggest is that you read up on US Copyright Law and you may see where your analogy is fundamentally flawed...

i think they would rather see you keep up your uploading and maybe add another mod to the mix rather than drop uploads to keep the pressure down..i may be wrong tho..




I'll suggest to all that packaging "variants" would be beneficial.. like size or color variants of the same skin....putting all the variants of a specific skin in to one file would cut down on the # of things to be modded...I see quite a few things in widget's ,Wall's,.etc that could have been packaged as 1 upload...it gets silly seeing 12 different colored variants of the same thing uploaded as seperate skins...

not pointing any fingers.. just a thought..

Well, well nice discussion.
I have reuploaded ALL Spider-MAN series with credit to
(Original: ©2007 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. MARVEL, and all Marvel characters including the Spider-Man, Sandman and Venom characters ™ & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
http://spiderman3.sonypictures.com/)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you guys for protection.

also remember fan art is limited to pop culture idolism (IE a corporate or entity in the pop culture lime light)...taking a private partys stuff and porting to another format is not included in fair use... there is a difference between being a fan/supporting a foot ball club by making fan art and ripping a skinner/graphical artists works even if the credit is there.....the latter is not covered by fair use.....


and if i remember correctly. if the Company or entity of whose images are used or simulated to make fan art requests and or is known publicly to not allow fan art .. any fan art comprised of those parties images and logos and/or copys-simulations of those images will be rejected at WC...


typically many corporate entitys keep a tight reign on their logos and the use of them.... nascar for instance you must be licenced to use or simulate, for public display any image that displays their logos and or personel.

jafo.. correct me if im wrong....

Credit was given.
I don't RIP the Marvel.
I use my OWN models and my OWN rendering including their styles.
I don't understand where is RIP?
I copied their style, because it's FAN ART.

i was not accusing you nor suggesting...


i was simply adding to the topic as a whole....as a reminder...

my appologies if you took it as a slight toward you....
it was not meant that way..

Al you are in the clear so don't worry about it - no one is accusing you of anything and I went as far in my original post to say that I was a bigger use of fan art then you are - I'll make that clear a 2nd time. If mountainhawk had a beef with you, he should have also included all of the users including myself at the top of his list of people who use fan art. I don't want you to receive any more heat on this - I like your stuff, keep on doing what you're doing, it's good work.

HG was further clarifying the fan art discussion and I think it was worth the extra detail he added. I think it might even be worth a mention on the guidelines page adding all of the relevant points concerning fan art that we've discussed here on that page. This isn't a request but just something to keep in mind if that page is up for revision anytime in the future.

I'm glad to say that this discussion on the use of fan art was mature & civilized and I'm happy that we all participated in it and were able to express our views & opinions on this subject and receive clarification on alot of relevant points.   

OK, guys.
Unclerob: Thank You for Support.

one more sugestion.. not pointing toward anybody.. but something ive seen on other sites....


OFFICIAL. means this item was officially recognized by the entity it was designed to represent/emulate..

any claims of being an OFFICIAL skin should include a copy of the licence authorization from that entity.

ive seen to many times on other sites where some guy posted works as an "official skin" of a corporation or entity, when they were in fact not...

these false representations reflect badly on the skinner, the entity he has pretended to represent, and the community in which he posts his work. not to mention detracts from the works of those skinners who ARE actually contracted by corporations to design a skin to represent them....

there is a difference between fan art and an official contracted skin authorized by a corporation and or entity designed to represent them...


this is MHO....

i am glad this dicussion went well and all were open and objective..

My appologies to any who may take my post/sugestions as toward them.. im just trying to clairify my thinking as well as maybe offer some sugestions/ideas to others...

Well done.
I think we can close this discussion.

Well,
Open again.
Why this wall: https://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=32143&libid=8
was rejected (with new reuploading) if I add credit to MARVEL.
Earlier it was possible (without credit to MARVEL) and now (with credit) it is impossible.
Why?
=================================================================
(Dear Alperium,
Thank you for your recent upload of your Spider-MAN 3 for WallPapers
Unfortunately your upload has not met our guidelines and has been rejected.
However we do look forward to your future submissions.)
=================================================================
But BootSkin based on this wallpaper was uploaded good: https://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=8782&libid=32

Al, this is a better discussion to have privately with the moderators.  PM or email.

Well.

I think i disagree with unclerobs statement



What if you designed something - something that you sell to make $$$.
Now- someone else comes along - copies it - then starts giving it away free -
you will start to lose money - and eventually go out of business.


What is copyright?
Copyright is a form of protection grounded in the U.S. Constitution and granted by law for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works.

What does copyright protect?
Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed. See Circular 1, Copyright Basics, section "What Works Are Protected."


http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html#what

My Wall was RIPped:
RIP
Original

You need to PM a moderator or admin if you haven't.  I understand how you feel. (:( 

I have written in admin's PM.

Wouldn't you know it, the persons only been a members since.............TODAY!  

None too well, he must read the rules.

At least he has good taste.

A mod has been notified

Nutshell69, you and UncleRob are talking about 2 different things. I have alot of wallpapers dl'd form different sites that cost nothing to obtain. If I were to base a skin on on of these, it's not copyright infringement. Looking at a picture of Spidey and deciding you want to base a skin on that is completely legal.

However, if I were to post someone else's work on this (or any other) site and claim credit, then I would be in violation of the copyright laws.

You guys have misconstrued the meaning of fan art. If you didn't make it from scratch, it's not fan art. It's violating someones legal rights. No grey area here. It is black and white.

Yes, dealt...;)

A lot of work is copyright protected as soon as it is posted to many sites, weather you can download it for free or not. So, it would be copyright infringement. With the whole 'Spidey' thing, you are walking a fine line between fan art, fair use, and again, weather you like it or not, copyright infringement.

Even folks at DA who produce and post their own stock images for others to use, alter, and manipulate to their own ends can set the rules on it's use because it is copyright protected.

The work mentioned early in the thread was copyright protected, it was just a matter of someone not looking for the copyright statement.