PublicWiki.CopyrightsAndEthics Revisions

1-12-03, 1530 MST: Corrected a blurb in the "Understanding Copyright Law" portion of the Long Section... replaced "(URL) and (URL)" with "at the bottom of this page". - Penguinisto

This is especially true when making textures... always mark imported layers of others' work with some sort of identifier that lets you know that it isn't your work. Never use the clone tool, healing brush, or any other tool on those layers that might pick up parts of those particular layers and place the results on your own work. Better yet, if there is a facility to make a given layer read-only or locked, use it.

When using comparisons for modelling, be sure to mark others' meshes with their own distinct color, and best of all, put those on a mesh layer marked with something like "NOT MY WORK" or similar, and be sure to turn off that layer (or hide those meshes) before exporting anything.

When working with morphs, poses, or Poser-specific goods, you're better off not touching any program that allows the transfer of morphs from one character to another. Always, ALWAYS be sure to start with a basic default-posed mesh character, as unpacked from the folks you bought the mesh from. For example, when making a character morph (or testing conforming clothing, or testing poses) based on DAZ' Victoria 3 character w/ magnets, load the DAZ-supplied character with no injected morphs, no texturing, nada. Just use the default. This will, by the way, also insure maximum compatibility for the product as well.

1-12-03, 1028 MST: Added section on using 'templates' as part of the work process - Penguinisto

(Note: This is not entirely accurate. Despite what Metacreations, CL, or DAZ may mention in a EULA, what can and cannot be copyrighted is based on a few simple aspects of law. Effectively, as all Poser content -- including lights and such -- are in fact in a fixed meium, any of them can be theoretically copyrighted. However, it would be up to a court to decide of the claimed copyright holds or whether an allegged infringer is actually innocent. In general, any Poser content that does not utilise an original mesh will be much harder to prove copyright on. Morphs and injection morphs are more likely, among these latter, to hold up as copyrighted material than, say, poses, light sets, and cameras. However, it would be actually more reasonable to believe that light sets would maintain their copyright if pressed in a court of law than, for instance, a pose file. If for no other reason, one must (and a court would) consider the real-world analogues. In the real world one can easily copyright an arrangement of lights (effectively as a sculpture), while one cannot copyright a dance. However, one can copyright a set of instructions for how to perform a dance, just as one can copyright a set of instructions for how to arrange lights or even position a camera -- and those examples are exactly what Poser pose file? or light sets? are.)

 copyright in your description, but be aware that copyright will not protect 

 copyright in your description, but be aware that copyright will not protect the
 idea itself as revealed in your written or artistic work.@@ 

	Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts, systems, or methods of doing something. You may express your ideas in writing or drawings and claim copyright in your description, but be aware that copyright will not protect the idea itself as revealed in your written or artistic work. 

	@@Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts, systems, or methods of
 doing something. You may express your ideas in writing or drawings and claim
 copyright in your description, but be aware that copyright will not protect 

1.A basic description of the product

2.A complete list of files included with the product

3.A statement declaring that you hold the copyright on the product (unless there is a partnership or other contributory items included, in which you must also list the copyright holders of the items they contributed or licensed to you as well.)

12-16-03, 0857 MST: Cleaned up formatting, added changelog - Penguinisto

The Long Version (the how and the why)

	Portions of this product are licensed, © 2002 Ted's House of Skin

	: :  Portions of this product are licensed, © 2002 Ted's House of Skin 

	Other contributions to this product are verified and on file, and are available upon request. 

	: :  Other contributions to this product are verified and on file, and are available upon request. 

	Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts, systems, or methods of doing something.
 You may express your ideas in writing or drawings and claim copyright in your description,
 but be aware that copyright will not protect the idea itself as revealed in your written or
 artistic work. 

	Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts, systems, or methods of doing something. You may express your ideas in writing or drawings and claim copyright in your description, but be aware that copyright will not protect the idea itself as revealed in your written or artistic work. 

Glossary of Terms (as applies to CG artwork)

This is split up into four sections: What a merchant must do, what a merchant should do, a reference section, and a glossary of terms.

The first is your best bet to avoid legal lawsuit, pulled product, or a shut-down store. I won't even have to mention the reputation hit and humiliation that will also follow. The second is a more general list of tips and practices that will help improve your ethical standing among customers and peers, and to help you prevent any later confusion should anything go wrong. The third is a further list of useful resources that you may indeed find helpful. The Glossary is to clear up any confusion that may exist with certain terms and phrases.

Who should use this?

If you are an existing merchant, you may do well to study this guideline, then go back, audit your existing products, and make changes as necessary, notifying your existing customers and sending them updates as well.

Disclaimer:

Now, with all of that out of the way...

What You Must Do

--

(*) Understand the copyright laws for your country, and the country housing your store or brokerage.

(*) Always include a readme.txt file, which includes basic information about your product, how to use it, and a statement of copyright claim, and copyright compliance.

(*) Always document your sources, verifications and receipts, and keep them on file. If you cannot document and verify it, DO NOT USE IT in a product.

(*) Learn the difference between being licensed to use something, and being licensed to redistribute it.

(*) Make sure that you either give full credit to all contributors to your product in your readme.txt file, or state that you do have all credits and verification on file, and that they are available by request.

(*) Recognize that just because someone makes the same item as you do, that does not mean the item is a copyright violation.

(*) Know that there are some items you can sell legally, but you cannot copyright them at all.

(*) If you are building models, morphs and/or textures for a product (or as the product), you should save all steps in the process of creating them, and keep them on file.

(*) If you think someone has just ripped you off, STOP! and think about what to do before doing it.

(*) If someone claims you ripped them off, STOP! and think about how you will respond to the claim.

The long version (the how and why): -- (*) Understanding Copyright Law. An online FAQ of copyright laws for the United States can be found at http://www.loc.gov/copyright/faq.html - this is your best and most comprehensive guide, and will answer a lot of questions you might have (and dispel a lot of myths, too.) We concentrate on US copyright law because most merchant sites and brokerages are based in the United States, and they too are subject to this law. Excellent resources on this can also be found at (URL) and (URL), and the actual full copyright law itself for the US can be had at http://www.copyright.gov/title17/ . For those who do not live in the United States, please be sure to look up the copyright laws applicable to your country, becuase they will also be relevant. If the site or brokerage is outside of the US, please be sure to either get a copy of the copyright laws for the country the server is in, or e-mail the admin of the site, who can point you to an online version of those copyright laws.

(*) In your readme.txt file, include some basic information. While you don't have to make it a long, drawn-out novella, you do have to include some basic information. This information includes the following:

1.A basic description of the product 2.A complete list of files included with the product 3.A statement declaring that you hold the copyright on the product (unless there is a partnership or other contributory items included, in which you must also list the copyright holders of the items they contributed or licensed to you as well.)

(*)Documenting Your Sources. Unless you create every bit of your product from scratch, always keep records of everything you have bought or received for inclusion into your product. Base photos, texture patterns, meshes (licensed or bought for commercial use), and anything that will, in part or in whole, be included as part of your product needs to be well-documented. Also, if you are in partnership for a product, exchange contact information, and a statement defining exactly who has copyright over what items. Do not work in partnership with anyone who refuses this.

For photographic material, keep a copy (on paper, or on your hard drive + backed up) The following: Invoices/receipts, all original images (and negatives if possible), notarized copies of any contracts (esp. those listing any and all publishing rights granted), and releases or waivers from the photographer and/or the model(s). Include all licenses (and their conditions) if they were any granted, and list royalties as well if there are any. If the model was nude during any photography (for females in the US, this includes bare-breasts), then be sure to include a signed statement from the model that he or she was at or over the age of consent during the shoot (in the US this is 18 years of age, but the exact age actually depends on your nation's laws. Check to be sure.) Also include full online and physical address contact information for the photographer and model(s), and keep them on file. If you are using commercial photos, aka "stock" photographic material, then be sure you get all the above information on and from the company or corporate entity as opposed to the individual photographer.

For mesh and non-photographic texture material, include the full contact information (physical and electronic) of the original artist, a statement from him or her granting you permission to sell the item or parts of it (preferably signed and notarized on paper and then mailed to you), and if there are only parts of the files that you are allowed to use for commercial purposes, also get a signed statement detailing exactly which parts you are allowed to use and/or re-use. and the original files as you recieved them (that is, back them all up immediately before working on any of it.)

For programming utilities or scripts purchased from others as part of your product, get a copy of the license granted, and any reciepts or invoices included... again, preferably signed and notarized if possible. Document and back up all granted source code or script code, your modifications, and under what conditions they are to be modified and sold. If you are the sole programmer or script developer, then document and back up your source code, the license you have granted use of it by, and be sure to either be prepared to grant a warranty and/or indemnification for your product, or explicitly deny any hope of granting either warranty, indemnification, or both, when you release your product. Keep record of all patches and revisions, and always back up and store your entire codebase before revisioning or building patches.

Most importantly of all, if you cannot document and verify the source of a file or items, DO NOT USE IT as part of a product.

(*) Learn the difference between being licensed to use something, and being licensed to redistribute it. Just because you bought something does not automatically give you rights to re-sell it in whole or in part. Take the time to read the license that comes with the item you're interested in using for resale, and make sure you can actually re-sell it in whole or in part, and under what conditions. For instance, if you purchase a texture and want to use it as part of a character set for later sale, be sure that you are actually allowed to do this. While a license may give you the ability to create an artwork “render” from the product and sell the resulting artwork, it may well forbid you from incorporating that texture or mesh into your own product and reselling it. When in doubt, contact the merchant. If you're still in doubt, don't use the thing at all in any of your products.

(*) Giving Credit. You must always give a copyright notice and credit to items which you licensed or bought for inclusion in your product. If everything is yours and yours alone, then no worries, you can skip this whole set of paragraphs.

However, if you purchased a set of base items, or had them given to you, you must include a statement that the person or entity you bought or licensed the item from holds that original copyright. As an example, if I buy a set of skin photographs from “Ted's House of Skin!” that were originally taken in 2002, then I have to include a statement in the readme.txt file that at least says the following:

	Portions of this product are licensed, © 2002 Ted's House of Skin

If others contribute something freely for use in your product but doesn't want credit, or you have a “silent partner” in the enterprise, or the folks who sold you a license to use their stuff commercially doesn't want credit, then you must, must get their contact information, and a statement from them that they own the original copyright on the items contributed (see earlier as to exactly what.) While you don't have to include full credit in the readme.txt file if that's the case, you must at least state the following:

	Other contributions to this product are verified and on file, and are available upon request. 

(*) Recognizing the difference between infringement and mere competition. Just because someone creates the same bit of clothing item or mesh as you, or that someone else also makes a skin texture with tan lines on it, it does not by itself constitute a copyright infringement. There is a commonality between items like CG objects depicting the human body, or a model of Stonehenge. Also, there is a perfcetly legal commonality for items that have the same general or specific use and placements, like boots or underwear. Just because you create a set of combat boots for DAZ' “The Freak” does not mean that the next merchant who creates a set of combat boots for the same mesh is suddenly a copyright infringer.

The only way you can conclusively prove that someone has infringed upon your product is by a direct comparison of the two items of contention at the file level, either by photographic comparison (for instance, between textures), a direct comparison of polygonal wireframes (in the case of meshes) and/or delta displacement points and positional points of reference between files (for lights and morphs.)

For binary (as opposed to ASCII)-coded files, you will have to use another method of determining violation, either through the conversion of both binary files (your file and the suspect file) to ASCII, or by using a hex editor or other comparator program to compare the two files for similarities.

Also, ideas themselves are not copyrightable – only the resulting file is. So if you create a product that for instance puts a big fat spike on Victoria's butt, and it turns out to be a huge fad and everyone wants to do the same thing in their artwork, someone else can create and sell the same thing without fear of violating your copyright (so long as they build it themsleves.) This snippet comes from the US Copyright Office, and should explain it better (see the resources section of this document: )

	Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts, systems, or methods of doing something.
 You may express your ideas in writing or drawings and claim copyright in your description,
 but be aware that copyright will not protect the idea itself as revealed in your written or
 artistic work. 

(*) Keep your creation process and back it up. As you build a texture, model, or nearly any other file, you will naturally have intermediate and incremental back-up files saved off as you progress, to protect against file corruption, failed saves, and other disasters common to computer-based artwork. Keep all of those files, back them up, and save them. Also be sure to include test renders, test files, and anything else you 've written to disk electronically to produce your product. This not only proves that you yourself are indeed the copyright holder of your product, but it also provides a perfect defense in case someone else accuses you of violating copyright for a near-exact-looking item, as you can use those files to prove, step-by-step, how you built the product. In the case of textures, save your layers individually and in whole as well.

(*) If you think someone has just ripped you (or a friend) off, STOP! and think about what to do before doing it. This is pure common sense, but it is the first thing to get discarded in the heat of emotion. First and foremost, take the time to go over the evidence a second time. If someone informs you of it instead of your finding out about it, purchase the suspect product, make the comparisons yourself, and be damned sure you can duplicate the results before declaring an infringement.

Once you have discovered and proven the infringement (if it isn't proveable, then there is none, yes?), first and foremost contact the merchant for the suspect item. Be sure to emphasize that it is a problem, and ask them if they can either prove that it is theirs, or to modify the item so as not to include the infringing product. If they refuse or do not take positive action within 24 hours of acknowledging reciept of your message (to allow for timezone differences. Also, be sure to always use a communications channel that requires and gives acknowledgement of reciept, such as PM's, e-mail with an acknowledgement flag set, or at most drastic, certified paper mail delivery. ) If the person is on vacation, ignoring you, or is not around, or, you don't receive acknowlegement of reciept within 36 hours of sending the message, you can then take the next step...

...contact the store or brokerage selling the suspect item. Include all evidence, include all of your initial communications with the merchant selling the suspect item, ask for immediate investigation into the matter, and include a possible solution to resolve the problem. BE SURE to also inform them that you are making a formal claim of infringement at that time, and ask them if there are any forms to fill out, or further information they may want or need from you.

The rest is up to you, but it is strongly suggested that you yourself remain as calm as possible, and that you do not say anything that would be construed as an acceptance of the infringement.

Once you hear back from the store or brokerage, or the person you suspect has infringed on your item, sit back and think about the size and scope of the damage. It does not matter that you may or may not have gotten all of the profit from the suspect item, you may well be entitled to all of it. If the damage is larger than $1000 US, you can safely begin talking to a lawyer in the matter and explore your options (the $1000 dollar mark is set because that is the minimum limit in most areas before a claim can be taken out of a small claims court and into a full-sized lawsuit for damages. Check with your local laws, and the local laws of the suspect infringer, just to be sure.)

Some other things to think about: Unless you have positive evidence, DO NOT immediately begin launching into the online community and decry the merchant as an infringer. Even then, post your claim, your evidence, and then stay out of any emotional part of the resulting discussion. Stick to the facts no matter what. Do not make wild threats or gestures. Do not give any impression that you are forgiving the suspect merchant, or that you want to just forget about it, as any statements such as these can constitute a release of claim, and can possibly cause you to lose any further claim on your own copyright for that product.

(*) If someone claims you ripped them off, STOP! and think about how you will respond to the claim. If someone claims to have been infringed by your product, you should already have a wide array of defenses in place. First and foremost, make no admission of guilt in any fashion. Explain that you have not violated copyright, then explain why, sending proof as necessary to support your assertions. Immediately talk to a lawyer, no matter how much money is involved, and take his or her advice.

After doing this (and unless the lawyer says otherwise), provide the store or brokerage with everything they will need to prove that you did not violate copyright. Make a notarized copy of all relevant paper documents pertaining to the product in question, and make a mailable copy of all your electronic documents and files (for instance, burn them onto a CD-ROM.) Send all of it via overnight courier to the address the store or brokerage will give you, and make sure it is sent with delivery confirmation whenever possible. Then, e-mail or FTP them a copy of your electronic documents and files as soon as possible, to give them something to work with while the physical media is on the way. Again, if you do contact a lawyer, make sure the lawyer knows what you are doing before you do it.

If your product includes material licensed, or leased, or given to you by others, and that material is the file or part being claimed as a copyright violation, immediately notify these parties, and state as much to the store and the merchant making the claim. Then be sure to give the store/brokerage and merchant the contact information of the parties in question, and take no further part in the results unless the store/brokerage asks you to do so, and with your lawyer's permission.

Resources

Brad Templeton's 10 big myths about copyright explained http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

Art Resource copyright page http://www.artres.com/coppage.htm

Collage & copyright law http://www.funnystrange.com/copyright/myths.htm

UWSP crash copyright course http://library.uwsp.edu/Copyright/myths.htm

US Copyright Office FAQ http://www.copyright.gov/faq.html

Glossary of Terms (as applies to CG artwork)

Commercial use: The ability to re-sell an item, or to re-sell a product using an item you did not create as part of that product. Warning: This is almost always a conditional and restricted term, usually meaning that while you can sell artwork created from an item, you may not sell anything else that incorporates the item, in whole or in part. If the license states that the item is “not for commercial use”, then you may not sell anything that incorporates the item.

Merchant: someone or some entity that puts something up for sale.

Product: an item or collection of items placed for sale to the public or in private.