Reporting Rips: READ THIS!!!
Policy clarification
Monday, June 12, 2006 by Frogboy | Discussion: Permissions
There has been some question with regards to users posting about potential rips.
WinCustomize.com supports users reporting violations of other people's copyrights. The forum "Permissions" (general->permissions) exists to that purpose (we are working on a new forum layout that will make this easier).
There was confusion in this thread:
https://www.wincustomize.com/forums.aspx?ForumID=144&AID=119968Here's the deal:
WinCustomize allows FAN art. This isn't open to debate. If someone wants to upload a Superman wallpaper that they made, that's fine. If they want to submit an X-men wallpaper that is fine. If there is an issue with it, Marvel, Warner, whoever will let us know. However, in "real life" there are thousands of fan sites that post the same thing. WinCustomize does not exist in a vacuum.
We allow fan art because no one will be "confused" or "misled" by what the fan art is about. There is no confusion over the ultimate owner of the trademarks or trade dresses involved.
Ripping, however, is something different. No individual skinner or icon artist has the fame or distribution in which a "casual user" would recognize their work as opposed to being the work of someone else who uploads it or uses it in their product.
WinCustomize takes copyright and trademark rights very seriously. So if someone sees a product, service, website, skin, or theme that is making use of another individual's work that they don't think they have permisison, you should feel free to post it here to draw attention to it.
In the past we have seen our own content made use without our permission. We have seen Paul Boyer's icons used without permission. We have seen our own skins used without permission. So it is clearly a problem and as a community we should work together.
I realize there are some people who have much more stringent definitions of what copyright protection means and I realize there are those who have much looser views on what copyright means. This is not the place to debate that. We have struck a middle ground (so no one will be quite happy).
Hopefully this clears up confusion.
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Reply #3 Monday, June 12, 2006 1:59 PM
Will the Mods or the community evaluate the suspect upload? Will the thread be removed or locked after the issue is addressed? Do NOT email the mods or use IRC?
I think the policy is clear Brad but the implementation might be hard.
Reply #4 Monday, June 12, 2006 2:40 PM
Forum posts are fine. But no, we don't want people jumping on IRC or emailing us all the time about it.f
The problem Jafo and others have run into is the "boy who cried wolf" syndrome. That is, what people don't see are the emails Jafo and other mods get by people who want WinCustomize to play cop on some personal issue or whatever (most common example is when multiple people work on something together and then they have a falling out later).
Then there's the issue of evolving standards on the net. Two years ago, we would not have allowed someone to take stock photos and turn them into logons or boot screens. Today, we would but that's not always communicated by Stardock and so mods enforce the policies they are aware of.
The single biggest problem of WinCustomize is that it was founded on a naive premise -- that Stardock would basically hand it over to the community to run. That's not realistic because there is no "community" in the sense of there being a single minded purpose.
Stardock is in the process of trying to hire people who would work here in Plymouth Michigan who would actually be responsible for Stardock's websites and interact with the volunteers and be in a position to compensate volunteers (like Jafo) for the time they put in. When I'm personally making the news items on WC all the time you know there's a problem. 
I love WinCustomize and the community. But my full time job has to be to run Stardock and the 40+ employees and dozens of projects going on as well as my programming responsibilities and sometime in there be a good dad and husband.
So what I'm saying is that the reason WC has a lot of these miscommunications is because of me -- I don't have enough time to communicate effectively what our positions are on some of the more nebulous issues of a skin site and so the moderators have to work blind. The solution is to have a full-time Stardock person here in the office who is in charge of our websites to work with the admins and moderators on a more regular basis.
Reply #7 Monday, June 12, 2006 4:05 PM
Reply #8 Monday, June 12, 2006 4:33 PM
Reply #9 Monday, June 12, 2006 5:07 PM
Im not bitching, i am just wondering...
Reply #10 Monday, June 12, 2006 5:10 PM
| im curiouos if the idea of "Fan art" applies to these as well? |
| If there is an issue with it, Marvel, Warner, whoever will let us know. |
I know that major league sports in the US are VERY touchy about their logos. My guess is one of them said something to Stardock and spoiled it for everyone.
But as you know RomanDA, I'm 1/2 full of crap . . . so I might be wrong.
Reply #11 Monday, June 12, 2006 5:19 PM
Reply #12 Monday, June 12, 2006 5:31 PM
| then we would probably conclude that the NFL doesn't have an issue and that if falls under fair use for the creation of fan art |
Most fan sites don't get the traffic and attention of Stardock and Wincustomize though. Expect a letter.
Reply #14 Monday, June 12, 2006 6:27 PM
| There was confusion in this thread: |
lol.., brad...
well yes, the main point of my thread was to show how software developers use with or without permission others work to make money....
and geez..., that post get out of control....
Reply #15 Tuesday, June 13, 2006 5:23 AM
Thanks for clearing this up for us Brad!
Reply #16 Tuesday, June 13, 2006 7:16 AM
well yes, the main point of my thread was to show how software developers use with or without permission others work to make money.... and geez..., that post get out of control. |
That wasnt your fault Tycus. You reported what I think was an important issue. The rest just kinda " happened " as things do.
Reply #17 Tuesday, June 13, 2006 7:28 AM
I posted an NHL logo, maybe you should take it down. I'm fine with that.
Reply #18 Wednesday, June 14, 2006 12:08 PM
I personally would like to thank you for these clarifications and updates yet to come. Wincustomize has regained my continued support... obviously I was one of the "confused" within the linked thread, but you have cleared the issues up very well.
| We have struck a middle ground (so no one will be quite happy). |
I for one am very happy with the "middle ground", it is much better than the bottom floor, LoL.
Thanks!
Z.
Reply #19 Wednesday, June 14, 2006 12:35 PM
| Wincustomize has regained my continued support |
Welcome back DZ.
Reply #20 Wednesday, June 14, 2006 2:21 PM
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Reply #1 Monday, June 12, 2006 1:09 PM