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On Closed Species
3 years ago
In short, they're BS.
If anyone ever has a question about what my species I design are, they never a closed species. Not because I'm generous and all but because the entire concept of a closed species is kind of a BS subject and is in no way legally enforceable.
No one can really stop you from lifting a design based on or inspired by something they've done, only really stop you from using their proper terminology (like species name) for it, and possibly setting/lore attached (as long as those things too have proper titles). And even then, to round up a team of lawyers to stop one individual on the internet from calling their fursona by a species name that someone coined...really not a cost effective thing to do. Spend thousands of dollars just so someone has to rename their character species and change their lore? Yeah... The most anyone can do to stop and individual from making a character based off an original species they made is basically use their internet clout and following to harass that individual which really is more of a dick thing to do than the person borrowing the design for personal use.
Commercial use? Another thing altogether. Simply because if you're using someone else's IP (specifically the names, titles, and unique traits/art of a design, not the design concept itself), you can be on the hook for paying royalties for whatever you're earning.
So if it ever comes down to it, no my species are not closed species. I won't say they're "fully open" species either, but feel free to make and design your own characters off of them as long as they aren't for commercial use. If you want to use them for commercial use, better contact me for licensing or file off the names. Oh and use your own art for them. My artwork and commissions are not for commercial use, if you want commercial licensing, that's another thing altogether.
Tbh, I don't know where I was going with this journal. Closed species are fake and more of a courtesy than a rule.
If anyone ever has a question about what my species I design are, they never a closed species. Not because I'm generous and all but because the entire concept of a closed species is kind of a BS subject and is in no way legally enforceable.
No one can really stop you from lifting a design based on or inspired by something they've done, only really stop you from using their proper terminology (like species name) for it, and possibly setting/lore attached (as long as those things too have proper titles). And even then, to round up a team of lawyers to stop one individual on the internet from calling their fursona by a species name that someone coined...really not a cost effective thing to do. Spend thousands of dollars just so someone has to rename their character species and change their lore? Yeah... The most anyone can do to stop and individual from making a character based off an original species they made is basically use their internet clout and following to harass that individual which really is more of a dick thing to do than the person borrowing the design for personal use.
Commercial use? Another thing altogether. Simply because if you're using someone else's IP (specifically the names, titles, and unique traits/art of a design, not the design concept itself), you can be on the hook for paying royalties for whatever you're earning.
So if it ever comes down to it, no my species are not closed species. I won't say they're "fully open" species either, but feel free to make and design your own characters off of them as long as they aren't for commercial use. If you want to use them for commercial use, better contact me for licensing or file off the names. Oh and use your own art for them. My artwork and commissions are not for commercial use, if you want commercial licensing, that's another thing altogether.
Tbh, I don't know where I was going with this journal. Closed species are fake and more of a courtesy than a rule.
For those wit doubts: Think about Star Wars Storm Troopers. You are allowed to draw Storm Troopers, you can do non-profit stuff with them, and you can commission / get commissioned to draw them for private clients. However, if you publish a video game titled: "Starwars: Storm Troopers" you will get your ass annihilated by Disney's lawyers. If you produce tangible merch that copies existing things Disney produces, you might also run afoul of Trademark IIRC.
Disney however cannot keep you from making fan works of something so ubiquitous. The problem comes from taking money from people in a mass-market kind of manner (which can be twisted to include Patreon), so always avoid picking a fight with rich companies that have lawyers. However, no one cares if you draw a dick on a Dutch Angel Dragon, in fact do it explicitly because *you own your characters*, and really no one else does.
As for personal, non commercial use- yeah, there really is very little they can actually do to stop you, even outright IP theft, simply because the costs of the legal process are so high that its kind of not worth it unless they wanted to make an example out of you.
It's pretty flattering in its own right when someone likes an idea of yours enough to want to play around with it themselves. I would fully go open species on everything I do but just don't have the time/patience to put out a formal species ref/design sheet, or even just 'meant for public consumption' writeups.
Getting that kind of attention always gives me a spark of motivation to further pursue that design work, though~
Especially because they often look very similar and generic too. I did try some closed species, because friends convinced me to try it, and they were made by people I am friends with too, plus they didn't ask for much.
But I guess if its just for supporting artists I could just commission them. But they often have some kind of RPG thing going on too, which is nice. They have lore and worlds and NPCs and fake currency. They have quests you can do. Like draw or write what your character would do in this scenario. Which is neat.
But yea, I don't wanna spent tons of money in this type of thing, even if the creator is a friend of mine.
What I also don't understand, which I see a lot, especially on fA, is this trend of bitting on character designs. I see a lot of artists focusing on making character designs for the sole purpose for people to bid on, often for a ridiculous amount of money. Why not just commission that artist to draw a character you want them to draw? I don't get it. And again, the designs are often so generic looking too.
Like, cool, I spend 800$ on some generic anthro dragon. But its MY anthro dragon now, I guess. Wow. You couldn't have come up with a design like this yourself?
I mean, there isn't anything wrong with it legaly. It's just so weird to me why people spend so much money on this. And then they often don't even do anything with these designs. Some people just collect them, I guess.
Like... whyyyy?
I've aphantasia btw. Not fully, I can still picture stuff kinda, just very very very poorly.
When the paper is the imagination, by the time you have it, it's already there, and you can't be fooled into thinking you have a design just because it seems done in your head!
What makes it doubly stupid is, if you're going to put that much time and effort into making an "original species" then WTF are you selling random adopts on a site like this and not publishing novels and comics and such about this apparent fantastic universe? It doesn't really make sense.