Well technically if they break ToS you could attempt to take back said design, but you wont get very far in terms of legal action you can just harass them out the wazoo ,reuse the design ,and notify anyone that asks they lost rights to it. Which is a pain.

To be honest with you I find most character design ToS absurd and actually will not buy adopts because of it, For the most part it's easier to look at adopts as complete transactions and not dumping rules onto the designs usage. They purchased it from you, therefore you in essence hold no real rights to it unless you go to a copyright registry of sorts and copyright every single design you plan to sell. Like if someone recolored Mario and made a game out of it, I would love to see someone try.

Rules are nice, one needs money and power to enforce them.

Also, Payment for service via F and F is fraud and you can get fined for it, like...2000 USD-ish? Something along those lines.

I'm having issues finding the article, but I remember reading a thing that even with a specific ToS, breach of it cannot allow the seizure of a product sold and paid in full.

You can say: "This character is not to be used for porn." And they can go and get a porn pic of that character and you still can't take it back. Even forcefully taking it back with a refund given to them is tricky.

I'll look more for that article again. It was specifically for freelance artists and the like and their rights and such along with things that can get them in deep crap legally. I'm pretty tired so I'll get back to you tomorrow.

I was mostly curious because someone i bought a character/s from has a rule in there tos that you can only sell them on DA. It doesnt effect me because I got them before the tos change but they are saying they will take ocs back from people for that and for selling them for a higher prices and i told them that ( you couldnt take them back cuz i was told that) and now im just wondering if there was proof of that to back it up haha

It's because in order to officially claim a design, you'd have to have a copyright claim on that character. Adopts are actually a legal nightmare and it's why people often choose to stay out of it. There's no real copyright claims on anything and characters are just transferring hands without so much more than a moral claim.

Technically, they can take it back all they want to. It's a character on a page without any legal claims to it. Although that would just be a huuuuuge kick in the nuts for their business. Because you take something from me that I paid for and claim you're using it based on nonsense I never agreed to, then I'm putting you on artist beware and I'm telling EVERYONE to avoid you as an artist. Personally, I call bullshit and I would just continue to use the character that I bought. I feel it's extremely stupid to put stipulations on characters someone no longer owns aside from selling them more than what they were bought for. It's unfair to sell something to someone, then go "oh wait...this is how you're supposed to use it"


And if the TOS was changed AFTER your purchase, then it doesn't apply to you. You'd have to be shown the new TOS and agreed to it if there was any change the person wanted you to abide by (although legally this means nothing unless you sign something). It's unfair for people to force others into a contract AFTER the transaction is already over because then anyone could change anything about their TOS and claim since you've already bought something from then in the past, then that means you agree to the new one. Which is stupid and would lead to a lot of bullshit. Therefore, if they wanted that stipulation, they should've put it on the FIRST TOS before selling the adopt. Any adopt they sold before the TOS change does NOT fall under the new agreement unless mutally agreed upon.

This just sounds like an artist people should avoid.

Thanks for the info but i really would like to get a link to like read about this stuff for myself! I mean like I am not taking back any characters i sell.

They arnt forcing it on old buyers but on new buyers...

I'm not sure where you're looking for a link to. I don't know if you'll actually find anyone with an actual link to any actual laws as it's a copyright thing, not something specific to adopts. You're not going to find that.

The only thing I can give you is a quote from someone who has a bit more knowledge than that, but only thing I can give you of legal documentation are copyright laws. That's it.

Here's the comment I was talking about. It's from sableantelope

He can 'claim' them back all he wants, you can still keep using it regardless.

From another comment here:
let them know that's stealing and they can get in trouble for it/nothing about this tos is supported by any kind of law.

Okay I just want to say that the law doesn't protect individual character designs. The only way to protect a single character is through trademark- but that must be approved by a trade board and proven that their could be confusion over business identification, it's also expensive and usually must be renewed annually.
Copyright is for a body of work, not individual characters within that work unless as protection for the body as a whole.

Nothing in his TOS regarding character adoption is legally relevant, because the law doesn't protect individual characters.

When you 'buy' an adoptable you buy nothing, nada, zip. They can sell that same character to a hundred people. You could take and use it for nothing.
The only 'protection' is morals of buyer and seller. That's a risky thing to trust in business where real money is concerned.

FA has made an on-site rule to protect characters from being 'stolen' and used; however this does nothing to protect your money. They can kick the offender off their site, but this proprietary clause in their TOS doesn't mean there's any legal protection.

So I really, REALLY think people need to go in eyes wide open when you buy adoptables that you are doing business outside of any legal protection. That's bad news.

Now with that said: I've actually talked this over with a couple of currently-before-the-bar business lawyers, guys who do a lot of contract stuff. I was wondering if there is some protection for the buyer because it's a 'business' deal with money exchanging so there must be some recourse- the consensus is that you're doing business outside the protection of the law and so no recourse. :/

Honestly 'adoptables" are a hot button for me, I really think exchanging designs for money should be disallowed on FA. The buyer has NO protection.
That's unfair.
I know a lot of artists are moral with how they run the adoptable side of their business but that doesn't replace legal protection when looking at the practice as a whole.

Also people with ridiculous TOS terms regarding the designs they make and how they can rip them out from others but still keep the money. NO. No, no, no. Even if characters did have legal protection, and they do in a makeshift way within the confines of FurAffinty at least, these terms would be unreasonable to the millionth degree. You can't take a product back or revoke ownership because you don't like how the owner deals with it. This applies to dogs to chairs to food. You can't keep the money and take back the steak as a butcher because you think steak should be rare and the purchasers cooks it well done.
Same as dog breeding. You can sell with a non-breeding "contract", but you can't actually sue or take the dog back if the person chooses to breed. Property ownership doesn't come with a 'but you can't do this with it'.
(at least from a tort/damages law perspective, breaking criminal law is a different, of course but even if someone abuses a dog they bought that doesn't mean the breeder automatically takes the animal back)

Adoptables just make me pull my hair. It's a contract mess.
Personally, I'd avoid it like the plague.
(with apologies to the artists who act professionally and ethically with their adoptables, I'm sorry but the buyer is just in such a vulnerable spot I would never recommend anyone buy one.)

This was based on an adopt incident from another user. Pretty much the same mess you're in. A user has a wonky TOS and is trying to shove it down people's throats about something someone else owns. I'm sorry I can't give you more than that.

I know that im just looking for something general? but yah

does that mean you can sell a character you payed for with money eve though the tos says trade only?

Honestly, you can do whatever you want with whatever character you bought. The TOS is merely a guide. It is NOT a binding contract unless signed. The artist can pitch a fit about it, but honestly they can't do very much. They can SAY they'll take the design back, but that's not really their item anymore without refunding the money, and they can't force someone to take it.

Now I'm not saying go around breaking TOSs and saying "screw you" to the artist. I feel like everyone should be checking that and if the TOS says ANYTHING you don't like, it's best to stay away completely instead of just buying from them and saying "well this isn't binding so technically I don't have to follow it" and just breaking it.

Adopts work more on a moral and trust basis than anything. I tend to follow the TOS if I find it's not that big of a deal. Like if it's an adopt I like and i'm okay with the terms, I'll accept them and buy the adopt, even if it says something like I can't sell the adopt or I can't do this or that. It's an honor system really. But if I find the adopt has something silly or something I find to be stupid in the TOS then I will probably just steer clear of the adopt.

Like one artist said he'd take an adopt back if you didn't credit him for the species on EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF ART YOU GET with the adopt in it, even if he didn't draw it. He was also trying to say that if the artist you commissioned didn't credit him for the species in the drawing themselves, then he can take the adopt. Even though the person who bought the adopt isn't the one who did the thing he didn't like. I liked the adopts, but not the stipulations so I decided to steer WAYYY the hell clear of them. But had I chosen to buy it, that TOS is only a guide. He can't enforce it like he thinks. He can TRY but I bought something and it's mine. Not his.