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Artwork rights
8 years ago
Ive been seeing a lot of artists recently slipping in commercial rights to their artwork in their TOS and its making me fairly uncomfortable to be honest. I would be horrified if my character(s) were used for merchandise without my knowledge/permission. I do understand that an artist wouldnt want ME using their art commercially, i get that, but why do they have the right to use my character? And i get nothing out of that? Do i get a discount off the commission, do i get my commission paid off if they make enough sales etc etc? Do i even get the courtesy of being asked before its done?
Yknow, for a community that abhors theft of IP, characters, copying/tracing etc... stuff like this being allowed surprises me.
Im going to have to start being way, way more careful about who i commission, and what im agreeing to. Artists are slowly stripping away all rights from the consumer.
Yknow, for a community that abhors theft of IP, characters, copying/tracing etc... stuff like this being allowed surprises me.
Im going to have to start being way, way more careful about who i commission, and what im agreeing to. Artists are slowly stripping away all rights from the consumer.
For example, commercial rights should only be used on banners and Commission price sheets, NOT on merchandise. The character isnt theirs and YOU bought the product with specifics, if they would use it I suggest making an own TOS rule. If artists can make demands and rules, so can we as the ones paying for them. If they get income from items that your character is on, that is simply BARBARIC and theft
It's a sellers market, they make the rules and it sucks.
I mean it's super shitty of an artist not to respect a commissioner's wishes with this kind of thing but I don't think there's much legal basis for an artist not being able to do so.
Best answer is to probably just not commission any artists who might do this.
Its when artists put it in their tos that they are allowed to sell prints etc without asking that scares me.
It is kinda scary... I understand its their artwork but, it feels like that opens theft of character which is just as bad as theft of art IMO.
It's like Mickey Mouse, technically you can say that this deer, with this design of hair/spots/etc specifically belongs to me and then I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be able to use it commercially without your permission, or at least it would give you real grounds to stop them from making any profit off your char.