Friends, strangers, and online acquaintances help protect artist’s rights

In January, 2014, Tiffany Shao, recent Duke University graduate, was able to bring closure to a copyright violation of her personal work when she received a $500 check from Ubisoft, a video game development company. The process of discovering the copyright infringement, contacting the company, negotiating compensation, and amending contracts had spanned several months.

A Stolen Design

The design in question was one that Shao had created while in high school, and had posted on Deviant Art, a public art website. According to Shao, the image had attracted a lot of attention, which resulted in its use by other artists and tshirt designers without permission. In 2013, it came to Shao’s attention that the image had also been “slightly modified,” and appeared as a character in the video game, “Far Cry 3,” produced by Ubisoft.

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Upon Shao’s first contact with Ubisoft, she was offered a free copy of the videogame as compensation for her work. However, she declined to offer and they agreed upon $500 compensation.  Ubisoft also required her to sign a contract  for the use of her work. She recruited the help of several friends to help her decode the legal terminology used in the contract, and was grateful that she had. “I would have unwittingly signed away rights for them to use the design indefinitely, and actually had to have them amend the contract so that they only had rights to use the design for that one specific title.”

What Copyright Means for Independent Artists

“Copyright has never been an easy, black-and-white kind of issue. Arguments over copyright between creatives happen all of the time, it’s an inescapable issue,” explains  Kaitlyn Ellison in her article,  “5 famous copyright infringement cases (and what you can learn).”

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Photo by Victoria Nechodomu

According to Copyright.gov, a person’s work is automatically copyrighted upon its creation in a fixed form. Artists may choose to register a work of art with the copyright office, but it is not required. There are legal benefits of registering a work of art, and it is also required in the case of a copyright infringement lawsuit.

Despite the legal protection in place with copyright laws in the US, Shao learned that circumstances and financial dynamics do not necessarily cater to the needs of artists. “It is extremely hard for an independent artist in my shoes to go up against multi-million dollar franchises,” she explained. “I feel like I could have pushed harder, made a real case out of this, and that I deserve more compensation. But who has the time, money, and energy to invest into fights like that? The giant corporations might, but I don’t. Ultimately, I settled but I didn’t exercise my full potential to do what’s right.”

Words of Advice

Shao believes that copyright violations are a rampant problem because of how easy it is to copy media found online— a mere matter of copy & paste. Through her experience with Ubisoft, as well as reporting Amazon and Deviant Art users for use of her work, Shao has gained much insight. Her advice to artists includes:

Watermark everything –Prevention is key.

Don’t be flattered -It is ignorant to feel flattered that someone else “likes your design so much they are using it.”

Confront-For the sake of one’s dignity and for all artists out there, people need to feel the pressure put on them when they steal art.

Don’t be afraid to ask for advice-it is amazing how artists stand up for each other, even if it’s through a computer screen.

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Photo by Victoria Nechodomu

Shao also learned that many people are willing to help when it comes to protecting artist’s rights. The copyright infringement had first came to her attention through online users, complete strangers from online communities who happened to recognize her work when playing a video game, and also take the extra step to notify her.

“I was moved by the amount of support I received from my friends,” explains Shao. “Some were artists themselves who have battled copyright infringement issues in the past. Others were studying to by copyright lawyers. And I was glad to have been made to delve into the world of copyright.”

Tiffany Shao is a recent graduate of Duke University, and is what she considers a, “jack of all trades, master or none.” With a degree in Biology, she has also gained diverse experience in animal welfare, plant specimen digitization, butchery, and screen printing, to name a few. She also has passion for art: she does commission work and runs a pet portrait website, Graphite Dog.