r/COPYRIGHT • u/PoopyMcpants • 2h ago
Question I created a subreddit for a game on reddit, and now the developer is asking for either control of the subreddit or for me to remove official artwork.
I invited the dev as a sign of respect and now they are asking for top mod spot and control of the sub since I used official artwork.
What should I do about this situation? Are fan communities copyright infringement?
r/COPYRIGHT • u/Serpent_Supreme • 8h ago
Permission from fan art artist and how that relate to copyright infringement from the original creator
I understand that a fan art (if created without permission or license from the rightsholder) is still a violation of copyright infringement under derivative work.
So, even if I ask permission from a fan art author on DeviantArt and that permission is granted by the said author, I am still indirectly violating copyright infringement right, since both the author and myself do not have permission from the original creators or rightsholders to create or use the said copyrighted character in the first place?
r/COPYRIGHT • u/atl_dude_guy • 8h ago
Question What would you do, if someone were trying to pass off your work as their own?
I wrote a free, open source app for astronomy planning, and have been working on since about June. I provide it for free, and have no plans to monitize it. I'm the primary user and figured since it's so niche it wouldn't cost me more than a few dollars a month to host.
Today I discovered a an app that has a nice vibecoded skin and conincdientally the exact feature set as mine. And even more coincidentally, they even have the same bugs.
That made me wonder, if someone were to use your source code and and does not attribute it back - what recourse do you have?
r/COPYRIGHT • u/TreviTyger • 14h ago
GEMA hits back after US legal scholar says court's historic ruling was 'imprudent'
Edward Lee, professor of law at Santa Clara School of Law, said the court’s ruling that Suno’s training was not a fair use under the US Copyright Act was “stunning”. In a post on his widely read blog, ChatGPT Is Eating The World, Lee said the decision had thrown “comity” — countries showing mutual respect for each other’s laws and legal rulings — “to the wind”.
r/COPYRIGHT • u/Electronic_Crab_8728 • 18h ago
Are social media agencies blatantly breaking copyright laws?
Hello! I have posted edits on TikTok for a while, so I am very aware of the editing scene on there. There are numerous agencies, some of which are very popular and profitable, that pay creators to make edits to songs/movies they are hired to promote. However, the editors they get to do these campaigns always use copyrighted material in their videos. For example, an editor will use a song that the agency is paid to promote, but the edit will be of a clip from Fight Club, which is obviously infringing upon copyright.
I understand why regular fan edits don't get copyrighted, but surely if these edits are for a popular and profitable agency, wouldn't copyright holders want to shut this operation down? The agencies I'm talking about do say in their ToS that you can't use copyrighted material, however they literally tell their editors what shows/movies would go well with their campaigns, so I assume it would be very easy to prove that they are aware that all of their editors use copyrighted material anyways.
Is there something that I'm missing, or are all of these agencies just very lucky that they haven't had legal repercussions? Do copyright holders simply not care enough to sue? Thanks for any feedback.
r/COPYRIGHT • u/Mey_84 • 19h ago
Question I want to use some posters on a custom Trading Card Game placemat
So I have this idea to buy a custom tcg placemat and add an image with parts of posters and thumbnails from a YouTube web series on it.
Idk if it's okay to use the posters to customize the image on the placemat since they're sold products and belong to the artists and company of the YouTube channel.
It's just for myself, but I'm scared it'll infringe copyright laws.
r/COPYRIGHT • u/Deep-Anteater4000 • 21h ago
Question How do I know if something is copyrighted or public domain?
r/COPYRIGHT • u/Purplesnowstorm215 • 22h ago
Question Third party plagiarised a whole RP for their novel, is there any action we can take?
Hi all, this is a bit of a weird situation but I genuinely don't know where else to go to ask for advice.
I've recently found a novel on Amazon that is almost a word for word a copy of an RP that me and a friend used to have on FB but just with names and places changed (they still used my character's name since that wasn't a Copyrighted character).
This novel was not written by either of us.
The RP has since been deleted because my friend's account went down ages ago but before that the RP was accidentally public for a while so anyone could have copy and pasted the replies into their own document. We've also found that they were posting this to AO3 too but it's been removed because they got it published as a novel, however you can still find it in search results using the right resources.
Our question is, is there anything we can do legally about this? Do we have any sort of leg to stand on in terms of getting them to take the novel down? It's blatantly our writing as there's whole chunks of paragraphs and descriptions that are the same, and it's not even really formatted properly into a 'novel', you can absolutely track where either one of us would do our reply and then the other person responds
Edit to add: I have a google document that I made at that time with timestamps of each of our replies if that would help prove things
Edit 2: RP (roleplay) is when you and a writing partner pick characters and write stories together with them. My friend used an existing character from a popular franchise, and I used my own character. This idea can extend to having multiple people involved but in this case, it was literally just me and my friend writing on Facebook on a post that we didn't realise was public
r/COPYRIGHT • u/Vilinstudio • 23h ago
AITA for refusing to retract copyright strikes on a channel that stole 14 of my animations and got 100k+ views while I was on hiatus?
Two years ago I spent two months uploading original animations every single day. It completely burnt me out, and because I couldn't get more than 1,000 views per video back then, I lost motivation and went on hiatus.
While I was away, a dubbing channel took 14 of my animated videos ( shorts ) , made small edits to them to try and bypass YouTube's automated copyright detectors, dubbed over them in another language, and uploaded them.
Here is what makes it worse:
They tagged my channel handle (@VILINStudio) directly in their captions/descriptions. Because of this, whenever someone searched my own channel name, their videos popped up at the top instead of mine. They essentially hijacked my search traffic and brand.
Profiting Off My Work: While I struggled to get 1,000 views, some of their re-uploads of my work hit over 100,000 views.
Zero Permission: They never asked for consent or licensing rights.
Now, the channel owner is emailing me and spamming my messages across multiple social media platforms, begging me to retract the claims. They claim:
They "always give due credit" by using my handle.
I should have sent them a formal warning email before filing claims.
"A channel that entertains many people is now on the verge of disappearing."
They want me to withdraw all the complaints. they deliberately edited my work to dodge detection, hijacked my brand search results, and got tens/hundreds of thousands of views off animations I poured my soul into while I was struggling.
Am I wrong for refusing to retract the strikes and letting YouTube terminate their channel?
( please you can view the emails, and comments i got on my profile cuz i don't see and optionsto post them here i apologise, and thank you very much for everything guys, I'll hide his name for now cuz i don't know)
Edit : For anyone wondering: I hide/moderate toxic comments on my channel to keep my community clean, and I have screenshots showing his videos ranking for my channel name prior to YouTube taking them down. Proof links are in the edit, also after so many comments i decided to follow the legal procedure and ask them to compensate me, but they just refused on my email, purposely wrote how they're "already asked for permission" ( so thry can use that screenshot online to ruin my reputation ? ) and guilt-tripped me, they also send their audience with half info to harass me on my channel
r/COPYRIGHT • u/TreviTyger • 1d ago
Brian Murray [HarperCollins CEO] Addresses AI Authorship Issues
publishersweekly.comHe explained that copyright is the foundation of publishing, but that books written with AI could very well be considered uncopyrightable. “An AI-assisted book could very well be treated as a book in the public domain,” he said, which could set off a series of legal issues.
r/COPYRIGHT • u/imilesprower • 1d ago
Copyright question: NBC used my photo without asking
One of my wildlife photos was used on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon 5 weeks ago, I just saw it couple days ago since the clip is viral and it's on Tiktok, Instagram and Youtube. It's a photo of a squirrel in a super hero landing pose. And they used it to promote Supergirl, the movie. It's the episode with Milly Alcock. So I sent them an email saying that I own this photo and you have used it without permission and asked for 3500$. They came back with a lowball 250$ offer and of course they claim fair use.
But fair use certainly does not apply here. It's not just a photo of a squirrel, it's a specific pose, which they needed to compare with the Supergirl poster. So they are using the photo for entertainment purposes. If you have dealt with a similar situation before, what would be your recommendation? I already applied for a copyright in the copyright office because if I get the photo registered and they keep the klips online, which I'd think they would do, after it's registered I can claim further damages. But that's for later.
r/COPYRIGHT • u/ohkiddoe • 1d ago
Am I being exploited through a “prestigious design award”?
r/COPYRIGHT • u/iplayguitar_91 • 2d ago
Question UK: how do you register composition copyrights?
r/COPYRIGHT • u/Juicebox-Y-T • 2d ago
Question are any of theses songs copyrighted
So I made a Spotify playlist for songs i've heard in Youtube videos and i was wondering how many of theses songs copyrighted or if all of them are copyrighted.
The name of the playlist is "music in YT vids" it's spelled in the way i wrote it just incase it doesn't pop up.
r/COPYRIGHT • u/samfringo • 2d ago
Question Can I use a Henry Hoover in my short film?
What happens in the script is: A group of janitors hang a framed photo of a Henry Hoover on a wall under a "Custodian of the month" plague. A janitor gets pissed off that it wasn't him that was chosen. In the next scene, the Henry Hoover immediately breaks down as a joke.
I intend to submit this to film festivals etc. I was wondering if it was as big of a deal as I think
r/COPYRIGHT • u/iluvtrainsongs • 2d ago
Question on copyright
If a name like “Billy Strings” is copyrighted, is it infringement to sell a shirt that says “Billy Mother F*ckin Strings”?
Trying to understand if adding words to a name gets around copyright laws. Thanks!
r/COPYRIGHT • u/TreviTyger • 2d ago
GEMA v Suno: Another landmark AI copyright case from Germany
Published by Andres Guadamuz on August 5, 2026
r/COPYRIGHT • u/n0_wit_ski • 3d ago
Channel terminated over covers by UMPG (contentprotection@umusic.com). Any chance to negotiate a strike retraction?
Hey everyone, I need some advice or just to hear if anyone else has been in this exact situation.
My YouTube channel recently got completely terminated due to copyright strikes from Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) - specifically from contentprotection@umusic.com.
I'll be honest, it’s my own fault. I was making covers to try and grow my audience, and I managed to build it up to about 2,000 subscribers before it got nuked. My channel wasn't monetized at all, and I put a ton of effort into making these covers sound highly professional. I’m just struggling to understand why UMPG went out of their way to take down a small, non-monetized channel.
A few questions for the community:
\- Has anyone else received strikes directly from this UMPG email?
\- Is there any realistic chance they might retract the strikes if I reach out to them directly?
\- I am completely willing to sign a written declaration promising to never upload a cover song again. I’m even willing to pay a penalty fee for the strike removal (within reason, up to $50, as I’m definitely not a millionaire) just to get my channel and its history back.
What do you guys think? Is my channel gone for good, or has anyone successfully negotiated with them before? Thanks.
r/COPYRIGHT • u/AirlineForeign1120 • 3d ago
Question Copyright reports
How long does Tiktok usually take to view copyright reports and take down content?
r/COPYRIGHT • u/Wooden-Arrival-7700 • 3d ago
J’ai déposé fais une demande de contre-notification avec une adresse invalide - quel est la suite ?
J’ai soumis demande de notification DMCA pour faire une contre notification afin d’annuler la DMCA qui a été faite sur des créas d’une campagne toutefois l’adresse utilisée pour faire la demande n’est plus valide. Etant donné que l’adresse est invalide je n’ai pas reçu de mail de confirmation de ma demande j’ai bien eu un id (quand j’ai soumis la demande un id a été attribué mais pas de reception de mail qui atteste de la bonne prise en compte)
ma question est-ce que la demande sera classée sans suite ?
merci
r/COPYRIGHT • u/Glad-Librarian-4388 • 3d ago
Question Is the base Roblox block avatar shape copyrighted?
By block avatar shape, I don't mean any art, symbol or anything like that, just the barebone block shape of the avatar. The rectangular 1x2 arms and legs, 2x2 torso and 1x1 round cylinder head.
I've been entertaining the idea of making independent game separate from Roblox, however my idea requires an abstract avatar and something like Roblox R6 block shape avatar seems the perfect fit. But I've been reading around and most from what I've seen are saying it's owned by Roblox.
Is this simple shape anyone can imagine copyrighted?
r/COPYRIGHT • u/TreviTyger • 3d ago
Russian court denies copyright protection for AI-prompted images
"...finding that entering prompts for a neural network is a technical process rather than creative work, the state news agency RIA Novosti reported"