So one of my fav adopt artists updated their personal tos/adopt tos recently and I try to stay on top of it and give it a skim when artists do updates. And wow this type I was really surprised.
I own a handful of their designs and now I'm really worried. Their tos claims they plan to revoke designs from anyone who makes "harmful" or "problematic" art. You can't even make vent art with these designs without threat of revoke. Pretty much stated if you make anything gross they will take back the design.
Normal answer? Just get rid of the designs right? I can do that for a few I don't feel connected with and plan too. Buuuut.. I have a few I def... really love? And don't plan to get rid of? And if they revoke my purchased design I... plan to just keep using it because that makes zero sense to me????
I'm just lost. I don't want to upset the designer artist or argue about their terms, I won't be buying any more work from them since I can't support such harsh treatment of other artists. Just makes me nervous to think they eventually will look at my ownership of their designs and harass me/claim I'm stealing from them when I have already purchased these designs for.. well years. Already happened once with Pansy the wolf and that artist never cleared it up either. Big sighs.
( Not looking to name the artist or bother them at all. For my own comfort I have just unwatched. )
What do you guys think of revoke rules? If you can't handle weird strangers on the internet buying your art/designs... maybe don't sell it? Right?
I don't think they can change the TOS and use it against you if you didn't agree to that version. The whole thing about adoptables is that I don't think these are legally binding? I'm not even sure if you can "own" a design (unless it's trademarked and all that). However, they could possibly request that you don't use their original art anymore, since usually the rights to the art are kept by the artist.
I saw another artist that once said something like "I could just take back the design if I wanted to, but I would never do that!" about a design someone else ownedhad bought from them, that was a big red flag for me. They did end up doing that later even after saying they wouldn't ever do it.
1 year, 1 month ago
They legally cant do that anyways? I hate to be mean but these tos's that claim to revoke designs aren't legal and can be taken to court under theft. Its nice to respect someones tos but if they have outlandish rules like no gore or vent art of an oc YOU obtained via money or trade etc then its YOUR oc now all they did was draw it originally
Some of these stupid tos changes seem like just a big fat joke seeing as you cant take a design back without consent from both sides because if thats done it counts as oc theft
1 year, 1 month ago
Right, I kinda thought... everyone knows you can't actually revoke anyone's characters anymore??? Like I get 10 years ago it was the norm for TOS but... It's been 10 years! We all know better now! It really hurt to see they literally didn't even allow vent art of the characters - just... don't police people like that. TT TT;;;
1 year, 1 month ago
Yeah, as others have said, you can't retroactively apply the new ToS to someone who signed the old ToS. Think of all the sites/services that update their ToS that notify users in big bold letters it's updated and they have to click a button to agree to the new ToS (like Discord did fairly recently!) It wouldn't hold any legal ground, but even aside from expensive and time-wasting court appointments, it's just unfair and frankly, silly. You can't expect someone who bought adopts from you a year ago to agree to the new ToS you wrote an hour ago. 🤷♂️
I understand this when I sell designs, lol. I just hope peeps have fun with whatever I make! ^_^
I've seen some artists put a "I'm not responsible for what buyers do with my designs" clause in their ToS and I think that's more than sufficient if someone's paranoid about what buyers are doing with their designs...
1 year, 1 month ago
I'm just so relieved to hear others think it's a bit out there for acceptable terms. It really alarming to read at first but I think so long as we don't bother each other it'll be just fine!
And that's such a great suggestion, I should make an effort to include that in my TOS as well. I really think that's great hands off approach to not wanting to be affiliated with "problematic" customers or adopt owners. Thank you so much for the advice!
1 year, 1 month ago
yea those terms are a bunch of baloney you've already got so much history with those designs and even if they were to retract the design back people would probably have the decency of not buying them because of the art history they might have already!
it just feels so wrong these new terms in general, not professional at all ...
1 year, 1 month ago
I was really confused by their update. It crossed a lot of boundaries for me but I'm glad to know others feel similar about it. Brings me a lot of relief.
1 year, 1 month ago
They can't retroactively apply their TOS to you. Like literally can't. TrashPanda's right there.
1 year, 1 month ago
Thank you ;v; I'm relieved to know this isn't the norm.
1 year, 1 month ago
I’d not touch them in general, you shouldn’t be able to justify taking back what you already sold. (especially if this is a new rule)
in fact they can’t do that anyway. It’s literally illegal. a book company can’t say “we don’t like the way you us our book so we’re taking it back”
sure said person has the personal right to not sell to you or even interact anymore BUT they can’t take back what they already sold. And if they did you would have legal right to keep said asset. And steps can be made if they try and resell.
Lastly can you pm me this artist? I’m not going to do anything I just wanna check to see if I have any Ocs from them
1 year, 1 month ago
That's a relief that new rules/tos updates typically don't reflect on past purchases and most people agree to that. Thank you for the reassurances.
1 year, 1 month ago
Yah, and remember tos aren’t iron clad contracts unless you put done a jon Hancock or push an agree button. (Like when you hit the “I am 18“ button on a porn site. Your technically signing a contract So if you lie they don’t get in trouble)
1 year, 1 month ago
1 year, 1 month ago
Yeah, only time I have ever had to revoke a design is for chargebacks. Which.. I think is the only acceptable time to do it lmao. I can't think of another way this artist plans to "revoke" anyone's designs, I wonder if they know how they plan to enforce it?
Just aie aie... I don't want them to bother me just because I liked a sparkle dog and I draw nsfw sparkle dogs. So dumb. Well I'm glad this seems to be common sense you can't just run around revoking adopts here.
1 year, 1 month ago
1 year, 1 month ago
Nods, I think that is also going to be the safest option as well. Thank you for commenting and giving me some peace of mind!
1 year, 1 month ago
If you purchased or obtained a design from someone under a "TOS" which is like a contract, if this wasn't stated clearly at the time of purchase then this person has no legal grounds to revoke designs which are rightfully yours.
This is difficult with characters that are obtained through other users (Not from the original designer) as a lot of the time their TOS aren't stated anywhere or are buried offsite in journals and such ^^; Before purchasing any designs from other users its best to get a screenshot of the "permissions" section and do a browse of the original designer's bulletins. Make sure you have screenshots as proof and agree with the TOS. if there is none then there is no contract you've agreed too. You've payed or traded for a character and they are rightfully yours with no strings attached.
In cases like this if they have an issue, then sometimes an agreement can be reached to remove credits from the designs and put a "not associated to the designer" warning up. That would be the best route to go if they hassle you about it, then a mutual block between both artists to avoid further conflict.
It's a hard situation, but just best to keep screenshots of everything as proof that you haven't done anything wrong.
Best of luck *hugs* I've never had this happen here, but I always take caution with documenting things nowadays just encase as I've seen some shady things happen with other users.
1 year, 1 month ago
I think this is all really good advice. Thank you. I did make all these adopt purchases before the TOS update.
It sounds like they probably just don't want affiliation with me, which is totally fine because I agree. I don't want to associate with someone who has TOS like that targeting people. So that'll probably be the best middle ground from what I can tell!
1 year, 1 month ago
You're very welcome! and that's good too. Just make sure you have a copy of the original and you should be in the clear with proof.
And if that's the case, then that's defiantly the best way to resolve the situation. Completely fair! I avoid doing business with people who have revoke clauses just for safety ^^; ( Unless it's over something really serious ).
1 year, 1 month ago