Animation Source Forums

Maybe I'm paranoid and I'm I know it's allowed (right?) but this is just getting ridiculous!

A certain someone has been using names I have searched hard for to keep them original. I myself have taken a name or two, but this person has taken over 7 names and still counting! On top of that, they don't even use these characters... they are just characters they use a lineart to make quickly and forget about, but still make official. And on top of that, they use characters that look VERY similar to mine and say that they've had them for a long time but never bothered to put them on (at least until I introduced my characters). I've confronted this person numerous times, but I think it's allowed so I didn't report it. So if I can't report, I geuss I'll rant about it!!! Maybe it's just me, but it's something that's been bothering me...

Well : No Name is Copyrighted, that clears that.
Well, I would talk to a Mod, like Togo, or one you trust. That's all I can say.

yes, names aren't copyrighted but I know what you mean Luna, I saw that someone made a char similar to yours with a lineart and STOP, just for the heck of it -.- this is very annoying, I know...how did you confronted this person? Maybe with the help of someone (Mod, or someone close, like Kohaku said) you can solve the question =]

If you encounter an issue, please send a PM to the related moderator.

Thanks =)

If you're talking about the Fan Characters section where someone "claims" a name and then never uses the character ever again, there's a way to fix that xD If you're like "WHY ISN'T THIS NAME THAT I JUST NOW MADE UP TAKEN IN THE FC SECTION!?" then "Search" that character, see if its just one of those crappy rendered pictures of Balto with a bow on his head or something, AAAAAAAAAAAAAND/OR you can PROVE that the character is just there for the heck of it and hasn't ever been used in anything AND/OR there's not even any information on it saying so, THEN. Then REPORT it.

There ya go xD When a mod lets you know its been taken care of, then go make your Character profile.

That's already happened to me, and luckily enough all of those cases were involved, so I was helped.

But obviously if a character is active, then you have to suck it up and either pick a different name or adjust it, and not report the person just because they have a name you wanted xD

Plus, I think the FC search engine needs to be checked. Sometimes when I search a character, it says it doesn't exist when it totally does xD

Give me an example, and I'll check that.

As for the topic itself : you can't claim copyright for anything on the web. If you get popular, you'll automatically get people "copying" what you do.
You shouldn't be angry about that, but even be proud, on the contrary - because this is a proof of popularity, and these fake artists will never get popular themselves.
I can apply this with BS : I don't mind anyone copying the site / forums, because they will just never be as popular as BS is.

To be popular, you need to do something new, creative...Or at least, well made.

Beauty_Jenna's character Ren

1 - You cannot copyright the name of a character.
2 - You cannot copyright the design of a character.

People have no creativity anymore. If you don't want to feel like people are copying you, simply don't put your stuff on a public website.

Yes, you can't copyright a name. But why can't you the desing? You did it yourself, so it is yours. And not like a name.

No, names cannot be copyrighted, but if it is blatently obvious that a member is just milking name ideas off of you (ie., they have a good number of chars with the same names as yours, created in a period immediatly after you publish said character) then you were right to confront that person. I believe I know who you are talking about, and all that I can say is that: a.) many members a victims of this person's plagiarizing and b.) at least you can take comfort in the fact that everyone knows said person is a 'theif', and that they will never be as popular as the origional creater, no matter how many rip-offs they create. That's the only comfort I find in this type of sticky situation...

Because a design can never be 100% original.
There are so many millions of people in the world with so many millions of ideas, there is always something the same or very similar.

That's why you can only copyright a character. Design, history, story and personality together.
It's usually easy to tell when someone has ripped off someone else's character.