Since the topic has been locked, i'll go ahead and reply here. The rights posted in this thread hold no legal binds...Since it is not a legal document. To be clear... Images uploaded to any public server (imageshack, photobucket, tinypic etc...) fall under the Creative Commons Act. Meaning they are public property. Also, do not sue anyone over stealing your forum signature. You will be laughed at by whatever unfortunate attorney has to hear your case. As for the "rights" Fallen posted, these are Gamerenders Policy, not to be mistaken for the law. However, the justice system is probably kinder than some of the staff here...so keep to it.
Wow, didn't know that. So if someone was to upload their logo to one of these then technically someone could just copy it for their business and get away with it? Also, would Deviant Art come under the list you made?
No matter where you post something, you automatically retain ownership of material, unless expressly given up. While some public sites like imageshack and photobucket contain in their Terms of Use sections which give up ownership (I've never seen this on any of those sites, but I've never actually read the Terms of Use either), if you can prove ownership of content in a court of law, it's still yours. Although trying to prove ownership of a signature would be a waste of time (and if you used renders etc, it would contain elements that do not belong to you, which you could only justify using under Fair Use, which would not allow you to contest ownership). TL;DR, any content you post anywhere that does not expressly give up ownership, is still yours whether you include a copyright watermark or not.
Fair use and Creative Commons are different. Anyone is free to claim any work posted on public servers as their own. The creator may hold intellectual property in some cases like brand trademarks and elements which leads into copyright. My main point is that this post should not be mistaken for law. It is strictly Gamerenders policy. However, reselling most of the cutouts here will result in backlash from the game development companies, not the people to cut out their artwork. All in all, don't try and sell forum signatures for money, but if you do...Gamerenders is not going to call the police on you.
Depends on who's logo. A personal logo...yeah, if you stick it on your facebook, or upload it to imageshack to post it here... its pretty much up for grabs. A major company probably has a registered trademark, meaning they can sue you for misuse of their logo. But they have to care first. As for DA...they retain the rights to sell any work you post. Read the user agreement before you post anything.
True but rights of images are hazy at best and all would agree. under the eyes of copywrite law anything you make is yours, it boils down to that. but as said when you post on a public server so do say in TaC that you give up your right and blah blah. copywrite which is a parent law holds even over terms of condition, so to put it in easy to read terms: if you make it its yours and all rights to it, unless you give them up but if someone uses it without making money from it. there are within the law, once they try to make money from it they are against the law. how DA get round it: they say you can place you images on their webspace for the right to sell you work (kinda like a art exhibit will show you work for a percentage of the price) but DA moake more than a percentage but in return your work gets seen. look at DAs TaC as a loose contract. thats my understanding of the law anyway. lawyers are the ones who know for sure, and even so a good lawyer could win in most copywrite cases for either side.
Even lawyers aren't entirely sure how copyright law works. It's not a law which is clearly defined, and it's very different/completely non-existent depending on what country it's being argued in. Also when you have legislation like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act screwing everything up. In many situations it can be very difficult to prove ownership of content.
It's easy to prove ownership, the hard part is making a case have value. No lawyer is going to go after the $100 someone didn't pay you for the website or logo you made them. But they'll go after the million it made them.
I don't think it is that easy to prove you made it... I mean it's not as if people make a track record of all their creations. So technically it would be your word against theirs?
