Re-use of art on a-m-v.org

[kinoko-chan]

I've read through the FAQ thoroughly and I don't think this has been covered in any form.
I understand that the videos on a-m-v.org are nonprofit and made by fans for fans and are in no way a violation of copyright policy (as far as I know).
But I'm increasingly concerned about reuse of original art on AMV.
I'm part of a few online art communities and I draw a lot of anime art. I know if someone were using my art without permission I wouldn't be too happy about it. And I've seen a large number pictures drawn by some of my favourite artists made into banners on AMV.
I realize that it's impossible to keep track of what happens to an image after it is posted online, but I feel that it's only common courtesy to ask permission to re-use an artist's work.
But I was wondering whether or not a-m-v.org had any policy against this type of behaviour. I'm not putting the admins or the site at fault here. I just wish that the members who submit banners would actually attempt to be courteous by at least asking permission from the original artist.
I'm not talking about official anime stock images and screenshots here. I'm talking about original art by hard-working artists who graciously share their art with the world and hence make it a better place. I wish they would recieve some recognition for the work that they have done.
I understand that if this problem were recognized it would be virtually impossible to fix, but if the members of AMV who are re-using artist's work without permission were to read any warnings / regulations, they might think twice about doing it.

For example, if you were to visit [Kalium: Link to hentai removed.], you would come across a wide variety of brilliant (*warning* though perhaps explicit) art by a very talented artist. Seeing his wonderful work re-used by an AMV member as a banner solely for the member in question's own recognition is just not ethical. And I'm quite sure, had a-m-v.org any copyright-related policies regarding art-theft, it would be a breech of that too.

As I'm not at the amazing level of brilliance as the artists whose work I've seen displayed on the AMV banners, I'm not worried that any of my art will be re-posted here any time soon. But if I ever did find that someone had been doing just that, I would leave a-m-v.org in protest.

Art theft is not fair to the original creators, who put as much painstaking effort into their work as any member here puts into their music videos. Any information regarding copyright policy on a-m-v.org would be greatly appreciated. And please, I urge everyone in this otherwise wonderful community to speak out against the re-use and theft of art.

[Flint the Dwarf]

Well spoken. Unfortunately, all we can do is say it's immoral. We can hope that people would contact the artists prior to using their art in a banner, but there's little that can be done to enforce it. I would suggest there be a note added to the banner upload page saying that you need permission to use any art taken from another artist... but that's pretty much all that can be done, I believe.

[Kalium]

Adding a way for artists to complain might be possible, but much beyond that is far too difficult and time-consuming.

[kinoko-chan]

I understand that completely, Kalium, it's not the site or the admin's fault.
I just wish people wouldn't stoop to that level, but if it can't be helped then it can't be helped.
Thankyou very much for the speedy response, and for shedding some light on this for me.

[trythil]

And please, I urge everyone in this otherwise wonderful community to speak out against the re-use and theft of art.

:lol:

You do know what 99.9% of all AMVs on this are, yes?

[Brad]

I've never given any user any recognition for making a banner

[trythil]

To respond:

I've read through the FAQ thoroughly and I don't think this has been covered in any form.
I understand that the videos on a-m-v.org are nonprofit and made by fans for fans and are in no way a violation of copyright policy (as far as I know).

AMVs are in the very gray area of copyright, and can easily be considered violations of copyright. Their only legal defense (in the U.S., anyway) are the comedy/satire or fair use clauses, and even then you'd have to really stretch the definitions to even have a snowball's chance in hell of winning.

To elaborate:

I don't understand how you can uphold your double standard, much less ask everyone else to do so. Assuming you and your friends produce non-commercial art, what makes borrowing that art less ethical than borrowing commercial art?

[Keeper of Hellfire]

To elaborate:

I don't understand how you can uphold your double standard, much less ask everyone else to do so. Assuming you and your friends produce non-commercial art, what makes borrowing that art less ethical than borrowing commercial art?

I second trythil. Do you ask the original creator of the art you use in your fanart for permission to use it? If not, why do you expect anyone else asking you? In one point I agree with you: If someone uses your fanart, he/she should credit you.

[bum]

here's how I see it, from Kinoko's point of view. These artists arent comercial. They dont make any money of thier hard work. Just like amv's, its all about the passion and comitment. Say a musician came on here requesting that videos containing their music be removed. Would their be an reason why that request should not be fullfiled?

I think what would solve this is an addition to the code of ethics and banner/amv uploading rules stating that banner/amv creators should obtain permition from fan artists, and that banners/amv's may be removed if an artist who's work as bein used without permision requests it.

[Arigatomina]

You could really cut back on the art theft by making a rule that the banners can only feature anime stock images (manga, anime, possibly Japanese Doujinshi that were sold for profit). We'd still allow the artists to draw their own banners (like we allow amv-makers to draw their own 'anime-like' footage).

It's a matter of plagiarism. If a music group asked us to remove videos using their songs, you can bet we'd do it - to keep from being sued or turned in. What makes some people thing original anime-styled artists don't have the same pride in their work? We've had at least one artist post in the mod's box asking for a stolen piece of art to be removed from the banners. It wasn't - not until the theif himself asked it to be removed. That is bad policy because the next enraged artist may just decide to take the entire site down for promoting the theft of his work and ignoring his complaints against that theft.

This is an -anime- music video site, so limiting banners to anime stock images should be natural. The chances of seeing someone's stolen fanart in a music video is slim to none, so it doesn't need to be in the banners anyway.

Stolen art is a lot easier to monitor than stolen amvs - a piece of art is visibly unique and doesn't revolve around reusing the same stock images (anime frames) over and over. And it's generally easy to check who 'made' the piece of art - just ask the banner-maker to try drawing something and compare the artistic skills.