GuardiansWish & Kiroxookami; using non-commercial stock for commercial purposes.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

This has been dragging on for a while, so I'm finally going to make a post.

WHO: GuardiansWish & Kiroxookami
WHERE: GuardiansWish on FurAffinity, DeviantArt and the FurAffinity forums. Kiroxookami on DeviantArt.

WHAT: Commissioned photo manips and prints utilizing stock images which specifically state commercial use is not allowed.

WHEN: First noticed it in June and told GuardiansWish that she shouldn't commercially use stock that wasn't okay'd for commercial use. She is still offering photo manip commissions, selling prints and the photo manip commission she did which used stock which was not okay'd for commercial use is still up on both FA and DA. I've filed a TT but no response yet. Months later one of GuardiansWish' friends, Kiroxookami, starts harassing me and it turns out she's doing the exact same thing as GuardiansWish.

PROOF&EXPLAIN:
I was browsing the new uploads on FA when I saw someone was having a "YCH" (Your Character Here; usually a sketch where you pay the artist to draw your character in the sketched character's place, often for a reduced price) auction for a photo manip. This raised all sorts of red flags for me since I encounter a lot of people who misuse "stock" photos, and sadly this was no exception. Guardianswish was selling a photo manip of a photo and said she had permission even though the original photographer specifically mentioned that commercial use was not allowed right there in her bio.
Guardianwish basically went "Whoops, nevermind!" and deleted the upload.
She sent me a note thanking me and I reminded her to make sure she had commercial license to the photos if she wanted to sell photo manips, because she could ruin her reputation as an artist otherwise.

On a hunch I checked the rest of her gallery and found out that she had already sold a photo manip on June 19 for $38. In this case the background photo belongs to an artist whom also specifies that commercial use of her stock is prohibited, multiple times, including in the description of the actual stock photo itself. I told Guardianswish about this and she hid my comment with the reply not to worry, she had asked for permission.

At the time, when I checked InteriaK's DA account the latest activity I could discern was 3 weeks old, I sent a note regardless in the hope she'd respond but I have not received a response and her account has not been used. Her Facebook account and other sites were similarly devoid of recent activity. Considering the auction was posted June 19 and the finished product posted the day after I have healthy doubts as to whether or not Guardianswish actually had permission from InertiaK. When I tried asking Guardianswish if she had a screenshot or something of said permission, I found out Guardianswish had blocked me on FA. When I asked on DA, Guardianswish told me to stop worrying and also blocked me there.

Recently, some of GuardiansWish' associates responded to a months old comment to tell me "I myself have talked to her (InertiaK - T). So... Maybe they just don't respond to people who are kicking up dust for no reason?" so I asked her "Oh well then, you can show a screenshot that Guardianswish has permission to use her photos commercially." to which they responded "Or you can stop being an asshole?" which I'll take as a "no" on the screenshot.

I look at Kiroxookami's account and she takes commissions for photo manips as well, I clicked a random commission and followed one of the links to a stock account which also says ""You can use my photos as long as it is not for commercial". Oh, and the other link to a stock account also states "No commercial work please." which explains why she's so invested in this matter; she's doing the exact same thing as GuardiansWish. Judging by the comments left on the account of the original stock owners, Kiroxookami has already been called out on this but doesn't care.

In short: GuardiansWish uses stock images commercially which explicitly state commercial use is not allowed. No-one can provide proof that she has permission and InertiaK (the copyright holder of the misused stock) is incommunicado, so the odds that they do have permission is highly unlikely. GuardiansWish still offers photo manip commissions and I consider the likelyhood that she'll use non-commercial stock for commercial usage again to be very high. Also GuardiansWish sells prints utilizing non-commercial stock. Kiroxookami harasses people on GuardiansWish' behalf because she too commercially uses non-commercial stock for commissions.

People, if you want to commission a photo manipulation, please make sure the artist uses stock they have permission for, or uses their own photography. -_-


GuardiansWish
Manip: http://guardianswish.deviantart.com/art/YCH-For-Wittyills-on-FA-379371512
Stock: http://inertiak.deviantart.com/art/InertiaBG24-146527741
"-No commercial - thank you."
Manip: http://guardianswish.deviantart.com/art/Thistle-197969771
Stock: Not stock at all, no credit, selling prints http://www.flickr.com/photos/tambako/4500589879/
Manip: http://guardianswish.deviantart.com/art/A-Star-is-Born-262822883
Stock: http://sikaris-stock.deviantart.com/art/wolf-stock-8-245785578
"Do NOT use one or more stock images and/or parts of them COMMERCIAL in any way."
Manip: http://guardianswish.deviantart.com/art/You-know-that-I-m-Toxic-251616798
Stock: http://sikaris-stock.deviantart.com/art/cardinal-stock-1-245813966
"Do NOT use one or more stock images and/or parts of them COMMERCIAL in any way."
Manip: http://guardianswish.deviantart.com/art/Working-Class-Hero-258426501
Stock: http://resurgere.deviantart.com/art/Package-Wild-Life-4-60904890
"Commercial Use Is Prohibited"
Manip: http://guardianswish.deviantart.com/art/Over-the-Hills-and-Far-Away-216102917
Stock: http://animalphotos.deviantart.com/art/North-American-Arctic-Wolf-04-172628216
Contacted owner asking if GW has asked permission to sell prints "3.) My stock is for personal use only. You may not use my stock for commercial works without first discussing the terms with me."
Stock: http://resurgere.deviantart.com/art/Package-Cosmos-2-63241815
Same "As such, commercial use of this stock item is strictly forbidden, unless you have prior permission from the Resurgere Producer of the stock item."
Manip: http://guardianswish.deviantart.com/art/Arms-of-the-Angel-205559457
Stock: http://purestock.deviantart.com/art/Fire-Brushes-18471832
"Use in any way you wish under the restrictions of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0"
Stock: http://thy-darkest-hour.deviantart.com/art/Forlorn-and-Forsaken-Stock-204029345
Asked if they brought the commercial license "Free non-commercial use, including dA prints and contests."
They answered "Thank you very much for bringing this image to my attention. I'm sure that they did not and although it is an old image, I went ahead and asked for removal."
Manip: http://guardianswish.deviantart.com/art/Eagle-2-197848179
Stock: Selling prints, doesn't even cite sources for the photos.

Kiroxookami
Manip: http://kiroxookami.deviantart.com/art/Point-Commission-Zuriel-391147606
Stock: http://meggane.deviantart.com/art/beauty-queen-348498928
"1. Do not use this stock for anything commercial"
Stock: http://brokenvain-stock.deviantart.com/art/Cold-Forest-Premade-189707270
"No commercial work please."
Lots of obvious traces and photo manips without citing sources etc. Lots of not citing sources period.

Comments

[pinkpuppybelly.livejournal.com]

"...which I'll take as a "no" on the screenshot."

You know, Thaily, snorting coffee out one's nose is not very pleasant. Couldn't you have thought of me when typing that??

[thaily.livejournal.com]

You've known me for years, you knew what to expect!

[hellebore.livejournal.com]

I really wish people would learn the rules that many professional artists have to use. I think it bites that so many people get away with this type of stuff in the 'furry' community (I'm using that because it's applicable here), but if they were to be in the 'real' art world, they'd get their butts handed to them in a court.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

"I really wish people would learn the rules that many professional artists have to use."

Sadly I think that it's partially to blame to the fact a lot of professionals don't act professionally in this regard, so they make it easy to hide behind a "But they do it too!"

[hellebore.livejournal.com]

Or a lack of education on the 'casual' artist's behalf... the casual artist who doesn't see what goes on behind the scenes of a professional who's been taught about the legal side of selling their work. I don't know if this still happens in art schools, but back when I was in one, we were taught about the legalities we would have to face.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

At my art school I had to be the one to broach the subject when the digital media class started with "download image off internet, edit image".
I was like "Uh, this seems to be a good moment to explain something about copyright." and the teacher tried to avoid it, also by mentioning "fair use" which we don't have as such in the Netherlands.
I made a hand out for the next class. Mind, teacher was a nice guy and knew about digital media, I just wanted to head off problems for my classmates -before- they got themselves into hot water.
It seems to me this sort of thing should be standard in art school :/

[hellebore.livejournal.com]

It should be. I know a friend of mine who attended one in NYC had to take a course on it. Artists should be educated in this, because you will come across it in your career, and if you don't know the rights (or your own rights), you might wind up paying a pretty penny to a company or artist who knew their rights.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Or missing out on a pretty penny because you don't know your rights :/

[nakoothetauren.livejournal.com]

I can say in my Video games degrees its the thing you do. As a Student your student work is aloud to have this kind of thing in it. (Could be only Australian law.) But none the less its what people are told to do when they are not an artist or don't have one in there group.

You can sell this work as well, but its a gray line because there is no laws out side the university's codes on student work.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Dutch "fair use" (citaatrecht) is pretty strict, but DMCA and EUCD would forbid selling material you're not licensed to use. That said, there's lots of artists who provide free stock to do whatever, including commercial stuff.

[nakoothetauren.livejournal.com]

Australian(As far as my lectures state) 'fair use' continues as the work will still be a student work. So any restrictions on the material used are not 'applicable'.

Honestly I am seriously appalled that we are told this. We are so thoroughly told not to copy games like the rip offs you see in the IOS and Android shops. But Art assets, Sounds and even code its "If you find it online use it!" Theres even a name for the code version its called "Franken coding." :/

[dragontripmon.livejournal.com]

This somewhat doesn't surprise me since that happens quite a lot on DA with a lot of the photo manipulations which often is questionable itself.

[joicedelle.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, and not only the photo manips, but to mention Kiroxookami's attitude...

[yarbro.livejournal.com]

Kiroxookami's response was immature, to put it lightly. However, you asked for proof and she did back up her claim. Sad, really.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Backed up her claim how? I'm not seeing a screenshot, did I miss something?

[yarbro.livejournal.com]

Opps! *Did NOT back up her claim.

Sorry, for the confusion. My bad!

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Hah, np :P

[mekania.livejournal.com]

Looks like one of the stock photographers has a very lenient view on commercial usage: http://comments.deviantart.com/4/12117738/3172770211

Tail Comission

[jiffy lee (from livejournal.com)]

I actually had a problem with her when I commissioned a wolfs tail for a cosplay I was doing. I saw her actually working on it, but all of a sudden she disappeared for weeks on end and not contacting me, and her friends tried to contact her just as much as I. I had her on facbook and she blocked me. She kept coming up with excuse after excuse. I know this post is old, but I think I saw the stock image situation posted on her page. She has the nerve to continue posting after taking leave for a while to let things "cool down". I managed to get my money back through my bank, she almost stole 53 dollars from me. I paid for it a head of time, and even though she didn't start it, immediately after I paid it said that it was shipped on my paypal...I commissioned her last year (2013) in June/July for something that didn't have to be done until November. I tried to report to DA for a scamming artist but they have no jurisdiction with the transaction. I posted on her DA after I got my money back and she just deleted my rant. So not only does she use stock photos with out permission, she will steal your money...I am an artist and I am appalled at this kind of behavior.

Sorry end of rant.