Question can i be sued?

[mmuurryy]

I’m looking to buy comic/superheros drawings on fiverr. Can the artist sue me if my comic/short story starts selling and I start making money of it?

[benedictrm]

Of course they can if you purchased the work under one set of license agreements but have then gone and done something else.

DO NOT assume that because you purchased Creative work for $5 it is automagically covered by some sort of Work For Hire hedge.

Talk to the person you work with about such possible eventualities.

🙂

[mattboa]

I’m looking to buy comic/superheros drawings on fiverr. Can the artist sue me if my comic/short story starts selling and I start making money of it?

Obvious disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.

Can the artist sue me if my comic/short story starts selling and I start making money of it?

The answer is, while taking for granted that you’re asking them to draw superheroes of your own creation: no, because they most likely have given all the rights to their character designs to you, knowingly or not.

As per some of the extracts from Fiverr’s Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights:

When purchasing a Gig, Buyers are granted all rights for the delivered work, unless otherwise specified by the Seller on their Gig page. Note: some Gigs charge additional payments (through Gig Extras) for Commercial Use License. See our “Ownership” and “Commercial Use License" sections below for more information.

Ownership and limitations: When purchasing a Gig on Fiverr, unless clearly stated otherwise on the Seller’s Gig page/description, when the work is delivered, and subject to payment, the Buyer is granted all intellectual property rights, including but not limited to, copyrights for the work delivered from the Seller, and the Seller waives any and all moral rights therein.

If you intend to use [the content] for any charge or other consideration, or for any purpose that is directly or indirectly in connection with any business, or other undertaking intended for profit, you will need to buy the Commercial Use License through a Gig Extra and will have broader rights that cover your business use.

I’m going to attempt a baby’s first, and roughly divide IP rights in three parts:

1. Personal use. If you have something, well… you can theoretically do all you want. One thing is driving your car without a licence, but a drawing and a pair of eyes to enjoy it with are different. Your personal use rights are almost never alienable.
2. Licensed rights. Constantin Film routinely gets the rights from Capcom to make Resident Evil films. Does this mean they own Resident Evil? No, they are granted temporary rights to do everything they want on screen with Resident Evil’s characters and universe, but do not have the final word, and can still get their rights revoked by Capcom if they do poor adaptations.
3. Full rights. This is the case where all rights are yours - you own the IP, as you have not purchased a timed licensing. Your rights will only be taken away years after you die.

On Fiverr, there’s just 1 and 3, because Commercial Use rights are implied to last “forever” (they use this word in the ToS).

In short:

If the artist has a “Commercial Rights” Gig Extra to purchase, paying for that along the normal delivery will grant you the rights you want; if they do not declare anything on the gig page, then you automatically get commercial rights.

Remember that this is because Fiverr is a micro job platform, and not a place for long-term contracts. Everything must absolve itself within a month’s time and not go any longer than that. There’s no timed leasings, all is final within the delivery period and completely over after the refund window.

Last note: there are some exceptions to this, and one of them is if you refund your order due to it not meeting the quality standard: that delivery’s rights are annulled, even if you got your content. Read the Ownership section.

Anyone is free to correct me if I’ve wrote something wrong, but this is what the ToS say. 🙂

[mmuurryy]

Obvious disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.

Can the artist sue me if my comic/short story starts selling and I start making money of it?

The answer is, while taking for granted that you’re asking them to draw superheroes of your own creation: no, because they most likely have given all the rights to their character designs to you, knowingly or not.

As per some of the extracts from Fiverr’s Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights:

When purchasing a Gig, Buyers are granted all rights for the delivered work, unless otherwise specified by the Seller on their Gig page. Note: some Gigs charge additional payments (through Gig Extras) for Commercial Use License. See our “Ownership” and “Commercial Use License" sections below for more information.

Ownership and limitations: When purchasing a Gig on Fiverr, unless clearly stated otherwise on the Seller’s Gig page/description, when the work is delivered, and subject to payment, the Buyer is granted all intellectual property rights, including but not limited to, copyrights for the work delivered from the Seller, and the Seller waives any and all moral rights therein.

If you intend to use [the content] for any charge or other consideration, or for any purpose that is directly or indirectly in connection with any business, or other undertaking intended for profit, you will need to buy the Commercial Use License through a Gig Extra and will have broader rights that cover your business use.

I’m going to attempt a baby’s first, and roughly divide IP rights in three parts:

1. Personal use. If you have something, well… you can theoretically do all you want. One thing is driving your car without a licence, but a drawing and a pair of eyes to enjoy it with are different. Your personal use rights are almost never alienable.
2. Licensed rights. Constantin Film routinely gets the rights from Capcom to make Resident Evil films. Does this mean they own Resident Evil? No, they are granted temporary rights to do everything they want on screen with Resident Evil’s characters and universe, but do not have the final word, and can still get their rights revoked by Capcom if they do poor adaptations.
3. Full rights. This is the case where all rights are yours - you own the IP, as you have not purchased a timed licensing. Your rights will only be taken away years after you die.

On Fiverr, there’s just 1 and 3, because Commercial Use rights are implied to last “forever” (they use this word in the ToS).

In short:

If the artist has a “Commercial Rights” Gig Extra to purchase, paying for that along the normal delivery will grant you the rights you want; if they do not declare anything on the gig page, then you automatically get commercial rights.

Remember that this is because Fiverr is a micro job platform, and not a place for long-term contracts. Everything must absolve itself within a month’s time and not go any longer than that. There’s no timed leasings, all is final within the delivery period and completely over after the refund window.

Last note: there are some exceptions to this, and one of them is if you refund your order due to it not meeting the quality standard: that delivery’s rights are annulled, even if you got your content. Read the Ownership section.

Anyone is free to correct me if I’ve wrote something wrong, but this is what the ToS say. 🙂

thank you for the info!

[marinapomorac]

Just be careful when designing superheroes. Not sure how it would go legally, meaning whether just you or the artist or maybe both of you would get sued, but make 100% sure that your characters DO NOT RESEMBLE any copyrighted characters.

E.g., don’t make them look like Batman, Spiderman, Iron Man, etc., if your intended use is commercial use. You could face potential lawsuits for copyright infringement. Intellectual property of such characters belongs entirely with the companies/studios that own the rights to them. Piss off the wrong ones and they will tear you a new one!

image833×1260 213 KB

Whats wrong with this? Original 😃

@mmuurryy

I would also add that if you are thinking of making this long term you should take your time in finding an artist that you can trust, not in a way this one time will he deliver or not but in general since if you going to make comic, who is going to draw it?

You should search for someone who can be in terms of a business reliable partner.

[marinapomorac]

Did you make this? On topic, I did mention commercial use. You can add penises all over Spiderman’s face and make him wear a french maid dress if you want. But from what I know (feel free to correct me), you have to officially mark your work as satire or parody, otherwise there is a possibility you get sued.

Yes.

I have this thing when someone gives me idea (non intentional) I have to draw* correction create it…

I read your sentence and I had it in my mind… I even follow the order you listed them from top to bottom…

🙂

image1019×979 261 KB

I merged images from internet. I did not draw this. I could, but after I get paid 😛

This was just fun haha thing.

You can use pencil to edit your post if it is last post in topic so you do not have two or more posts one after another. Forum system will block you from posting.

Whats the other one, I have -4 prescription glasses, I do not see it.

I know you know but some “lost souls” will say I claim I draw this in 5 minutes… nope. Not me. My style is different.