I've heard far too many horror stories of people being forced to abandon lovely characters because others kept commissioning and drawing art of them without the owner's consent, and it's very sad to see.
Being that I have a giant repository of characters I've collected over the years, with every single one of them being precious to me, I'm wondering how I can minimise them being used without my consent, if at all possible.
Especially when it comes to closed species, and the whole concept of copyright and Creative Commons licences being somehow applied to such.

Honestly, the safest way would be to not post them online. The less material of them available, the less likely they are to be noticed by someone does that.

1. If you've registered the copyright on your character with the government and someone accepts money to create a derivative work without your consent, you can sue the person.
2. Or you can never post it online nor tell anyone about the character.
3. Or you can stop letting yourself become emotionally damaged from the actions of others that have no direct effect on you. No one can force you to feel something, feeling and your reactions are solely under your control. If you can't control your feelings then learn to meditate so you can.
4. If you've released your character under Creative Commons (CC) then you have consented to the porn creation and there's nothing you should do about it. Next time don't use CC and put your license in the image.
5. You a site's blacklist feature to prevent yourself from seeing 3rd party works of your character.

Most "drawing porn of someone's OC" type situations seem to occur when some sort of drama happens. I'd say, be careful about who you involve yourself with and what communities.

Make your character as unappealing as possible.
That, or just really fucking hard to draw to the point no sane artist would accept the commission:
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/15034816/

chaser said:
Make your character as unappealing as possible.

That kinda defeats the purpose of Having an OC right?... Well unless you're into that ig.

chaser said:
Make your character as unappealing as possible.

People sexualized living trash piles and garbage bags. That isn't going to work forever.

Under copyright law one do have a copyright on whatever work one does by default. No need to register it. _{(registering a copyright is just to make any legal process easier in court since one already has the paperwork that X thing were made at Y date, but a registered copyright isn't any more valid than a non registered one.)}

Secondly, a lot of people have really poor fantasy and just draw what they see, if it is another person's character isn't "important". But here one can contact that person and ask why they are drawing one's character without permission. Some will listen, others won't. _{(and honestly a fair amount of adoptables is just straight up other people's characters. I have told a few people throughout the years to not sell my character as an adoptable, usually they also steal a piece of art of the character in the process, so it is just something to keep an eye out for.)}

On top of this, a lot of art being drawn without permission is either done in spite or as a misjudged gift. (a lot of people think they know the "hidden" desires of a friend, only to commission something the friend ends up not enjoying in the slightest.)

Also, in regards to copyright.
Recolors of existing characters from games, movies, etc, is typically not easy to defend as "one's own character", since one likely didn't ask for permission to rip off the game/movie/etc's character.

Other than this, people likewise do have fair use on their side to a degree when it comes to fanart of your characters. In the same exact fashion we as artists can draw fanart of games, movies, books, and so forth. _{(in general though, this is only the case as long as the artwork isn't having the intent of being offensive or otherwise damage whatever work or entity one takes content from.)}

Beyond this, it is more or less just about making it at least somewhat clear that one don't want people to draw artwork of one's characters. Or repost it on other sites.
Keeping an eye on what copyrights one uses is also important, a lot of "share alike" copyrights don't really work well if the character is one's sona or otherwise emotionally important. _{(however, "share alike" often only covers the artwork itself, not the content within, ie a character is still intellectual property belonging to someone.)}

And in the end, if one finds someone that does make art of one's character, it is good to get in contact and talk with the person.
But do remember, sometimes characters can look fairly similar without being the same. The more "basic" the character is in its appearance, the less ground one has for stating copyright infringement.

_{(My own character for an example is fairly basic, since it is just a blue dragon with spikes along its spine and cyan colored wings and belly, and 4 tones per paw. This isn't particularly unique. The yellow ring inside the iris however is more unique detail, as well as the shape of the horns, tendrils for ears and the two long honestly hyper prehensile shafts. The more details we add, the more unique a character becomes, and at some point it is easy to argue that someone has used one's character without permission.)}

nystemy said:
Under copyright law one do have a copyright on whatever work one does by default. No need to register it.

In the US, you actually do. You need to have the copyright registered prior to the infringement to bring action against that unauthorized use. Also important to note, a copyright registration doesn't guarantee copyright validity. A copyright can (and will likely be) be challenged if an infringement lawsuit is brought against someone. And in particular, character copyrights have a high bar to pass beyond normal copyrights, because copyright is intended to protect works fixed to a tangible medium. You can't copyright an idea, just the fixed expression of an idea (e.g. you can claim copyright to a particular drawing you made, but not to a different drawing made independently by someone else). For a character to gain copyright, it needs a high level of particularity.

As with anything when it comes to law and copyright though, you should consult a real lawyer if you intend to go that route. We're not lawyers, we can only give layman understanding, which may not be (and are like not) completely accurate.

watsit said:
In the US, you actually do. You need to have the copyright registered prior to the infringement to bring action against that unauthorized use. Also important to note, a copyright registration doesn't guarantee copyright validity. A copyright can (and will likely be) be challenged if an infringement lawsuit is brought against someone. And in particular, character copyrights have a high bar to pass beyond normal copyrights, because copyright is intended to protect works fixed to a tangible medium. You can't copyright an idea, just the fixed expression of an idea (e.g. you can claim copyright to a particular drawing you made, but not to a different drawing made independently by someone else). For a character to gain copyright, it needs a high level of particularity.

As with anything when it comes to law and copyright though, you should consult a real lawyer if you intend to go that route. We're not lawyers, we can only give layman understanding, which may not be (and are like not) completely accurate.

To my knowledge even an unregistered copyright (in the USA) is still something one can take someone else to court over, but a lot harder to prove that one did make said copyright when one claims one made it. _{(since one more or less needs a independent third party to validate that claim. An official registration is a very good independent third party for this, but if the other's validated claim is earlier (registered or not), then one's copyright weren't valid to start with.)}

But yes.
It is hard to copyright a character, and the more bland it is, the harder it is. _{(however, there has been artists that has been successfully proven guilty of copyright infringement for "copying" another artist's character where the two subjects can be very general in their appearance.)}

It is however easier if one has more individual pieces of art of the character, since then the character is more established as a character and not just a random subject in an image or two image. And having a name in conjunction with the character is also helpful at times.

But in the end.
If one needs to take someone to court over a made up character for personal use, then things have usually escalated to a silly degree... Just talking to the other person _{(or moderators of whatever site the infringement is on)} tends to solve these issues. _{(though, seeing a court case of two furries battling it out over who has the rights to a character is a court case file I honestly would find interesting, especially the surrounding news reports if any...)}

It's possible to do takedowns for your characters on this site I believe. Other sites not so much, I think.

Did Disney write this?

watsit said:
In the US, you actually do. You need to have the copyright registered prior to the infringement to bring action against that unauthorized use.

Registration is just a fast-track to proving your ownership. You can still prove ownership in court, it's just going to be a more scrutinised process.
Edit Correction: You do need to register before filing suit in the US, but it does not have to be prior to the infringement.

Also you generally can't inherently copyright the concept of a character. Copyright deals with the IP connected to specific pieces of media.
Likely what you'd need to do is have the artist(s) behind your reference documents file for a violation of their copyright. Unless otherwise contractually agreed upon, your own copyright on your own characters amounts only to what tangible textual/artistic contributions you have personally made to the design process.

Throughout all of this, keep in mind that the average furry's personal character is under less protection than [insert corporate IP character], and whether you find it justifiable or not, wishing to protect your own character while supporting unauthorised porn fanart is a double-standard.
The best someone not willing or able to throw legal suits around can hope for is that a network of social contracts will protect their character/species by ostracising anybody who draws unauthorised artwork of them.

magnuseffect said:
Registration is just a fast-track to proving your ownership. You can still prove ownership in court, it's just going to be a more scrutinised process.

You actually do need it:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/411
(a) Except for an action brought for a violation of the rights of the author under section 106A(a), and subject to the provisions of subsection (b),[1] no civil action for infringement of the copyright in any United States work shall be instituted until preregistration or registration of the copyright claim has been made in accordance with this title.

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/intellectual-property/practice/2021/copyright-registration-infringement-cases/
The Supreme Court confirmed last year in Fourth Estate Pub. Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC that a valid copyright registration is very much the key to the courthouse door. 139 S.Ct. 881, 892 (2019). Without it, the average claimant cannot sue.
...
Decisions following Fourth Estate have also recognized that the strategy of “file, register, amend” is not a viable workaround—reasoning that the registration precondition would become “a meaningless formality” if claimants could in fact file suit without a registration. See Malibu Media, LLC v. Doe, No. 18-CV-10956, 2019 WL 1454317, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 2, 2019); Lee v. Black Entm’t Tel., LLC , No. 19-CV-02751, 2020 WL 1140795, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 6, 2020).

watsit said:
You actually do need it:

I think this post beat out my correction, but I'd like to distinguish that the registration can be filed after the infringement and still be used.
i.e. Copyright protection still exists independently of registration, you just have to register for it to apply.

magnuseffect said:
I think this post beat out my correction, but I'd like to distinguish that the registration can be filed after the infringement and still be used.

Perhaps. According to my understanding of https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/412, however, such a case could not get statutory damages or attorney's fees. So at most you could collect actual damages (that is, how much money you can prove you lost due to the infringement), but you'd still have to pay your attorney yourself. For most cases of people just wanting to protect their OC from unwanted fanart, that would likely end up as a net negative financially. And even in cases where some money is involved, if it's not a lot, relatively speaking, you could still end up losing more than you can hope to get back.

In either case, I'll just reiterate we're not lawyers. If you're serious about using copyright to protect your work, consult a real lawyer. They'll be able to give you better, more accurate answers than we could.

what to do in the case of someone making nsfw art of your O.C. that you don't like

step 1: SUE

Stop caring about it because it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

watsit said:
Perhaps. According to my understanding of https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/412, however, such a case could not get statutory damages or attorney's fees.

[..] other than an action brought for a violation of the rights of the author [..] for infringement of the copyright of a work that has been preregistered [..] that has an effective date of registration not later than [..] 1 month after the copyright owner has learned of the infringement

So by my understanding of this passage, you can still take damages if you get your shit together and file preregistration within a month of first discovering the content you're suing for.
I am also not a lawyer.

For clarification it appears that effective date of registration refers to the day on which an application, deposit, and fee, which are later determined by the Register of Copyrights or by a court of competent jurisdiction to be acceptable for registration, have all been received in the Copyright Office.

nystemy said:
To my knowledge even an unregistered copyright (in the USA) is still something one can take someone else to court over, but a lot harder to prove that one did make said copyright when one claims one made it. _{(since one more or less needs a independent third party to validate that claim. An official registration is a very good independent third party for this, but if the other's validated claim is earlier (registered or not), then one's copyright weren't valid to start with.)}

Now you have to register the copyright to bring any kind of legal action regarding it. The copyright is still "yours" at the point of creation, but you need the paperwork to show that. Recent change in IP law in the US.

That said, I don't necessarily recommend doing it because 1.) It's really expensive. No, seriously, you probably can't afford it, and the other person is probably "judgement proof" (meaning they don't have the money to pay damages,) 2.) Even if they could, it's not really worth it if they weren't making a bunch of money off of it, and 3.) you really don't want a reputation for being That Guy in this fandom. One Jeremy Bernal is one too many.

However, as long as you aren't a cunt about the thing, you can generally contact many site owners, say that you're the owner of the character, this art was not authorized, and take it down, please; they'll generally honor it.

Regardless, once you publish media, you have no control how the audience responds to it. If you can't take the possibility that your audience will respond in a way you don't like, then you shouldn't publish at all.

Honestly, even if you do throw legal papers at someone, there's nothing physically preventing them from still making the art (also applies if, say, they post the art anonymously). The only true winning move is to not play, but as long as you keep a low profile, I don't think you'll have much to worry about.

Make a copy of the arts, Send the original to yourself in registered mail.
Not sure if it still works but USED to be a postmarked sealed original document held up in courts if it ever comes to it.

lonelylupine said:
Now you have to register the copyright to bring any kind of legal action regarding it. The copyright is still "yours" at the point of creation, but you need the paperwork to show that. Recent change in IP law in the US.

That said, I don't necessarily recommend doing it because 1.) It's really expensive. No, seriously, you probably can't afford it, and the other person is probably "judgement proof" (meaning they don't have the money to pay damages,) 2.) Even if they could, it's not really worth it if they weren't making a bunch of money off of it, and 3.) you really don't want a reputation for being That Guy in this fandom. One Jeremy Bernal is one too many.

However, as long as you aren't a cunt about the thing, you can generally contact many site owners, say that you're the owner of the character, this art was not authorized, and take it down, please; they'll generally honor it.

Regardless, once you publish media, you have no control how the audience responds to it. If you can't take the possibility that your audience will respond in a way you don't like, then you shouldn't publish at all.

To be fair, that is a stupid change in the rules for what one can take someone to court over.
If a copyright is legally valid based on proof of authorship/ownership, then one shouldn't have to register it with the government to file a claim against someone else infringing on said copyright. But I guess the government has to make some money through some way or another, but this is stupid... _{(thankfully I don't live in the USA.)}

But as I have stated before, if one actually has to take someone to court over copyright infringement, then things have escalated to silly degrees... _{(to be fair, the buyer of the art from the "thief" has better reasons to sue than the owner of the copyright in most cases. Since selling something one don't own is effectively fraud and the buyer has actually lost money in the transaction, so the damages are very clear.)}

strikerman said:
(also applies if, say, they post the art anonymously)

If they post it on any site that keeps user records and aren't running through any kind of secure proxy service that shreds its records, you can subpoena their address info.

nystemy said:
that is a stupid change in the rules for what one can take someone to court over.

strikerman said:
there's nothing physically preventing them from still making the art

lonelylupine said:
the other person is probably "judgement proof" (meaning they don't have the money to pay damages,)

magnuseffect said:
The best someone not willing or able to throw legal suits around can hope for is that a network of social contracts will protect their character/species by ostracising anybody who draws unauthorised artwork of them.

We live in a society
Intellectual Property is an abstract concept that only means whatever's agreed upon in within a given social arena

dogenzaka said:
Honestly, the safest way would be to not post them online. The less material of them available, the less likely they are to be noticed by someone does that.

LOL, first reply, best reply.

You can also make your character largely generic, then you can claim anything similar is totally not your character.
"Largely generic" meaning you can still have a slight marking or such that stands it out, but not impressive enough that others are likely to want to copy it. If it's something worn, you can even just tell others to remove it when using your character without your mediation.

As long as your character is shown online though, there's the chance somebody will try to use them for their fantasies, fanart, or commissions though, so it's best to just come to accept that it may happen and simply hope people at least follow a set of guidelines for it when they do go against the wishes to not use them at all.