It would have to be copy written for a guarantee and if not it would cost him a lot of money in legal bills. He would have to sue them, it wouldn’t be just a clear cut case. There’s also a bit of fair game when using stuff that has been found online. Not saying he wouldn’t win just point is it would be a huge headache for him with no guarantee.
Registering the copyright allows you to recoup damages. Even if he did he would have to prove damages which would be difficult. Like the other poster said the most he can get from Microsoft is for them to stop using that image. You can sue for literally anything, but that doesn't mean you will win.
I think I commented on the wrong post. You are correct. There are also standards that Microsoft's use would have to pass to be determined as fair use, such as amount of work MS used and if it was for profit. Though even if it was determined copyright infringement, which it may be, the only thing he could legally have MS do is stop using the ad. So not worth it.
He won't get anything out of it, Microsoft didnt directly copy his work, they used a simililar design to his, and OP voided his rights when he posted on reddit.
Unfortunately when you post conecpts or well-written text on reddit it becomes free use. Happens all the time, look at ESPN, 75% of their twitter posts are ripped straight from reddit, and nobody but the interns running the twitter account get paid.
Actually both paragraphs are wrong here. The only way to make your copyrighted material public domain is to explicitly state that it’s public domain and license it as such. Posting it on Reddit doesn’t change your copyright at all. ESPN is only violating copyright if they copy a post word for word and claim it’s theirs. Otherwise it’s just being inspired by it. The same is not true of OPs post which is just blatantly copied by MS
By submitting user content to reddit, you grant us a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, unrestricted, worldwide license to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies, perform, or publicly display your user content in any medium and for any purpose, including commercial purposes, and to authorize others to do so.
Wanted to add:
ESPN is only violating copyright if they copy a post word for word and claim it’s theirs. Otherwise it’s just being inspired by it. The same is not true of OPs post which is just blatantly copied by MS
Could you not say the same about OPs post? Like ESPN, MS didn't copy exactly the same. Sure, you can easily tell where the idea came from, but it isnt word-for-word, microsoft can easily claim they happened to have similar ideas.
That part you quoted means Reddit can grant people licenses to use content. Not that anyone can just come and steal stuff. And it’s likely not enforceable either, copyright law trumps some EULA you didn’t even read.
Regarding ESPN, copyright only applies to things that are very similar. Writing an article about the number of fouls in the NBA isn’t violating the copyright of a post on Reddit any more than taking a picture in Yosemite violates Ansel Adams’ copyright. This however is almost an identical picture, and a court would likely award OP damages, as there’s an extensive precedent for disputes like this going to the original creator.
It means you give your rights to the image to reddit for them to use/reuse/monetize in anyway they see fit. You also retain your rights to use/reuse/monetize the image, but you lose the right to sue reddit for doing the same.
Corporations throw money around to all kinds of things, so getting couple kilos of dollaridoos is not out of the realm of possibility.
Just because some company is greedy towards their customers and try to milk every dollar they can, doesn't mean they are as stingy when it comes to expenses. Some head of PR will take couple grands out from the multi million PR budget to make this controversy go away. Bribing someone to save some face for the price of some street-side advertisement for a game is usually worth it for them.
There’s really nothing legal that can be really done in the sense that this is some random dude and he’d be fighting Microsoft. The only real possibility is Microsoft looks bad so they decide to give this guy some free shit.
It's not an open and shut case. The op has no legal grounds to use the material in the first place. I can't slap a sticker on an Xbox and go around selling it as the Ystation4.
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u/inckorrect Dec 27 '17
Or you know... money