afaik, you can download the files from mw, without acknowledging you’ve even seen the licencing agreement. An agreement full of ‘must not’, with no indication of what will happen if you ignore, and no enforcement, is worthless. At least with software in general, b4 you can use it you have to agree to the licence. (but that makes little difference in many cases). sub human nature is what it is.
I am surprised these site (like MW) aren’t requiring some kind of legal “click to agree to the terms” for any model files that are listed with a restricted license.
1 Like
Don’t ask them to remove it, go straight to Etsy and report it. Asking them to remove it will not result in any consequences and they can continue doing what they do.
Have no mercy, report them and let them be punished.
2 Likes
I was going to say the same thing. Telling the user it’s just letting them get away with it without putting them on Etsy’s radar.
So i reported all my models and today was all my models from his profile deleted 
thanks guys for support and help
3 Likes
You’re right, but I think the whole copyright thing is sketchy at best.
There are so many that sells helmets and what not that belong to Disney and other big brands, or games in general, and these “creators” want you to buy their files through patreon or other ways, and even put a license on it. It’s illegal because those are actually protected by IP, unlike their own designs. It’s just that the big brands don’t really care that much, unless something is getting out of control and they start to lose money.
Slapping a license on a 3d model page means nothing, You actually have to copyright your work at the office, which takes time, money and approval. And that copyright might only apply to the design (files) and not the printed item itself. And it’s only for X years. It’s a convoluted process for a reason.
Etsy is taking that down more on moral ground or some common sense agreement. In the case of selling designs (files) that are free on MW is quite obvious but other than that, it’s sketchy. That person could go on other website that don’t care about such things or just sell the prints in the street, and there is nothing you can do because there is no (official) copyright on your work to be recognized, especially if it’s someone doing that in another country.
Intellectual property and license are to separate things.
And Intellectual property laws vary from country to country.
And copyright©️ it’s just an American tool to protect your IPs
In my country (Belgium) and I don’t have to register my work and pay a fee to be able to protect my IPs. in case of conflict on your IPs, I can just go to court and prove my idea is the original.
Of course copyrighting it can help to prove that.
So unless you distribute your work under pubic domain licenses you will always be the owner of your IPs during a certain amount of decades before it falls into the public domain.
And the licenses are there to set rules on how your IPs can be used by others. Sharing, modifying, selling,…
Esty is not taking those down on morale ground but on license or IP ground. They have their part of responsability into this (by hosting files for example) and they are protecting themselves from legal actions against them too.
Of course, thieves will always find a way to sell stolen properties. And Yes international legal actions are complicated. But is not because it’s not copyrighted, it’s because IP laws are different in any countries.
It’s the same in the U.K., if you create something unique you own it, nothing to register.
You should always retain everything to prove you created it and when as if you need to defend it (some comes after you when they later create the same thing and try to take you out) or when you need to assert it (someone is profiting from something you created first and you get to stop them or they must pay you).
Copyright covers the IP, the design itself, the idea. You’re probably thinking of a patent/trademark/master/etc, which is basically licensing the physical part (tangible part) of the same idea in this case, but still needs to be registered. Copyrighting is still universal for many things, is not an american thing only. And even if the laws differ from country to country, it still applies universally for many things.
3D printing is more of a grey for everyone area, even in the same country, but for example I can copyright my music, in my country in Europe, and it’s universal, meaning that will apply to US or other parts of the world using my music, and collect royalties, more or less (meaning in less democratic countries).
You still have to copyright things in Europe, otherwise nobody will take you seriously. For example in US is easier, you have the copy rights in the moment you have your idea down, in the form of files or something else tangible, but if it comes to going to a court law or something similar, nobody will defend you, unless registered, because they don’t want to take the risk even if you’re right. It happened so many times in music, as an example.
Anyway, moving forward, Etsy still does it on moral grounds (most of it), and to prevent some legal action on a lesser degree, from companies, but there is no legal action you (the individual) can do since you didn’t copyright your work. Let’s say I steal your files from MW, I sell the prints on my website (still within EU), and there is nothing you can do. Mentioning a license on that page means nothing, and the person stealing might be having the files from some other place (the downside of infinite copy/paste) or the same files slightly modified but resembles yours (and it’s legal). And as I said in the beginning, 3D printing is even more of a grey area, meaning you can have a copyright of your design but there are parts of it you can’t copyright and parts that you can, of the same design, and you may have no rights to a printed tangible item and so on and on.
Unless reported, Etsy still has tons of copyrighted stuff to sell, from people stealing the IP of big brands. And Etsy is something exposed to the whole world. There is nothing you can do with some unknown website or physical shop that you never heard of. It was the same in music or other arts, that’s why they invented content ID (digital fingerprinting) and other copyrights.
It’s the same in my country in Europe, it’s the same in US, and many other countries, but nobody will defend you in case of legal actions against someone bigger, like a company, because it’s hard to find someone to defend your rights, as they might find ways to fire against you. I gave the example with music earlier because I know it better, and you better have some hard proof for that, or better, copyrighted.
But if you still want to have some kind of proof of your copyright without registering, you can mail the files to yourself on gmail or something more permanent, and you will have the timestamp at least. It’s better than nothing.
I personally still pay for stuff (that you can find free in other places), and I’d pay for a license if I’d want to make money, but what I’m saying is that this licensing thing on the website doesn’t mean much if others choose to ignore, or if entire countries do it. You can find tangible items on AliExpress or other places that are clearly copy/paste of someone’s idea, 3D designs, IP and whatever. Nothing you can do about it…
It’s far easier (I assume) to bring and win an award against those who breach you here then.
Many represent themselves against big companies and win. The news is replete with such stories.
I won’t argue because I mostly agree with your conclusion. It’s hard to enforce digital file licenses and most of the time it isn’t worth it going to court especially for 3d model files.
But I just wanted to point out in my previous message, that your understanding of the IPs law and licenses is incorrect.
You’re are mixing legal concepts.
1 Like