Copyrights

[cumping]

I think about making my own tease but I do not have any pic which I own. I think most people do not own the pics. The milovana rules say that I give my copyrights to milovana, but how can I do that? I am not the owner. Is it legalized by any laws to do this?

[supermokkori]

I think about making my own tease but I do not have any pic which I own. I think most people do not own the pics. The milovana rules say that I give my copyrights to milovana, but how can I do that? I am not the owner. Is it legalized by any laws to do this?

The great majority of the pictures used here at Milovana come from promotional sets by various adult companies. All adult entertainment companies release up to 50% of a particular gallery to various "free" websites and promo sites. Furthermore, many websites will often release an entire gallery daily (well depending on how big they are).

One of the most well-known sites you can visit to find promo gallery sets is freeones.com - they actually partner up with adult websites to offer complete galleries to their members.

(hope it's ok to link to freeones here).

[SexualChoc]

aha!

I KNEW someone would actually read the rules!!

the place that posts pictures is this forum:
http://www.milovana.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=24
in this forum is a list of what photos are acceptable
preferred sites.. and other interesting facts especially if you read more than just one post!

and I was told no one would actually read all those rules..

[ronin]

I think about making my own tease but I do not have any pic which I own. I think most people do not own the pics. The milovana rules say that I give my copyrights to milovana, but how can I do that? I am not the owner. Is it legalized by any laws to do this?

That's actually not the case. The TOS actually states:

The content on the Milovana Website, except all User Submissions (as defined below), including without limitation, the text, software, scripts, graphics, photos, sounds, music, videos, interactive features and the like ("Content") and the trademarks, service marks and logos contained therein ("Marks"), are owned by or licensed to Milovana, subject to copyright and other intellectual property rights under United States and foreign laws and international conventions.

As it reads, the tease author remains the owner of any content they write. I'd bet that this is a way for the site to remain harmless in the case of a lawsuit for any use of copyrighted images. I'm sure that the mods take down any teases that include copyrighted images, but the use of any images is completely up to us.

[Nezhul]

Actually the site does not care which pictures do you use in a tease. The tease may be removed if the owner would ask, but that hasn't happen once. Mostly, the picture sets are pirated and reposted so many times on so many sites, that I doubt owners even care at all about if you use some of the pictures in your tease. So I'd say use them freely. Yes, technically some may say you are breaking the law. But EVERYONE breaks that law. Not that anyone could be sued for it.
I repeat - most that can be done is someone will ask to remove the illegal content.

[SexualChoc]

but that hasn't happen once. Mostly, the picture sets are pirated and reposted so many times

this is not true Nezul
I had to re-do a tease because I used the wrong pictures
http://www.milovana.com/webteases/showtease.php?id=9613
that is why the -redone is on this tease.

[Nezhul]

very very rare then? All of my favourite teases use stolen pictures (not just 10 free pics from a sample sets for sure), and they stay.

[1885]

All of my favourite teases use stolen pictures (not just 10 free pics from a sample sets for sure), and they stay.

So none of my teases are your favorite then?

Seriously though, I prefer to stay with promotional galleries for all my teases. I try to look for different promo sets of the same shoot to pool together as many pictures as possible, but I'll usually end up with 12 to 20 pictures. Not a lot for a 250 page flash tease, but I think it's possible to make up for that shortcoming with a good story and making the action match the pictures you use as much as possible. If it's a classic tease then you're fine.

If your style accommodates it, you can definitely put out some great teases using just promo sets.

[Sexytimes 5]

Lets use Met-Art as an example. If you use a set or a picture for that matter from their members area of the site and someone reports it or they catch wind of it's use they will file a complaint and Milovana will be forced to take the tease down.

Milovana may even warn the user that if it happens again they will kick them off the site. I've been a member of Met-Art before and they typically release sets with well over a hundred pictures. They only release certain "sample" pictures from their sets as "promotional" and only at a very low resolution when compared to what the site has to offer. For example, they have pictures that they consider medium size at 2048x1365. Not pixilated falsely enlarged junk either. You won't ever see even those medium quality pictures available in any promotional set samples authorized by them. Some sites do offer full quality samples but never, ever will they give out complete sets as promotional in full resolution. It would defeat the whole idea of promoting their site and drawing in new customers. There are a bunch of legitimate sites offering promotional samples from sets. Use them.

I would like nothing more than to use a few of the full sets I have but can’t because all the high quality sets I have were obtained “for personal use only” from membership on sites. I wish I could just use them in my teases. I have tons of Playboy and Met-Art photos that I cannot use because of this fact. Neither can you no matter where you find them posted. It isn’t very hard to find links with illegal high quality full sets but they will draw the attention of the copyright hounds for sure if you use them on this site.

You absolutely shouldn’t use any pictures that aren’t promotional. If I could use one of my favorite sets I have which contains 283 pictures it would open new doors into the tease making world for me. Sadly, it just isn’t going to happen.

Even though you probably won't be visited by the black suits or taken to court for damages for using illegal images you will make a problem for the site and cost them time and money having to deal with it in administrative costs.

We are very clearly warned to use “free for promotional use” images. When you publish a tease the declaration you make which protects the site says that you attest that the images are free for promotional use.

P.S. Even the promotional sets are owned and can be forced off any site if the owner would choose to file or complain but they usually don't because the owners don't see themselves losing money for those images. Use full sets or pictures only legally available from a members area and Milovana will most likely be contacted very soon.

[Nezhul]

there is so much of met-art torrents, online storages and etc., and they remain there for YEARS and are never taken down. Yes, technically what you describe is the procedure. But in fact they VERY, and I mean VERY rarely bother to file complaints to someone. Do you think they don't know? Ha-ha, that's a good one. In reality they just can't afford to bother with every of tens of millions offences for their copyrights throughout the net. Yes, such situation as you describe will be legimate and they may file a complaint in full rights. But chances of that happening are slim. Do you realize how much of a problem one such complain would be for them? The site is not hosted in US, for one thing.

My point again - they CAN but they WON't bother because you use 20 of their millions of pictures in your tease. The don't file complaints even about FULL SITERIPS, and you are talking serious about 1 picture set? be real.

Also, sites like this one are viewed by rightholders more like a promotion to them, rather than offence. No full image sets are hosted here, and those that are are resized for storage and the quality is dropped in comparison with the real deal. There's no point in complaining, because it's like free commercial for them. You finish a great tease, and you enjoy like 20-50 pictures while doing so.

I'm just amazed how much people freak out because of some net-based licence agreement that you didn't sign in any way. It is technically legal but very vague in reality.

So none of my teases are your favorite then?

sorry, no, but that's not because of the pictures.

[ronin]

there is so much of met-art torrents, online storages and etc., and they remain there for YEARS and are never taken down. Yes, technically what you describe is the procedure. But in fact they VERY, and I mean VERY rarely bother to file complaints to someone. Do you think they don't know? Ha-ha, that's a good one. In reality they just can't afford to bother with every of tens of millions offences for their copyrights throughout the net. Yes, such situation as you describe will be legimate and they may file a complaint in full rights. But chances of that happening are slim. Do you realize how much of a problem one such complain would be for them? The site is not hosted in US, for one thing.

Addressing this categorically - Megaupload shut down. Why do you suppose that was? Might it have anything to do with the raging persistence of copyright infringement?

Frankly, the US has shown itself more than willing to shut down entire sites rather than go after individual infringers. Napster, Megaupload, and many others corroborate this.

And you're wrong - the site is hosted in California. See http://www.milovana.com/forum/viewtopic ... 173#p75173

[les]

As a rule of thumb

Copyright is not normally enforced unless money is involved.
The owner wanting a share of users profits.
Or as the owner perceives a loss of revenue.

                 This does not mean you are 100% safe.

Limewire was chased for loss of revenue that was calculated to be more than the whole world collectively earns.

                                  $72 Trillion

[janmb]

Breaking copyright is obviously wrong regardless of whether it is enforced or not - and therefore not a very interesting thing to debate. Contrary to sexualchoc and a few others I do not judge and do not sit on a high horse playing white knight, but the topic of legality isn't very interesting to debate since it is so crystal clear.

The only possible exception to copyright here would be Fair Use, but that requires a LOT of criteria to be met, and it is a difficult area of gray shades to navigate at best.

The interesting thing for me is WHY copyrights so rarely are enforced within the porn industries. Not out of relevance, but out of curiosity. Other industries enforce copyrights a LOT harder, and I think I know why. Other industries can advertise and promote their products more or less freely, over a wide variety of arenas and different media. The porn industry cannot. Therefore, as seraph has pointed out before as well, the willingness for partnership and cooperation is much greater in that business since they have so much fewer arenas on which to advertise their content. Which is also why it is not only impractical to pursue copyright infringement, it is also in many cases, especially here on this site, counterproductive to their own goals.

Again, not relevant to the legality at all, merely very interesting.


Also, Fair Use should be delved into more detailed here, since it is very likely that at least some of the creative content made here on milovana easily could qualify to reuse otherwise copyrighted material under the Fair Use clause (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use)

Fair Use is an exception to copyrights, where copyrighted material can be used without prior permission of any kind, but for the law to apply, several criteria must be met:

1. Purpose and character of the use
This part pretty much deals with upholding the original intention of copyright, meaning the reused work cannot be of a nature where it competes with the original, reused work economically or creatively.
The criteria is clearly met by webteases, since they are neither commercial in any way, nor competes with the image galleries creatively. It is a new artwork in a completely different direction than the original material, and that is precisely what Fair Use is intended to make possible.

2. The nature of the copied work.
This deals with copyright validity between fictional vs. non-fictional content, as well as whether content must have been published in other to be copyrighted. Not relevant for neither the content we're debating here, nor the validity of Fair Use in this case at all.

3. Amount and substantiality
This deals with the amount of reused content vs. how much new creative content the author brings to the table him/herself. In short, the less reused material compared to the additional, new creative content, the better in terms of fair use.
For webteases, the images make up a clear minority of the total creative content, in fact the images don't bring any significant creative content to the table at all.

4. Effect upon the original work's value
The reuse must not remove the ability of the original owner to exploit their original work.
As far as I can see, webteases do not do that, if anything they do the exact opposite.


One other consideration that has to be made, primarily by seraph0x of course, is whether the site would WANT to claim Fair Use of content even if we legally could. Even of you DO qualify legally to claim Fair Use, it will undoubtedly step on some toes now and then and potentially be challenged legally as well.

The important thing and purpose for me with bringing this up at all is to adjust the great number of people who live in a black and white idea of copyright being absolute and the owner of any work having absolute rights to that content in every single way. That is simply legally not true, and that's the main drive for me to put this forward.

[les]

@janmb
its money, and proof.
do you have enough money to chase infringement, and is the return worth the effort.

Perhaps porn relies on poor copies as advertising for purchasing the real deal.
I heard "BenDover" chased but that's the only one I heard of.

Some producers are putting watermarks into their product so they can trace the purchaser of the pirate version.
This has been done by a producer of Gay films.

[Nezhul]

Frankly, the US has shown itself more than willing to shut down entire sites rather than go after individual infringers. Napster, Megaupload, and many others corroborate this.

We are not talking about US sites. US prooved to be a pretty bad country to host the site in lately anyway. I know a few good projects that were closed or made to close. But again, Milovana is not in US. US laws don't directly apply to it.

but the topic of legality isn't very interesting to debate since it is so crystal clear.

Oh, many good lawyers will argue with you on that... or rather they won't, because they are lawyers. But the law can be twisted the way a knowing man wants. But That's just a smart comment, my point is below.

And what I wanted to say is that we actually don't argue what's "legal". Rather than waht you can or can't do relatively safe with your tease, and I don't think ANYONE can say it's unsafe to use a pucture set from Met Art, because I'v used them a lot myself and seen them being used by others, and I really don't recall any problems about it. Being overprotective or very law-abiding is nice. But you are actually breaking this or that law on a dayly basis - every living being DOES break SOME of the laws regularily. They are laws not to abide to the letter at all times. They are to make you coutious.

But I'll shut up now. Be as you like. /