Fantasy Fights Copyright
All coding, graphics and designs within this site [http://www.webcompetition.net] unless otherwise stated are Copyright © to Fantasy Fights and may not be removed without our written permission. Please do not take anything from this site. A lot of hard work goes into creating everything, and it is all created especially for Fantasy Fights. We would prefer that nobody asks to use any of our graphics, code or content for their own personal use.
Copyright Information
Copyrights has always been a major issue online, not just for Fantasy Fights. One of the largest issues of copyright infringement online is with graphics. Many graphics are available "free" everywhere, but unfortunatly most of these "free" graphics have already
been stolen from other people. With this in mind, we have decided to explain a couple of things with regards to copyright and taking other people's work.
If you see a beautiful set/graphic on someone's site, DO NOT just take it to use for yourself. In a lot of cases, images are taken from the original creator and placed on another personal site without permission, where others will take the graphics and use them for their own purposes as well. Some people will have a link or note as to where the images came from, and you should follow that back to the original owner to ask permission before just using it. Should you be unable to locate the original owner to ask permission, it is best not to take the image and use it, however if you do, you should always include a disclaimer and include where you found the image and ask that the original owner get in touch with you in case they see you using it. Your best option would be not to take the images in the first place though.
With regards to images based on tv shows, movies, books, etc, you should be very cautious. Some companies and people will allow
fan art and images to be used based on their tv shows, movies, books, etc, however a lot of people do not want their images and ideas used. If you create your own images based on characters of tv shows, movies, books, etc, even though you are the creator of the new image, you cannot claim a copyright to it and you should never include a copyright notice on any images such as these that you create. A watermark is generally okay, but never include notes about copyrights on the watermark. You must always give credit to the original creator of the characters. Below is a simple disclaimer we have used on our old Disney team pages so you can see an
example.
All material is ® and © by their respected owners.
All rights reserved Disney.
Use of copyrighted and trademarked material is for entertainment purposes only;
no infringement on the original copyrights or trademarks
held by the respected owners is intended or should be inferred.
When it comes to copyrights with text, content and ideas, it becomes tricky. They are all protected under copyright laws still, however it is harder to prove that you were the original creator should the issue go to courts. We have had issues in the past where members have used some of our content in full. Full layouts have been stolen, and even our old rules content was stolen nearly word for word. These are more examples of copyright infringement and things that everybody should learn to avoid. You should
never take somebody else's content, no matter how appealing it is, and especially not a full layout or page of content. As with the
images, it takes a lot of time and effort to create web content and it is disappointing to find that it has all be stolen by another person. It is best to create your own work, or if you absolutely must use something word for word, use just a small portion
and make sure that you set it up as a quote and link back to the person's site! This way you have given the other person credit for
the small bit of text or content you needed to use and you can prevent copyright issues.
Hopefully the above will help you in the future. Copyright laws can be hard to understand and can cause large issues. The best thing you can do is create your own unique work. If it is not yours, do not take it! Always make sure that you ask permission before using anything from another site, and if you cannot get in touch with the original owner, the best thing you can do is leave
it be.
You can find more information about copyrights at the below links:
Bandwidth Stealing
Information (files) loaded to or from servers is called bandwidth. Every time you upload a file to your ISP, surf the web or download a video, you are using bandwidth.
Bandwidth is limited. Why? Because it actually is a bunch of wires or fibers connecting servers to the global network. And wires can only carry so much data. When someone attempts to get more data than can be handled by the wire, the transmission of the data is slowed down.
Some ISPs limit the amount of data that a site can use during a particular time period. As an example, an ISP might limit you to 1gb of data per month for your flat fee, then charge you an extra $10 for each additional gigabyte. Some of the more obnoxious ISPs actually just block transmissions when the bandwidth is exceeded (effectively putting that site out of business for a time).
It's common practice to load most of the images, sound files, videos and documents in your web on your own site. This excludes, of course, advertising banners which are rotated and some specific documents and images which are supposed to be loaded from a central location.
It's common among amateurs and beginners to link to images and other files directly to some other server instead of putting them on their local server. Sometimes they just don't know better, sometimes they are just lazy, and sometimes they've just run out of space at their free host.
So not only do they "steal" the image (it is probably copyrighted and they are copying it without permission each time the web site is loaded) they "steal" the bandwidth!!
This is extraordinarily bad form, it's tasteless and it should be avoided like the plague.
In some extreme cases, unscrupulous "webmasters" (I use the term loosely) link to large zip files on other servers to give their own visitors extra features. This often occurs with sites containing downloadable software, wallpaper and desktop themes.
DO NOT do this without permission! If you do, you are a thief and you are costing someone else money and aggravation.
What do you do if someone links to your images or files without your permission and he will not stop? Replace the file with something else. A picture or document stating that this person is stealing bandwidth should suffice.
People don't realize how easily they can be caught stealing bandwidth and images. Each time a file is called from the server, it is recorded in what is called a log file. If you link to a graphic on someone else's server, it records the web site that the file is called from, so if you link illegally to someone else's files, each time your page is accessed by anyone, that is recorded.
You may think if you signed up with a free host you can get away with it. Perhaps you used a fictitious name and address when you signed up, and even used a free email account. All that doesn't matter.
Every time you create, modify or add to a free web site, or just send an email from your computer or a free account, your IP address is logged. Your IP address can easily be tracked to your ISP, who has logs of which account has used which IP address on what date and time. You are never completely anonymous on the Internet. These are the same files the FBI uses to catch child pornographers, hackers, and other nefarious types.
Log files are considered legal evidence and you can be sued for stealing bandwidth (or copyrighted property). At the time of this writing, damages can be awarded up to $100,000 plus proven costs. Proof of monetary loss isn't necessary for damages to be awarded.
You can find more information about Bandwidth at the links below:
The above was originally written by Ladie Mikala and was updated in January 2009 by Ladie Atryeu.
It was written to be a helpful guide for members of Fantasy Fights and any visitors who happen upon it.
