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Games Workshop's Massive IP overhaul

Rikard
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Rikard

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I apologies if this topic has already been addressed.

This thread is more from my perspective.


*Breathes In*
So I'm sure many of you are aware of the recent goings on with the GW NDAs and takedowns on the fan animators, including some NDAs that make the Letter Of Agreement they sent me, petty mild.

Here's a link to GWs main page and their IP laws, stipulations and terms.
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-WW/Intellectual-Property-Guidelines

The bit I'd like you to focus your attention to The Fan-Art section, in particular...

Individuals may create their own artwork, drawings and designs, based on our characters and settings, but these must:
  • not include artwork or imagery copied from any official Games Workshop material
  • be non-commercial, with no money being received or paid. This includes all forms of fundraising activity, and generation of any advertising revenue
  • not be publicly distributed, except for no-charge digital distribution
  • make it clear that they are unofficial, without using any Games Workshop logos
  • not be prejudicial to the goodwill, reputation or integrity of Games Workshop or its intellectual property
Going over these, most of them are reasonable, point five is a bit meh.... it's unlikely you'd find a very good artist that would spend all their time bad-mouthing GW (admittedly I'm pushing this one, but I am going to stop after this).

Infringements just below this selection has something a little concerning (considering GW stamping down on content creators creating animations based of their IP).

imitation models - our products must not be imitated. Imitators produce models which copy heavily from Games Workshop’s artwork, books or products.

Looks like I picked a bad time to do a Red Terror Tyranid sculpt....
Oh well...I'm still finishing it.

It will be interesting to see how the whole saga pans out, as there is the potential other independent artists being tagged and gagged. If you want a little context I'd recommend looking at the video below (it's really short), from the animator Absolutely Nothing.

Skip to the 1:00 minute time stamp for the GW update after they demonetized his channel.
 
Double post for doubling down, but this is important....

I'm going to sleep on this one, but I feel I should ask for this thread to be locked and deleted if possible.
Why? Well simple really.

- It doesn't help the community here on LO
- It's not really relevant (I cannot see GW EVER contacting me to try to stop me from sculpting, that would be insane right, I mean, what possible grounds could they have/use? Certainly not gardener's leave).
- I'm aware I'm starting to sound like Arch Warhammer, embittered, negative and oh so salty.
- It doesn't help me, yeah I'm still annoyed about my dealings with GW, that's unlikely to ever fade beyond an inherent distrust of them when it comes to any potential sculpting jobs, but having said (and meant every word) that I'd never entertain the idea of working for them again... What is the problem?

At this stage I think what I'm doing is akin to sticking my thumb into an large scab on my arm, it's not going to heal if I pick at it and it's certainly not going to affect GW.

Same goes for my sig (which I'm changing as soon as I finish this post), I'm not helping myself, or you, I'm just reminding myself of an experience I'd rather never have had, but not one I'll be able to get over if I dangle it in-front of my own face every time I post.

Sorry for the all the angst, this isn't me, this isn't good for me and it's absolutely not good, or FAIR on any of you.

Please forgive me, I promise to do better because I know I can be.
 
Lot of stuff to unpack in this post, way to much for me to be eloquent about.

You certainly have had a rough go of it, I remember reading through some of your other posts. Between all the stuff and up to this NDA/IP stuff. Kinda leaves a bad taste in my mouth, as I know that GW is the reason I have entered this amazing hobby. Started painting with my uncle and brother, learned to really enjoy painting, had great games of WHF, Mordheim, Kill Team, Necromunda, even got to the point where I have been able to branch out to other games or mini lines outside the GW sphere. They even got me searching around on the internet to find stuff on Lizardmen over half a decade ago and led me to this forum! I appreciate GW has inspired my creativity so much, its hard to see that stifled. Can't say I have gotten over the loss of WHF and the Old World (and my dear Bretonnians) yet either.

Meanderings over.

@Rikard you don't have to apologize, you have contributed a lot to the community and to this forum in particular. Don't stop sculpting, you make amazing stuff! And especially if it means a lot to you, keep doing it! And keep it fun! I for one would love to continue to see more of your work.
 
@Warden

Semi true, I did have a rough time of it, but I'd argue nothing near as bad as the current demonetization and gagging orders.
I also said GW had better bring a credit card with them the next time they wanted my time, but with me digging away at this hole, I'm already giving them my time....for free.

I haven't been sculpting, not since the last AOW mini, so...how am I benefiting for it?

The last sculpting competition is something that still really bugs me too.
EDIT: Something that bugs me from the promises I made and failed to deliver.

EDIT2: Can I get this thread locked?
 
Last edited:
Interesting that it mentions that you can't use official GW artwork in any productions based on their material, that would mean Matthias Eliasson is infringing on GW's IP with his fan-army books, a fair few of which use GW images, yet he isn't being plagued with 'Cease and Desist' orders.

In which case I'm continuing with mine regardless of what trouble GW intends to stir, I'm not going to be selling them, they'll be PDFs only and I'll be acknowledging each one as unofficial. GW can be content with that or lump it.
 
Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl said:
Interesting that it mentions that you can't use official GW artwork in any productions based on their material, that would mean Matthias Eliasson is infringing on GW's IP with his fan-army books, a fair few of which use GW images, yet he isn't being plagued with 'Cease and Desist' orders.
Click to expand...

Hope those don't get taken down, they are so much fun :(

Glad I have most of my favorites saved!
 
Warden said:
Hope those don't get taken down, they are so much fun :(

Glad I have most of my favorites saved!
Click to expand...

Personally I find them a mixed bag, his Albion one is horrible and his Beastman one doesn't fix the army's problems very well, but on the other hand his Norse and Chaos Dwarf books are largely very good. Additionally all of them are to a very high standard, without a doubt, and I certainly hope GW doesn't try and step on his work. I also have the most relevant ones to my projects saved just in case GeeDubs try anything.
 
Rikard said:
Individuals may create their own artwork, drawings and designs, based on our characters and settings, but these must:
  • not include artwork or imagery copied from any official Games Workshop material
  • be non-commercial, with no money being received or paid. This includes all forms of fundraising activity and generation of any advertising revenue
  • not be publicly distributed, except for no-charge digital distribution
  • make it clear that they are unofficial, without using any Games Workshop logos
  • not be prejudicial to the goodwill, reputation or integrity of Games Workshop or its intellectual property
Click to expand...
Out of these, points 1 and 4 make sense.
For the remainder, it will be a case-by-case situation if the point is enforceable.
This is based on where the artist is located, what is the content/artwork in question, etc. And not if the artist dares to take up the fight to challenge their demand.

The last part there is what I believe they are gambling on in most cases since it makes everything a lot smoother and not messy.

This is not legal advice, but if you ever receive an email, regular letter, etc. from a law company (that you did not have to sign for), read it, then throw it in the trash and ignore it. Until they reach out through a channel where you physically need to sign that you received it.

In the event you have the content online, there are a few ways they can get it taken down, especially if it's located on US servers and you don't challenge it. Outside the US, the process is a lot harder.

Rikard said:
Please forgive me, I promise to do better because I know I can be.
Click to expand...
Nothing to apologize for, it's good attempts like this to "silence" by a company come out into the open.
 
Since i think this thread could be implemented with the various official stances by GW, i am going to add this

GW against nazis

This statement was apparently in rensponse to this:

Spain - Talavera tournament

It's a fair and cheap statement by GW. How can anyone disagree?

I too absolutely like to have real world politics to stay outside my hobby... altough it's not that simple or immediate when your game is, indeed, filled with references to real world extremist politics and dictatures.
Plus, where do we draw the line? A friend of mine got a SM army heavily inspired to Red Army, including red stars, sickles and hammers. He dresses normally, but the army is clearly ripe with references to communism. Is that fine or not?

When i play Bolt Action and i bring a german army, i wear a shirt of Afrika Korps, and when i field USA, i wear a shirt of Screaming Eagles. In these cases obviously my dressing is not related to my political ideas. However, who can say that there are not Bolt Action players who, on the contrary, are nazis?
 
Can't believe I missed all these posts.

To cover Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl and
The Red Devil I agree with points 1 & 4, I've thought of these as pretty standard, I'm fairly sure I've stated with sculpts I've done that they're Non-GW, coupled with the fact that GW don't release shots of their greens (or STLs), I've usually assumed viewers know they're not GW proprty (or if they weren't sure, they asked).

Point 4, I've never posted any artwork I didn't directly find on google images to back up the sculpt.

Point 5 sounds almost like a watered down anti-libel regulation, but that doesn't work with opinions, even if someone goes on an all cap rant about a model, trying to pursue that via legal action would most likely go nowhere and end both costly and embrassingly for GW.

@Killer Angel Heh...reminds me of a friend who painted an 8000point Night Goblin army with white robes and only realised what he'd done when someone mentioned they looked like a warhammer KKK army.
 
WildColonial Boy said:
GW finally made Matthias Eliasson's Warhammer Armies Project cease and desist after 13 years...
Click to expand...

Well, he certainly had it very lucky to last that long, and it's no longer much of a loss to the Fantasy community anyway ever since he, like T9A before him, decided to focus fully on developing a fan-made 9th Edition.
 
NIGHTBRINGER said:
No real loss.
Click to expand...

7rgdhh.jpg
 
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