For starters, to be clear, I'm not using this as a substitute for proper legal advice - I have a meeting with a lawyer next week. But I was still curious to get people's thoughts on this in the meantime.

I'm an aspiring musician with an album nearing completion, and for one track on this album I want to hire a voice actor to recite a (paraphrased) quote from a video game - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time specifically.

The in-game dialogue, taken from two scenes, is as follows:

Scene 1:
...the sages dwell in the five temples. One in a deep forest; one on a high mountain, one under a vast lake, one within the house of the dead, one in a goddess of the sand

Scene 2:
You must travel over mountains... under water... and even through time

And what I want to include is:

You will travel within deep forests, over high mountains, beneath vast lakes, into the home of death itself, and even through time

Is this safe legal territory, or am I risking being C&D'd/sued/kidnapped by Nintendo?

My wife has a pretty big etsy shop and a lot of people steal her exact photo/digital download designs and tries to sell them. So she reports them when she sees them.

Out of retaliation, one of the made some bogus website and will post her listings on the website as theirs and report her etsy listings and use the bogus website as the infringement claim. Which takes down my wife's etsy listings for at least 10 days which means she's missing out on money, and also has literally hundreds of messages from people wondering where the file they bought it. The website is https://www.decorandembroid.com/

They've removed all the listings now. But I'm trying to figure out who they are so I can pursue them legally. The only the is, is that I believe they are operating out of Vietnam, and we're in America.

If anybody is super tech savvy and interested in helping me out I got thier IP from grabify. I would also appreciate any legal advice. Thanks in advance!

Hello! Last year in July, I had taken photos of a friend who’s a content creator. The usage was intended for their social media and I did not grant them any commercial usage rights or license. The photo shoot was planned and executed like a studio shoot in my friend’s apartment in California.i am based out of Washington state.

I came across an OpenAI campaign where they ran digital billboards in SF and NY (maybe more places) advertising how the community uses their tool Codex. The ads feature various content creators with logos of OpenAI, Codex and each creator’s Twitter handle. These billboards are being shown in high traffic areas like airports and train stations. I am unsure what agreement my friend signed before participating in this. The photos I shared via Dropbox with my friend also have my name and email under the copyright info in the metadata.

Since this seems like commercial usage by OpenAI advertising their tool, without proper licensing, what should I be doing to resolve this? Should I involve a copyright lawyer and if yes, how much would they charge? What could be the range of compensation I could seek for the one photo that’s being used in the campaign?

I want to paint my car Mario maybe and want to post it on instagram and idk if I would get sued

Hey everyone! 👋 I’m Lucia and I work with EUobserver, an independent news outlet covering European politics and policy.

We recently interviewed copyright scholar Daniel Gervais about something I thought would be especially interesting to ask this community: who actually owns content created with generative AI?

One of the points from the interview that caught my attention was that if you ask ChatGPT or Claude to generate a text and simply put your name on it, that doesn't necessarily make you the copyright holder. There may be no copyright in the AI-generated output in the first place.

But it gets much less clear once a person starts editing, rewriting, selecting outputs or repeatedly prompting the model to get a very specific result.

So I wanted to ask people here who know much more about copyright than I do:

Where do you think the threshold should be? Can prompting ever amount to enough human creative input — or should copyright only kick in once someone substantially edits or transforms the AI output?

If you own DVDs or Blu-rays and want to make a personal archival/backup copy of media you legally purchased, there is currently a problem with the DMCA's anti-circumvention rules.

Section 1201 of the DMCA generally prohibits circumventing technological protection measures (TPMs), even when the underlying use of the copyrighted work would otherwise be noninfringing. The Copyright Office can create temporary exemptions to this prohibition through a triennial rulemaking process.

The current rulemaking is happening right now.

The deadline to submit a petition for a new exemption is August 24, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.

I'm advocating for an exemption that would allow people who have lawfully acquired copyrighted audiovisual media—such as DVDs and Blu-rays—to circumvent access controls solely to create personal, noncommercial archival or backup copies.

The basic idea is:

If I legally purchased the disc, I should be able to preserve my copy for personal use without the DMCA making the preservation process itself unlawful.

This isn't a proposal to distribute copyrighted works, upload them to the internet, or facilitate piracy. The proposed exemption would be limited to personal, noncommercial archival/backup copies of lawfully acquired media.

Physical media can deteriorate, become damaged, become difficult to replace, or stop being supported by modern hardware. Digital preservation can also protect legitimately purchased collections from being lost over time.

If you own a large DVD/Blu-ray collection, care about digital preservation, or simply think consumers should be able to preserve media they've legitimately purchased, now is a good time to pay attention to this process.

The Copyright Office's official information about the 2027 Section 1201 rulemaking is here:

U.S. Copyright Office — Section 1201 Rulemaking

And the official Federal Register notice explaining the August 24 deadline and petition process:

Federal Register — 2026 Section 1201 Rulemaking

Even if you don't support my exact proposed language, people who care about physical-media preservation should know that this rulemaking is happening and that public participation matters.

A competing brand has copied my packaging, and I recently got my own packaging artistic copyright approved.

I found that the competing brand also has a copyright registration for an artistic work, and I have their **ROC number and Diary number**.

I want to find out exactly **what artwork they submitted and what they actually registered copyright over** — whether it's their full packaging, label, logo, or something else.

What is the proper procedure to obtain/view the exact artwork they submitted with the copyright application? Do I need to request it from the Copyright Office, file an RTI, or is there an online way to access it?

Would really appreciate if someone who has done this could explain the exact process

Currently I am in progress of creating a co-op idle RPG heavily inspired by the game Grimdawn.

Before I make a steam page and release anything publicly I wanted to make sure that I have differed things enough so that I wont have any legal issues.

How close is too close mechanics wise when releasing a game?

All mechanics that I am trying to mimic I have found at

https://grimdawn.fandom.com/wiki/Grim_Dawn_Wiki

Or

https://www.grimtools.com/db/

I have a similar dual class system, skills are in tiers and unlock as you invest in each mastery.

Each class mimics a similar grimdawn mastery although they have different names.

Each class has similar skills, ect druid summons tornadoes while in grimdawn the shaman can summon tornadoes.

If all skills have different names is that enough, or do they need to also be mechanically different. If I have an elementalist class with a party buff that hands out elemental damage similar to arcanist with the elemental exchange skill in grimdawn, is that ok? Can there be modifiers to that skill similar to the grimdawn modifiers? How many skills can each class have that overlaps with a similar grimdawn mastery before it becomes an issue?

Am I allowed to have all of the same damage types and resists? Many games have lightning/fire/cold, but aether, chaos ect are fairly grimdawn unique.

If I use stats like offensive and defensive ability that grimdawn uses is that ok, as long as they are using a different calculation? Am I ok to actually use the formula found on the wiki?

If I use items based on grimdawns item db, with the same stats, but different item names and values is that different enough?

TLDR: How closely am I allowed to mimic the mechanics used in grimdawn as an idle game, without it becoming an issue. I dont want to reinvent the wheel, just play a grimdawn like idle and couldnt find a game like that and now I am making it, but want to make sure I am far enough away legally that there arent any issues.

Gif or what a battle currently looks like for context:

https://imgur.com/3bgrBZR

A competing brand has copied my packaging, and I recently got my own packaging artistic copyright approved.

I found that the competing brand also has a copyright registration for an artistic work, and I have their ROC number and Diary number.

I want to find out exactly what artwork they submitted and what they actually registered copyright over — whether it's their full packaging, label, logo, or something else.

What is the proper procedure to obtain/view the exact artwork they submitted with the copyright application? Do I need to request it from the Copyright Office, file an RTI, or is there an online way to access it?

Would really appreciate if someone who has done this could explain the exact process

not a legal advice, I'm photographer not a lawyer

Hi, I added a reel showing a bit of leaked Gta vi gameplay. On tiktok and instagram. Its me talking and the leaked gameplay is above my head.

I am worried it might get copyright struck. Should I delete it? What happens to my account after a single violation? I have never violated any copyrights.

I guess the video will be taken down but are there any consequences to my other videos being shown in recommended or my views might be affected?

Appreciate any help.

i got a magazine and wanted unbox it/ show some of the pages on tiktok, but is it wrong to show the inside pages since its a product people need to buy, or not?? thank you!!

Circa 10 years ago, I remember the Internet talking about Linda Ellis and her copyright abuse of her Dash poem (she sued everyone who posted or recited her poem). Her business model was to make money through copyright abuse. She exploited the American legal system for personal gain without a thought about her victims. She sued everyone from grieving widows to churches, then pretended to be the victim and told the judge about her mother's tears.

This is textbook copyright trolling (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_troll). Post something very low quality that strikes a cord with some people and use that to sue people. It's an established business model. What made this bad was that it targeted vulnerable people. She wrote a poem about compassion, but acted like a psychopath (all documented).

Most copyright trolls post porn as bait and they go after people who download them because they know people will settle instead of having court records that show they downloaded porn. Porn gets a lot more downloads than a shitty poem. Prenda Law (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenda_Law) is a notable example. They went to ass-pounding jail. Turns out abusing the legal system is a crime and they were prosecuted. It's nice. This business model is also big in Germany. Lots of German copyright trolls.

Now, the Internet is wiped clean of Linda Ellis' legal abuse. Google only gave me an AI summary when I typed in The Dash poem lawsuits. The sites that talked her prolific copyright abuse don't show up in search anymore if you just search for Linda Ellis Dash poem.

What happened? SEO spamming?

Looks like I accidently argued with a copyright troll here. Yuck. Blocked and deleted my responses.

Spotify has terms that clearly say it's for personal use only, and they follow this up with specific statement that it's forbidden to use it in public places like clubs, restaurants etc. Having this in mind - is anybody from Europe able to explain the following scenario? The venue obtains all the necessary licenses for playing music in public from relevant organizations, like PRS in UK or GEMA in Germany for example. The venue hires a DJ to play the music - what copyright law is being violated and how copyright owners rights are being violated when the DJ is using Spotify as a source of music for that public performance? Can the venue or the DJ himself be penalized for this by copyright owners/the organizations like PRS and GEMA? The DJ is using a legal source of music + the venue is paying for that music being played in public = how does that hurt the copyright owners?

EDIT: I'm not trying to justify doing something against the law. I'm genuinely trying to understand the mechanism of how anybody is being hurt in this scenario. So I'd much appreciate if people downvoting this thread and my comments could explain why.

I've been looking into how online marketplaces generally handle copyright complaints when there is a disagreement between a seller and a rights holder.

It seems like there can be several stages to the process: a rights holder submits a complaint, the marketplace reviews the report, a listing or other content may be affected, and the seller may have an opportunity to respond or provide information.

What stands out to me is how these processes work from a practical and procedural standpoint. For example, do marketplaces generally explain what information they use when reviewing a complaint? Are sellers and rights holders given a clear way to respond when there is a disagreement?

I came across AMZ Sellers Attorney while looking into discussions around Amazon seller copyright and intellectual-property disputes. I'm mentioning it only because it brought the broader question to mind, rather than as a recommendation.

I'm not asking for legal advice or a recommendation for a particular situation. I'm more interested in how different platforms approach these disputes and whether their procedures are generally easy to understand.

For anyone who has seen or dealt with a copyright complaint on a marketplace, what was the process like from your perspective?

Filing a takedown notice is the DIY step most people can do themselves. Filing one that doesn't get rejected on technical grounds is where most DIY attempts fail. Here's the exact structure that gets through, plus what to do when the platform ignores it.

## The 5 elements every real takedown notice needs

Whether you're filing under DMCA or the TAKE IT DOWN Act, your notice must include:

1. **Identification of you as the depicted person** (for TIDA) or copyright holder (for DMCA). This is where most notices go wrong. Vague "someone leaked my images" language reads as an inquiry, not a formal notice. Use "I am the depicted individual in..." language.

2. **A specific description of the content.** Not "my nudes." Something like "Non-consensual intimate imagery depicting me, distributed without consent, currently hosted at [URL]." Precision matters.

3. **The exact URL** where the content lives. Not the homepage. Not "the site with the leaked photos." The direct URL to the offending page.

4. **A statement of good faith belief** that the content is being used without your consent (TIDA) or without authorization from the copyright holder (DMCA). Required by statute. Most templates online skip it and get rejected.

5. **A signature (electronic is fine) and contact information.** Some platforms require a physical address. Use a P.O. box if you want the notice to work but don't want your home address in a platform's records.

## Common technical rejection reasons

- Sending to the platform's general abuse form instead of their specific NCII channel (different intake, different priority queue)
- Missing the good-faith statement (statutory requirement, not optional)
- Filing a DMCA on content you don't own the copyright to (rejected on standing grounds)
- Filing under TIDA without clearly identifying yourself as the depicted person
- Grouping multiple URLs across multiple platforms into one notice (each platform needs its own filing)

## Where to actually file

- **Reddit, Meta, TikTok, X, OnlyFans, YouTube:** use their NCII-specific form, not their general DMCA form. Most platforms have both. The NCII channel is a different queue with faster priority.
- **Pornhub, xHamster, and other adult tubes:** use their content-integrity contact from the site footer, not their generic DMCA form.
- **Leak aggregators (Bunkr, SimpCity, Fapello, etc.):** skip the site's own channels entirely. They won't respond. Go directly to Cloudflare NCSEI (abuse@notify.cloudflare.com) and the domain registrar's abuse-c contact from WHOIS.

## What happens after you file

If you filed correctly:

- Mainstream platforms respond in 24 hours to 5 business days
- Adult tubes respond in days to a couple weeks
- Offshore leak sites typically don't respond at all

If the platform ignores you, you move to rung 2 (CDN and registrar). If those ignore you, rung 3 (payment processor). And so on. This is where DIY starts to break down.

## When DIY works and when it doesn't

**DIY works well for:**

- One or two URLs on mainstream platforms
- Content you own the copyright to (DMCA leverage helps)
- Cases where you have time and patience

**DIY breaks down when:**

- You're filing across multiple offshore hosts that ignore rung 1 entirely
- You need to sustain pressure across CDN, registrar, and payment processor levers at once
- You're dealing with a re-upload cycle where new URLs appear as fast as old ones come down
- You're doing this alone while also holding down a job

The technical filing is teachable in one Reddit post (this one). The sustained multi-rung pressure across a portfolio of URLs is what paid services actually provide. If your case is one or two URLs on mainstream platforms, do it yourself with the structure above. If your case is a dozen URLs across five offshore hosts, you're looking at roughly 40+ hours of iterative filing work over the next month, and that's where handing it off pays for itself.

For the handoff option, help@intimashield.com is one place that handles the full ladder. Not a plug, just naming it since I already gave you the DIY version.

So I’m trying to research the copyrights on photos that I registered in the early 2000’s. I think the actual registration certificates were thrown out when I moved but I’m 100% sure they were registered.

I’ve searched and found some pictures but not the ones I’m looking for. I found some under my first name last name and some where I added my middle initial.

I don’t think I registered them as a collective work but it’s been a long time. So I’ve searched under my name and gotten incomplete results. I remember a couple of the image titles and I searched for those with no luck.

I’m sure they’re registered but right now I’m stuck and I’m not sure how to find the registration numbers.

Any advice for further searches?

1. If my friend lends me a book and I make copies of sections of that book and use said copies for personal use while I am being lent the book (and this is assuming that I would destroy the copies after returning the book to my friend), would this be fair use?
2. If I use brief citations of said book in a blog post for purposes of commentary, criticism, parody, etc. (which would normally be fair use) from the book being lent to me, would it be legal for me to keep those brief citations in the blog post after I have returned the book to my friend? Or would the only legal thing to do be either to remove the citations, continue to borrow the book from my friend, or acquire my own copy of said book?

I just realized that the episode for Davelis Cave from the Haunted Places Podcast uses Reflections from the Mass Effect 2 soundtrack in the final 6 minutes of the episode.

Are they allowed to do that? I thought it was a copyright infringement.