Konami Pulls Copyright Claim on Metal Gear Solid V Fan Art

[Remilia Scarlet]

Once again, Konami has proven themselves to be the kings of Dickheads when it comes to trolling people. Yesterday, Konami copyright claimed a piece of gorgeous Metal Gear Solid V fan art on Twitter after Hideo Kojima eagerly shared the artwork on his Twitter page. The image is no longer available to view as a result. The truly awful thing? The image was not monetized and the artist was not profiting at all from it. Konami must really hate publicity for their game. This bullshit needs to stop. Companies cannot treat their fans like this and expect to stay successful. Spread the word about this. Be proactive. Raise awareness for this kind of pinheaded egotistical behavior and make these companies realize that we're just trying to help them get publicity for their products. What is so wrong about a fan showcasing their art for a series they love? What is Konami so afraid of?

 

Go to hell Konami.

 

#fucKonami

 

Here is AlphaOmegaSin on the incident. Language warning.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5QXpbCkL3I

Edited September 4, 2015 by AnimeDreama

[XIII-Order-Xion]

Same has happened alot with the MLP fan work community and Hasbro- Jan Animations got shut down because of something similar.- wanted to share a vid just couldn't find it lol- But I agree they shouldn't take down fan art for no reason, but under law if they show favoritism to one brand of art they might get corrnered into allowing other's to use their license without permission, be it fan art or works.- they have to cover their bases.

 

Fyi sounds like they are just being spiteful though.

 

If they wish to share the fan art though, just a ever so slight change to something within it would negate any copyright laws.- be it a change in art style, a few character tweaks etc.

 

Not the vid I wanted, but this vid does explain a bit about fair use laws and copyrights- I think with the fan art a simple dispute with Konami might clear things up and get that art back soon., as you stated fan art is not profiting off anything nor is it slandering the game so in all makes konami look bad.

 

https://youtu.be/8KOkDxPkdZI

Edited September 4, 2015 by Dashie

[BlindMango]

Such a hilarious hashtag, thank you Jim Sterling (son)

[Dragon-Archon]

I've never heard about something like this happening before and it's ridiculous to say the least. You'd think a company would appreciate other people promoting their game for free.

[PREDRAG-K]

I already mentioned in your status, but the only way to make them care is to stop giving them money. They don't care. They don't care if everyone on the internet hates them. Because half of those people went out and bought MGSV new, making Konami millions of dollars.

All you have to do is vote with your wallet. Most people can't do that. They'd rather play a game on release day, than stand up against bullshit companies like this. If you have to play MGSV, buy it used. Or hell, even pirate it. Don't give Konami your money. Because, now, they are too busy counting their millions to care about some complaints on Twitter.

You can say all you want online, none of it matters. You think Microsoft went back on it's always online DRM stuff because they "listened to feedback" or "care about the consumer"? Fuck no. They went back on it because people voted with their wallets. The PS4 was destroying the Xbone and Microsoft realised they fucked up. At the end of the day, gaming is a business. All these companies hear, is money.

[StrickenBiged]

 All these companies hear, is money.

 

To a degree, but not always. EA got bent out of shape about continually winning the "Worst company in America" award, even though it probably wasn't hurting their bottom dollar as they pumped out the various EA Sports titles, ME3, etc etc. 

 

But Konami are being ridiculous shitebags about this release. Like Jim Sterling and the gang said on the Podquisition more than once, only they could take the launch of the most anticipated and possibly best game of 2015 and make the conversation as much about how shit they are as it is about the game. 

 

Did you guys 'n' gals hear that the physical PC release only contains an 8MB file, which connects to Steam and downloads MGSV from there? So if you deliberately bought physical because your internet stinks or is capped, well you're shit out of luck. They are so contemptuous of their customers it's unreal. 

 

#FucKonami

[madbuk]

I've never heard about something like this happening before and it's ridiculous to say the least. You'd think a company would appreciate other people promoting their game for free.

Activision did the same thing when somebody used Crash for a fan-art contest that Naughty Dog held.

[DocVoltacon]

Man what wrong with companies this day back then their dont even care with money their only care their fans now their bunch of ultimate Idiot dunchbag greedy asswip dipshiet asshole thank god not all the companies are like Konami and others I wonder how much year Konami will stand before their going to bankrupt after MGS V cause one thing I sure is there no longer are going to make any MGS game after Kojima left the compani my bet is 5 years nothing less

Edited September 4, 2015 by DocVoltacon

[Dr_Mayus]

To play the devil's advocate here, it is more about setting a precedent as oppose to anything else. Should companies learn to adapt to the new world (i.e. the Internet) of course, but that doesn't mean they have to.

 

For every good piece of art, fansub (the guys over at Starman.net for example), romhack or song there is about 10 billion pieces of shit out there that could hurt the image of the company. Maybe if everyone wasn't so excited to put their shitty Sonic Music Video on youtube and actually worked a little at it companies wouldn't be so afraid of their patented images being used.

 

It is great that you are a fan, but it isn't your work. You shouldn't be allowed to profit off of someone's creation as it isn't yours to do so.

 

Now once again, I think there are people out there that actually put a lot of time and effort into their art (whatever the medium might be) but they are the exception not the rule and it is a shame that the multitude of amateurs have ruined what could have been a cohesive union between Companies and Fans.

 

So in the end, if you don't like Konami's practices...don't buy their games but I see a lot of bitching on the Internet about Konami right now but everyone still rushed out to buy Metal Gear...so you can't really complain.

[damon8r351]

If it's Rule #34 fan art involving Quiet, I may bust a kidney from laughing so hard.

 

If I could make a purchase of MGS5 that would result in Konami receiving only a handwritten note from me reading "Eat a dick", or maybe a handcrafted drawing of a stiff middle finger, I would be all over it.

[StrickenBiged]

To play the devil's advocate here, it is more about setting a precedent as oppose to anything else. Should companies learn to adapt to the new world (i.e. the Internet) of course, but that doesn't mean they have to.

 

For every good piece of art, fansub (the guys over at Starman.net for example), romhack or song there is about 10 billion pieces of shit out there that could hurt the image of the company. Maybe if everyone wasn't so excited to put their shitty Sonic Music Video on youtube and actually worked a little at it companies wouldn't be so afraid of their patented images being used.

 

It is great that you are a fan, but it isn't your work. You shouldn't be allowed to profit off of someone's creation as it isn't yours to do so.

 

Now once again, I think there are people out there that actually put a lot of time and effort into their art (whatever the medium might be) but they are the exception not the rule and it is a shame that the multitude of amateurs have ruined what could have been a cohesive union between Companies and Fans.

 

So in the end, if you don't like Konami's practices...don't buy their games but I see a lot of bitching on the Internet about Konami right now but everyone still rushed out to buy Metal Gear...so you can't really complain.

 

It may depend on the jurisdiction, but as long as it isn't for commercial use (e.g. drawing a character and slapping it onto a lunch-box or something) or passing-off, then the original fan art should be protected under "fair use" type exceptions. There was no suggestion that the artist used the image for any kind of profit or commercial use in this case.

 

With this in mind, it doesn't matter what Konami thinks about the image, good or bad, or what it will do to their brand. They don't have a right to do this.

 

Hopefully, the artist will challenge it, but social media seems to be bending over for corporates on issues like this, probably because they don't want to be sued for hosting an image, video, whatever, that could, even just maybe, breach copyright. 

 

And, again, #FucKonami

 

Edit: Oh, and you can't patent an image or a creative work, just inventions.

Edited September 4, 2015 by StrickenBiged

[Happy]

If it's Rule #34 fan art involving Quiet, I may bust a kidney from laughing so hard.

Oh please this. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised, sharing stuff like that seems like something Kojima would do.

[Remilia Scarlet]

Is there another place to see this infamous fan art, maybe saved by someone else?

As far as I know, no. I searched everywhere for it but every website that had hosted the image has it blocked.

Imagine if it's all a publicity stunt for MGS5. I mean, c'mon, nobody ever seen the original image.

Considering Konami has a history of pulling bullshit like this I doubt it.

Oh please this. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised, sharing stuff like that seems like something Kojima would do.

See, unlike Konami, Kojima has a great sense of humor. Konami didn't care about the image until Kojima shared it, and all of a sudden it's open season on the fanart.

[Dr_Mayus]

It may depend on the jurisdiction, but as long as it isn't for commercial use (e.g. drawing a character and slapping it onto a lunch-box or something) or passing-off, then the original fan art should be protected under "fair use" type exceptions. There was no suggestion that the artist used the image for any kind of profit or commercial use in this case.

 

With this in mind, it doesn't matter what Konami thinks about the image, good or bad, or what it will do to their brand. They don't have a right to do this.

 

Hopefully, the artist will challenge it, but social media seems to be bending over for corporates on issues like this, probably because they don't want to be sued for hosting an image, video, whatever, that could, even just maybe, breach copyright. 

 

And, again, #FucKonami

 

Edit: Oh, and you can't patent an image or a creative work, just inventions.

Well if it is posted on a site that makes ad revenue from clicks then that argument can be made that someone is profiting off of it. Also Patent was the wrong word, I meant copyright.

[Remilia Scarlet]

I already mentioned in your status, but the only way to make them care is to stop giving them money. They don't care. They don't care if everyone on the internet hates them. Because half of those people went out and bought MGSV new, making Konami millions of dollars.

All you have to do is vote with your wallet. Most people can't do that. They'd rather play a game on release day, than stand up against bullshit companies like this. If you have to play MGSV, buy it used. Or hell, even pirate it. Don't give Konami your money. Because, now, they are too busy counting their millions to care about some complaints on Twitter.

You can say all you want online, none of it matters. You think Microsoft went back on it's always online DRM stuff because they "listened to feedback" or "care about the consumer"? Fuck no. They went back on it because people voted with their wallets. The PS4 was destroying the Xbone and Microsoft realised they fucked up. At the end of the day, gaming is a business. All these companies hear, is money.

Which is why I'm urging people to be proactive about this. I'm not buying MGSV now. This has got to stop. I am actually going to raise awareness for this kind of garbage at my university (we have a LOT of gamers).

[StrickenBiged]

Well if it is posted on a site that makes ad revenue from clicks then that argument can be made that someone is profiting off of it. Also Patent was the wrong word, I meant copyright.

 

Do you get ad revenue on Twitter? Because that's the case we're discussing here. 

 

Even on a site like YT, the copyright holders have a case if there has been no "fair use" transformative work put in to the video. But if there has been, say, critique, review, parody, etc of the copyrighted marks, images, etc, then they've got no case.

 

I was being pedantic calling you out on "patent". Forgive a lawyer his ticks, won't you?

[Dr_Mayus]

Do you get ad revenue on Twitter? Because that's the case we're discussing here. 

 

Even on a site like YT, the copyright holders have a case if there has been no "fair use" transformative work put in to the video. But if there has been, say, critique, review, parody, etc of the copyrighted marks, images, etc, then they've got no case.

 

I was being pedantic calling you out on "patent". Forgive a lawyer his ticks, won't you?

Actually a lot of Youtubers are still getting copyright slams because a piece of music is used in their review. I know Supergreatfriend has lost the monetization rights to a lot of his work because music from a game can be heard and thus it is copyright.

[Ichiban-Hybrid]

Thats just great. As if damaging their company wasnt enough. Well now im gonna buy their games second handed so they dont earn a single penny from me. #FuckKonami

[PleaseHoldOn]

Normally I would say "eh, what the hell, it's fan art, it probably sucked anyways, twitters stupid, move on people."

 

But Konami's ass-hattery seems directly related to why I'm not getting Silent Hills after the profound effect on my life that P.T. had.  So fuck 'em.  If fan art censorship is the thing that finally does them in, take this thing as far as you need to.  Power to the people.  Rah rah.

Edited September 4, 2015 by PleaseHoldOn

[StrickenBiged]

Actually a lot of Youtubers are still getting copyright slams because a piece of music is used in their review. I know Supergreatfriend has lost the monetization rights to a lot of his work because music from a game can be heard and thus it is copyright.

 

I don't know the YouTuber. What's the context of the music being there? 

 

If it was background noise while he critiques/reviews the game in question, then I'd have said it's probably fair use. If it's just background music playing while he talks about unrelated things, then it's probably a breach of copyright. 

 

As an aside, and returning to your "crappy Sonic Songs" point in your first post - song covers or remixes should be ok under fair use. Just uploading a Sonic track would be a breach. Edit: to clarify - the rights holder owns the precise song they created. A cover is a new creation (in the UK at least) albeit using an existing music score. Copying the sheet music to PDF would be a breach of copyright with respect to the musical arrangement, but transposing the arrangement from the track back to sheet music would not be. It's a bit complicated, but basically copyright in a thing exists in the actual thing being subjected to copying, if that makes sense. A track is not the same thing as the sheet music which tells you how to create the song, just like the software which produces a visual image is not the same thing as the visual image produced. 

 

What we really need is a YouTuber to go to court over this sort of thing, so a precedent can be set. At the moment, both YT creators and alleged copyright holders are in the "wild west", due to most copyright laws being drafted a few decades ago.

Edited September 4, 2015 by StrickenBiged

[TheYuriG]

If people actually cared about boycotting companies with bad reputation, EA would have gone bankrupt by now, but guess what? Proections says that the new NFS title will be the most sold on pre-orders than any other previous game. Same with Ubisoft, people complain, cry and curse all over the AC series milking, yet buy their new early titles on release. Batman AK is another example, people complained a shitload about day1 dlc, yet bought the game on release.

 

It's nice to make a post about this and such, but frankly, it doesn't work. People can't vote with their wallets, therefore nothing will change.

Edited September 4, 2015 by TheYuriG

[Beyondthegrave07]

It's not right to boycott MGSV because Konami is a giant turd sandwich of a company.

I look at this game as a final gift from Kojima and will probably get it once I buy a PS4.

[StrickenBiged]

If people actually cared about boycotting companies with bad reputation, EA would have gone bankrupt by now, but guess what? Proections says that the new NFS title will be the most sold on pre-orders than any other previous game. Same with Ubisoft, people complain, cry and curse all over the AC series milking, yet buy their new early titles on release. Batman AK is another example, people complained a shitload about day1 dlc, yet bought the game on release.

 

It's nice to make a post about this and such, but frankly, it doesn't work. People can't vote with their wallets, therefore nothing will change.

 

Actually, I'd say the examples you gave prove that people are voting with their wallets. And that most people are either ignorant of the arguments some gamers make against buying a particular game and/or don't care enough and buy the game anyway.

[TheYuriG]

Actually, I'd say the examples you gave prove that people are voting with their wallets. And that most people are either ignorant of the arguments some gamers make against buying a particular game and/or don't care enough and buy the game anyway.

Like biggest proection of pre-sales for the new NFS game is a proof that people is voting with their wallets? Yes, they are. They are supporting it.

I, per example, think that is quite shitty what Bungie is doing with Destiny, selling an incomplete game for 60 and then selling overpriced DLC to complete the game. What I did? Asked a friend for a copy of the game of his, then I had to return it and intend to buy a second hand copy. Didn't buy DLC either, my friend bought it and I'm gladly avoiding using it when I use his PS4.

[Remilia Scarlet]

It's not right to boycott MGSV because Konami is a giant turd sandwich of a company.

I look at this game as a final gift from Kojima and will probably get it once I buy a PS4.

Except that Kojima is not with Konami anymore, so the proceeds don't benefit him at all. It's all going in the Konami executives' pockets. If I buy this game, I'm doing so second hand, NOT new. Konami doesn't deserve a single penny.