[Alpha]

I see it as well, very nice.

[Coda]

Hehe, if you didn't know that, it's okay -- that's sort of the intent. There's nothing wrong with taking inspiration from pop culture references as long as we don't give people the impression that we're actually sponsored by or affiliated with the owner of the material.

For those of you who are interested in the legal theories involved:

The legal risk we need to be careful of concerns trademark. Trademark law covers symbols (such as names or logos or characters) that are used to identify a company and its products. The essence of the law is that if a symbol you're using would cause "likelihood of confusion" -- that is, if people who see your symbol would reasonably think that it means you're associated with someone else that you're not associated with -- then you can't use it because that would be misrepresentation. If you make profit on something BECAUSE people think you're associated with the trademark, then the owner of the trademark can sue for damages, but even without money involved you can be prohibited from using the mark.

Copyright actually isn't an issue because you can't copyright ideas, only tangibles like actual artwork or text. The idea of "a black dragon with no teeth" isn't copyrightable and you could use that. Strictly speaking you could even write another story that follows the general plot of "How To Train Your Dragon" without breaking any laws even without having to invoke Fair Use; you'd be considered a talentless hack and a ripoff, but not a criminal. (I've read Back to the Future ripoffs before.) Similarly, many cases of "art theft" where someone copies a design or a pose are actually not technically a crime, although anything that involves an ACTUAL copy, such as tracing, is a violation unless a Fair Use defense can be invoked. That said, we try not to make items that people would think are "stolen" because it just looks bad for us.

(Spoilered out because (1) I'm not a lawyer so my statement shouldn't be considered legal advice, and (2) it's not actually important to anything so I don't want to make it seem like it's something that needs to be read for any reason other than "I'm curious what Coda's saying about this!")

[Demonskid]

your spoil tags didn't work =p


edit - now they do xp

[Coda]

Yes yes, I know, I also double-posted somehow. ^^; I got it all fixed.

[Echo-chan713]

must of been the long loading time

[Demonskid]

xD I didn't see the double post

[Espy]

I'm just gonna say that certain sites have pissed me off with their copying. And other certain sites look like Trisphee (or other avi sites >.>) -ripoffs half the time.

[Coda]

Well sure, like I said, just because it's not technically illegal doesn't mean it doesn't look bad. :P That's why we try to avoid it.

[Echo-chan713]

Like the DIs and MIs?

[Coda]

Yup, we try our hardest to make sure our items are unique and couldn't be considered a copy off of anyone else's -- to the point that we actually keep an eye on other site's DIs to try to make sure we don't accidentally come up with the same thing at the same time.

[Echo-chan713]

Has there been where an avi site took your clothing styles either on purpose or by mistake?

[Coda]

We've had a couple times where our items have ended up close enough that people asked questions both directions, but I don't know if there's been anything that's obviously a copy.

[Echo-chan713]

ah I understand, is this the first avi site that has a grounded story/plot?

[Coda]

Oh certainly not the first but we do like to think we're a little more story-oriented than most.

[Echo-chan713]

like the events?

[Coda]

Yes, exactly. I think we put a lot more story out there for events than other sites. For a lot of sites, events are just an excuse for a site theme or new items. For Trisphee, we try to make each one interesting on its own.