Get ready, it’s time to rant!
Last month (have I been starting ALL of my blogs this way??) Peter Paul Rubens was the artist I chose to write about. For the project I created a color set based on the palette he would have used in his paintings. I uploaded the color set to Clip Studio Assets because I want you all to be able to have fun with it too! I didn’t get a screenshot of the post, but here’s the text:
Title: Rubens Palette
Description: Colors based on the paints Peter Paul Rubens actually used. Enjoy!
I added an image with swatches and color names and that was that, right? NOPE! A couple days later, Celsys (the company behind Clip Studio) yanked it for “possible copyright infringement.”
The first question I had was:
What about publicly researchable color hex values for an artist that’s been dead for hundreds of years is COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT??
I emailed support right away asking why and they quickly replied – with my own text as the explanation:
“We have received many reports from several users…” What? Who? It was downloaded maybe 10 times! This email clarified nothing! So I asked what specifically violated their policies:
And the reply:
There it is! My post was deleted for using a name. A wildly famous historical artist’s name, but that really was the only reason. There wasn’t anything copyrighted in there.
Why Are These Policies So Broad?
Celsys, like so many other companies and service providers, have wildly overbroad language in their policies and guidelines. I get it, they need to cover their butts and using “catch-all” language allows them to quickly moderate blatant copyright infringement. This includes no names. At all, apparently.
This is why you can scroll through all asset posts and see content that is obviously from major manga and anime franchises (*cough cough* NARUTO *cough cough* SAILOR MOON *cough cough**), but because it’s called “ninja” or “sailor” no one cares. Now are all of these thing necessarily copyright infringement? Not at all, but the point is that Celsys doesn’t seem to care as long as you don’t call the thing what it is.
Did I Repost?
The color set is back up, but now it’s called “Baroque Palette”. Same text as before, but it says Baroque instead of Rubens. So far it hasn’t been taken down, so I guess it’s fine now! I’ll be using the same palette for the Artemisia Gentileschi project (I know, the month is almost up and it’s not done yet – ACK!), so stayed tuned for some dramatic Sesame Street lighting!
The color sets are fun to put together and I like the idea of putting something sorta educational up for others to use. If you have an idea for one, let me know and I’ll post it to Clip Studio Assets! Just no names…*wink wink*