[ARCHIVED] scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

Summary:

Yet another wannabe.

scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

Aelanna 05 Sep 2012 15:13

So, Rhett Roget discovered this little gem on Zazzle this morning. Aside from the wrong logo:

1. This is obviously a for-profit venture as many of these items have been marked up for that purpose.
2. There is no Creative Commons attribution on any of these items.
3. Between the account name "scp_foundation" and the fact that they have our website URL on every product without explaining why, this would imply that this is somehow "official" when it clearly isn't.

I have taken the liberty of sending an email to Zazzle's content violation email. Hopefully they'll take a license violation issue seriously (as I would hope that any publishing/merchandise site would), but if they don't play nice or don't respond, we may have to pressure them.

Last edited on 05 Sep 2012 19:40 by Aelanna Show more

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

Aelanna 05 Sep 2012 15:15

This is a copy of the email I sent to content underscore review at zazzle dot com:

To whom it may concern:

I am a staff member at the SCP Foundation community at http://scp-wiki.net. We recently came across the store hosted at http://www.zazzle.com/gifts?ch=scp_foundation which not only is violating our Creative Commons content license by not attributing our community and our specific authors as the original creators of the material they are using, but they are using our website URL in the products, which would appear to present themselves as being "official".

They also aren't even using the right logo, but that's just a silly nitpick. :)

We would appreciate if this content could be removed until such time that they adhere to the terms of the Creative Commons license.

Thank you in advance,
Aelanna Cessara a.k.a. "Dr. Mackenzie"
Senior Staff Member, SCP Foundation
http://scp-wiki.net

Last edited on 05 Sep 2012 15:16 by Aelanna Show more

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

DrEverettMann 05 Sep 2012 21:16

Good work, Mack.

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

Sorts 05 Sep 2012 18:22

Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick, ninety bucks for a "messenger bad"

They cannot be shut down hard enough

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

Aelanna 05 Sep 2012 19:37

Just got a response via email:

Hello Aelanna,

Thank you for bringing these products to our attention.

As you may already know, Zazzle takes all claims of infringement very seriously. We are currently researching your claim and have contacted the Seller as well with the hopes of resolving this matter amicably.

In the event that the Seller has any inquiries regarding your copyright claim, may we provide your contact information directly?

Thanks in advance for your patience and cooperation in this matter. We will be sure to update you on any new developments.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us.

---

Best Regards,

Elisabeth
Content Management Team

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

Aelanna 05 Sep 2012 19:46

Elisabeth:

Yes, I can be contacted either through email at this address, or via either the SCP Foundation website or IRC channel.

Please let me know if there's anything else we need to do.

Thanks again,
Aelanna Cessara

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

Dexanote 05 Sep 2012 19:41

They're using my headcanon's Chaos Insurgency logo.

… Wow. Just…

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

RhettSarlin 06 Sep 2012 05:32

it's the logo being used for Containment Breach, which undoubtedly is what inspired the person to make that store.

http://www.poeregalis.com/containmentbreach/images/pic1.jpg

and they just happen to misunderstand and think that that's the correct logo for the foundation. it makes sense as a logo to represent containment breaches. it does not make sense for the foundation as a whole.

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

thedeadlymoose 05 Sep 2012 22:08

Holy shit. :/

Well, we all knew it was gonna happen, but I didn't expect it to be so… egregious. (Holy crap that markup.) At least their dickishness in totally ignoring CC requirements means we can get them removed this time.

Definitely approve of the action being taken so far.

Though it does bring up the whole thing of 'this is something we need to be doing, though hopefully not in such a shittastic manner'. It's my least favorite subject and that probably goes for the rest of you too. But since we're on the topic… Any word? Worth a new topic?

EDIT: Bland tells me that most of the designs aren't that marked up, FWIW. Apparently I just don't spend much time on zazzle or cafepress, and a $90 tote "bad" is standard? IDK, I guess.

EDITx2: Oh man, it seems that standard issue stuff on zazzle/cafepress really is that expensive. We should still come down on this, though. I asked Bland to forward his PMs to some people - it seems that what he knows may be helpful, since I'm not sure that any of us actually know what's going on here.

Last edited on 06 Sep 2012 01:25 by thedeadlymoose Show more

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

RhettSarlin 06 Sep 2012 01:27

The tshirts are marked up $30, but everything else is reasonable markup…just unreasonable base prices :P

We thought in chat that we should assign someone specific on staff to handle these kinds of interactions. I recommend that if we do then to have that person get as knowledgeable on the subject of CC as they can, so that they don't make fallacious infringement claims, but also so they have a clear understanding of genuine infringement and what steps we can and should take against it.

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

AdminBright 06 Sep 2012 05:22

I agree we need someone on this… And while i appreciate Mac jumping on this, I think we need someone who doesn't already have a dozen plates spinning in the air.

---

Admin, SCP Wiki

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

thedeadlymoose 06 Sep 2012 06:07

I agree, can't ask Mack to take care of merch for us on TOP of the godawful amount of stuff she already does :/

(Though, she is doing a fine job with this situation as it stands.)

Do we know anyone who can be put on this? If not a member of staff, then someone else in the community who knows something about merchandising? So far my list is only two people long. Not counting Mackenzie, it's one person long: Bland. And I don't know how much of

One of us could also volunteer to try and learn as much as possible about this, I suppose. Unfortunately, I can't volunteer, because the amount of time I have for the wiki is already filled up by other stuff, or I would have already. Anyone else? :/

Last edited on 06 Sep 2012 06:07 by thedeadlymoose Show more

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

Sorts 06 Sep 2012 08:48

I will volunteer, although I can't police this kind of thing… but I can be the go to guy for when people spot this stuff so that I can send out requests and be the contact person.

Here's what I know from handling takedown requests in my day job. We try to get in touch with our client who is being accused of infringing copyright to let them know about the complaint before taking anything down, just like Zazzle is doing here.

If the other person makes a counter-claim that says they are willing to swear on penalty of perjury before a court that they own the rights, we drop the matter and tell both sides to take it to a judge. If they don't answer or basically admit to not knowing better we do anything from removing the offending listings or just nuking their account depending on how obvious the infringement is.

Of course this is dealing with plain ol' copyright, not creative commons. Ideally someone who's taken the time to put out merchandise will take the easy route of proper attribution but there's still a chance that someone might just go full dickhead and falsely claim that they own the rights or got permission.

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

RhettSarlin 06 Sep 2012 13:43

from what i have seen, it IS just plain ol' copyright until and unless the people provide attribution and licensing. in fact, it might not be a bad idea to pursue things in that way instead of even bringing up CC…it's their responsibility to know the requirements of the license theyre supposed to be creating their materials under, not yours to inform them when they fail to.

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

EchoFourDelta 07 Sep 2012 03:03

The zazzle thing belongs to a user called Fantem on the wiki; he admitted it in a discussion thread, found here:

http://www.scp-wiki.net/forum/t-126550/scp-000-j#post-1510974

---

Military Consultant, SCP Wiki

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

tunedtoadeadchannel 07 Sep 2012 06:09

More importantly, he apologized and said he'd remove the listings.

I feel like someone should send him a followup PM in a couple days to make sure they're taken down, though, just in case.

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

Sorts 07 Sep 2012 18:26

Yeah. I'll check on it Monday and follow up with him.

edit: The listing is gone but he linked to another one, so I'll get on that.

Last edited on 07 Sep 2012 18:30 by Sorts Show more

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

Sorts 07 Sep 2012 18:47

Just sent this out to Zazzle:

To the Content Management Team,

I am a moderator for the SCP Foundation community at http://scp-wiki.net, one of our other staffers recently contacted you about a listing that was violating our Creative Commons content license and that matter's already been handled, we appreciate your assistance there. Another listing has been brought to our attention at:

http://www.zazzle.com/scp_t_shirt-235885112946190414

This listing is also violating our Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License by failing to provide proper attribution back to our community and failing to inherit the same Share Alike license in their use of our logo and slogan.

We would appreciate it if you would also remove this content, and thank you for your attention to this matter.

If the seller has any questions you may provide them with my contact information.

-Josh Sortelli, aka "Sorts"
Moderator, SCP Foundation
http://scp-wiki.net

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

tunedtoadeadchannel 08 Sep 2012 05:10

Woah, wait, sortelli is your actual name? Neato.

Incidentally, I propose that

This listing is in violation of our Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License by failing to provide proper attribution back to our community and failing to inherit the same Share Alike license in their use of our logo and slogan.

We would appreciate it if you would also remove this content, and thank you for your attention to this matter.

Be canonized as a standard mod/admin response to listings of this sort, because it's delightfully to the point.

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

Sorts 08 Sep 2012 23:18

It's a pretty unique family name, I think the original name got changed at Ellis Island. If you ever meet another Sortelli it's one of my kin or me.

Zazzle's responded but nothing from the person who has the listing yet.

Re: scp_foundation on Zazzle.com

Sorts 16 Sep 2012 09:49

I was about to follow up with Zazzle but the listing appears to be gone now! So… case closed. /rubberstamp