READ: Artwork Copyright Laws and Game Policy.

Due to players selling or giving away non original works as their own originals, we felt it needed to post a clearer idea of the rules and what you're facing if you get caught doing this.<br><br>Stolen art, traced art, art that has been copied and any art that violates copyright in anyway will result in a minimum of 24 hour suspension from the forums. This amount of time increases depending on the severity and amount of stolen works and if caught a second time, forum account will be suspended indefinitely. This includes free art and lineart. Just because you give it away, doesn't make it legal either.<br><br>Things that will get your thread locked, moved and account suspended:<br><br>Taking someone elses completed art, leaving or removing the signature / copyright.<br>Taking someone elses lineart, whether it be from a free line art site or a non use lineart and removing the sig / copyright and trying to sell it.<br>Attempting to sell / give away layouts from free sites, claiming it as your own.<br>Tracing someone elses work or photos.<br>Copying someone elses work or photo.<br>Using someone elses lineart that is stolen off copyrighted work. It's your responsibility to make sure the work you post here is legit to use, regardless of who ripped off the original artist.<br>Basically, if you have to question it, don't do it.<br>Reproducing model horses, this has never been allowed and violates the companies copyrights.<br><br><br>If you have permission from the owner of the original copyright work, to use it, reproduce it or what not, then you will need to provide proof of the written permission (scan) or a screen shot of the email. Please edit out your personal info from the screen cap / scan. This information will be verified with the copyright holder as will any suspected copyright infringed works.<br><br>Works produced from stock photos / art will be allowed, so long as they follow the rules of the stock photo / art owner and also MUST include a link to the stock photo / art. Note: just because it is on flicker, doesn't mean it's a stock item free for your use. All traced, copied work will also need a link or links provided with it of the original work or works used.<br><br>If you see a listing you suspect is stolen / copyright infringed work, please do not take matters into your own hands. Message one of the Game Admins with a link to the thread and links to the work and we will handle it from there.<br><br>VP has a very large artistic community, and the vast majority of us frown on copyright infringement. We wouldn't want it done to us, and we hate to see it done to other people, regardless of if they are part of VP or not. If you post stolen works, you can guarantee you will be found out by a community member and reported. Is making a small amount of virtual cash worth loosing your privileges, clients and respect over?<br><br>A few good sites of info regarding copyright, referencing and things artists should know. If anyone has other good sites of info, please feel free to pm them to me and I will add them to this list.<br><br><a href="http://painting.about.com/cs/artistscopyright/f/copyrightfaq7.htm"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">http://painting.about.com/cs/artistscopyright/f/copyrightfaq7.htm</a><br><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=_2fuF2ncVkwC&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=copyright+laws+++reference+++photos&source=bl&ots=RUsXIrtiYH&sig=cWL4c3uZvX8V8upAy5uwJE0lYZM&hl=en&ei=SB-sSfyZKIbOMt7DsZcD&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result&quot; target="_blank" class="bb-url">http://books.google.com/books?id=_2fuF2ncVkwC&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=copyright+laws+++reference+++photos&source=bl&ots=RUsXIrtiYH&sig=cWL4c3uZvX8V8upAy5uwJE0lYZM&hl=en&ei=SB-sSfyZKIbOMt7DsZcD&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href="http://vintagephoto.com/reference/copyrightarticle1.htm"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">http://vintagephoto.com/reference/copyrightarticle1.htm</a><br><a href="http://painting.about.com/od/copyrightforartistsfaq/Copyright_for_Artists_FAQ.htm"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">http://painting.about.com/od/copyrightforartistsfaq/Copyright_for_Artists_FAQ.htm</a>;