I want to share something that’s left me pretty disheartened about how Fab handles copyright disputes, in case it’s useful to other creators here.
A while back, one of my own pieces of original work — something I’d published on my own ArtStation and my own Fab store well before this happened — was uploaded by another seller under their own name. I filed a DMCA takedown with clear evidence: original source files, project assets, and publish dates that predate the infringing listing by a significant margin.
The seller counter notified, and I was told my only option to keep the listing down was to pursue legal action against them directly. So I did — I filed suit in the UK courts three separate times. Each was dismissed, not because of any issue with my ownership claim, but purely on jurisdiction, since the seller is based outside the UK.
Despite following that process exactly as instructed, the listing was reinstated anyway. When I followed up asking for a review of the evidence, the response I received was a generic note that Epic couldn’t provide legal advice — which wasn’t what I’d asked for.
What’s stayed with me is the contrast: a few years ago, a project I’d spent two years on was pulled almost immediately over a passing resemblance to someone else’s design. This time, with full documentation of outright theft — source files and all — the content simply went back up.
I think creators should know that having strong, documented evidence of theft doesn’t seem to be enough on its own, and that the process for resolving this as an individual, especially across borders, is harder than it should be. If anyone’s dealt with something similar, or knows of an escalation path that actually works, I’d genuinely like to hear it.
Here’s my original work published by Sharur3D (which is me) and stolen one below.
