Marketplace Policy on Copyright and Trademark-Protected Content

[Maximum-Dev]

Hey there - I followed up with your pack and it was accidentally marked as a duplicate due to its name being similar to another pack you submitted. The team is fast-tracking your asset and it'll be going into review shortly. Apologies for the mix-up there!

Hi Amanda, can you please tell somebody to also look up #98945 ?

We've done the required change 1 week ago and it basically only needs someone to allow us to publish but nobody answers in the email.

[Amanda.Schade]

Seriously? My code plugin is in Approval since 11/21/2017. 33 working days. Nothing's changed. Nothing is better now.

Hey there - I followed up with your pack and it was accidentally marked as a duplicate due to its name being similar to another pack you submitted. The team is fast-tracking your asset and it'll be going into review shortly. Apologies for the mix-up there!

[Socke81]

While the Marketplace team has been heavily focusing on reducing turnaround time in the submission review process, we recognize that policy enforcement should be handled consistently. With wait times in a better place now, we are planning to audit assets that may be in violation of copyright and trademark policy.

Seriously? My code plugin is in Approval since 11/21/2017. 33 working days. Nothing's changed. Nothing is better now.

[NilsonLima]

on the asset store a car without brand or any identifier is perceived as clean, while at Epic it always remains under copyright

Amanda.Bott posted this thread: forum post where you can put your questions and read others too. As far as we are currently understanding, the perception for a copyright being violated also resides in the shape/silhouette of the asset, afterall you dont need the Mercedes Benz logo or the car name appearing to realize it is a Mercedes and depending on the details (lock at door, frontal lights, etc) you can assure even the model... and this is what might be caught and told as being copyrighted. It occurs with toys as an example, where you need to license with the copyright owner for that specific design. Please, do add any other question for that post, think ahead and Im sure more doubts will occur.

[NilsonLima]

Not linked: I still do not know how to get a marketplace content creator badge

I got mine sending e-mail to mp support.

[Omarito]

Happy New Year to all the Epic team and unreal users.
After reading this post, I found the idea of @Luos more than indispensable, as he mentioned some articles must be provided by Epic so that content creators know how to go about protected content by copyright. I produced a car pack that I could not publish because they were under copyright and I think other content creators have experienced this problem. This is of paramount importance, indeed on the asset store a car without brand or any identifier is perceived as clean, while at Epic it always remains under copyright, it is clear that Epic does not manage in the same way the copyright and therefore must give necessary indications to facilitate the life to the creators of contents. We understand that Epic wants to avoid some copyright problems for buyers, only this policy seems to limit the production of certain products in the marketplace and is not necessarily easy for the sellers / creators of content.

Not linked: I still do not know how to get a marketplace content creator badge

[tero83]

I am using mostly some unreal marketplace characters, vehicles and some forest and dungeon assets, so they probably haven't copyright issues

[Amanda.Schade]

I have a follow-up question regarding what will happen for buyers if content is removed from the marketplace for any reason. Will buyers of a depublicized package be notified in any way? This would be especially important if the depublication occurs due to suspected copyright infringement. I assume that the content will no longer be available for download via the launcher vault - but does this allow for refunds? Arguably once the content has been downloaded at least once by a buyer, the transaction is complete, but I'm curious how accommodating the marketplace would be to buyers regarding notification and refunds in such cases.

I would like to know same thing.
Already purchased assets should stay for buyers forever to download as vault acts as archive to lot of us.

Since this is a proactive move on Epic's part and we are not aware of actual infringement claims against these items, we will not be contacting buyers if something is removed. However, any asset that is removed will continue to be available for download from the vault for folks that have purchased it. It will not be available for new purchases.

You can also navigate directly to any asset that has been removed if you have the original URL, but you'll see that it is not available for sale. If you have purchased it at any time, the asset will continue to appear in your vault. Searching for the asset on the marketplace will yield no results.

[NilsonLima]

Amanda.Bott great that you got this addressed this soon. We need to get this past, because it is really giving headaches about my current work on other projects. Big Thank You!

[Amanda.Schade]

Hey everyone! At your request (great idea, NilsonLima!) and in order to help clarify some things around copyright and trademark, we'll be hosting a livestream next week covering just that. Please toss your questions over on the forum post ahead of the stream so we can supply you with exactly the information you need.

Kashaar AE_3DFX - I'll follow up with you on this.

[AE_3DFX]

I have a follow-up question regarding what will happen for buyers if content is removed from the marketplace for any reason. Will buyers of a depublicized package be notified in any way? This would be especially important if the depublication occurs due to suspected copyright infringement. I assume that the content will no longer be available for download via the launcher vault - but does this allow for refunds? Arguably once the content has been downloaded at least once by a buyer, the transaction is complete, but I'm curious how accommodating the marketplace would be to buyers regarding notification and refunds in such cases.

I would like to know same thing.
Already purchased assets should stay for buyers forever to download as vault acts as archive to lot of us.

[Kashaar]

I have a follow-up question regarding what will happen for buyers if content is removed from the marketplace for any reason. Will buyers of a depublicized package be notified in any way? This would be especially important if the depublication occurs due to suspected copyright infringement. I assume that the content will no longer be available for download via the launcher vault - but does this allow for refunds? Arguably once the content has been downloaded at least once by a buyer, the transaction is complete, but I'm curious how accommodating the marketplace would be to buyers regarding notification and refunds in such cases.

[NilsonLima]

I agree, Im very satisfied with the response... not everyone is a specialist on this matter, and for me this comes down to the same approach Epic was doing with Indie's needs on addressing the Market and related stuff. This information's understanding is a requeriment if you want to be a successful content creator, and these responses will help and allow us to do better our jobs and our products. Thank you!

[Luos]

That answer is very thorough and very professionally stated. And I appreciate it.
Thanks for clearing that up

If the marketplace will be handled just as professionally this upcoming year, that will be a massive improvement.
I'll do my best to withdraw myself from actively discussing the past, current, and future happenings of the marketplace from now on and see where this year leads us.

[Amanda.Schade]

First, let’s take a minute to talk about what constitutes copyright and trademark.

Copyright applies to creative work (credit: Wikipedia):

Eligible works

Copyright may apply to a wide range of creative, intellectual, or artistic forms, or "works". Specifics vary by jurisdiction, but these can include poems, theses, fictional characters plays and other literary works, motion pictures, choreography, musical compositions, sound recordings, paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, computer software, radio and television broadcasts, and industrial designs. Graphic designs and industrial designs may have separate or overlapping laws applied to them in some jurisdictions.

Copyright does not cover ideas and information themselves, only the form or manner in which they are expressed. For example, the copyright to a Mickey Mouse cartoon restricts others from making copies of the cartoon or creating derivative works based on Disney's particular anthropomorphic mouse, but does not prohibit the creation of other works about anthropomorphic mice in general, so long as they are different enough to not be judged copies of Disney's. Note additionally that Mickey Mouse is not copyrighted because characters cannot be copyrighted; rather, Steamboat Willie is copyrighted and Mickey Mouse, as a character in that copyrighted work, is afforded protection.

Trademark, however, applies to recognizable designs and expressions that distinguish themselves from other symbols, creations, etc. (credit: Wikipedia):

[A trademark] is a recognizable sign, design, or expression which identifies products or services of a particular source from those of others, although trademarks used to identify services are usually called service marks. The trademark owner can be an individual, business organization, or any legal entity. A trademark may be located on a package, a label, a voucher, or on the product itself. For the sake of corporate identity, trademarks are often displayed on company buildings...

A trademark identifies the brand owner of a particular product or service. Trademarks can be licensed to others; for example, Bullyland obtained a license to produce Smurf figurines; the Lego Group purchased a license from Lucasfilm in order to be allowed to launch Lego Star Wars...

Terms such as "mark", "brand" and "logo" are sometimes used interchangeably with "trademark". "Trademark", however, also includes any device, brand, label, name, signature, word, letter, numerical, shape of goods, packaging, color or combination of colours, smell, sound, movement or any combination thereof which is capable of distinguishing goods and services of one business from those of others. It must be capable of graphical representation and must be applied to goods or services for which it is registered.

1. Will buyers of packages that won't be updated due to this infringement be contacted and refunded? (or at least warned that their content might get them into a hot mess when used in a project)

We are not aware of actual infringement claims against any items in the Marketplace, nor do we know how buyers are using the content they’ve purchased. We do not plan to contact buyers who have purchased items that are flagged or modified. Epic is proactively conducting an audit of Marketplace content to ensure that policy enforcement is happening consistently.

2. Will there --Besides an email telling them they are now suddenly in a violation-- be an honest apology for not catching this when the pack was submitted? imho they deserve that.

Our terms around IP infringement are clear in the Marketplace Seller Agreement, the Marketplace Distribution Agreement, and the Marketplace FAQ. Sellers promise they have full rights to release their content when they launch their assets on the Marketplace. We respect IP in the Unreal Engine Marketplace and do not apologize for this.

3. 30 days might be a very short time, especially for sellers who have a looooooot of packages on the marketplace. It takes time to create and recreate these things.

In most cases, we intend to request a 30-day timeframe. We will work with sellers on a case-by-case basis to consider extending their grace period, for instance, if they have a significant number of assets affected by this audit.

4. Will creators that are contacted get accurate proof that their content is in fact copyrighted or trademarked? Because it would be rather unfortunate if something is flagged and the creator can’t find any clear info on this. (heck, I tried with the weapons and even after a day of searching the internet my findings were all but conclusive)

Accurate proof of infringement would be a court order, which we will not be providing. Epic reserves the right to determine the level of risk we take concerning assets in the Unreal Engine Marketplace and will flag assets accordingly. Sellers will have the right to make changes to their content in order to comply with our guidelines.

5. “Our team relays specific feedback to the seller, who can then modify and resubmit content for approval, if desired.” Can we get an official promise of this? general consensus has often been lacking details and information, especially since we have had this conversation before pointing out this feedback was all but helpful or actually did not made it clear they could resubmit.

Seller can always resubmit their assets to the Unreal Engine Marketplace. Once changes are made to comply with our guidelines, assets are then approved and added to the Marketplace.

An unapproved asset can fall into one of two categories: "Rejected" or "Changes Needed". Unless the work submitted clearly belongs to another artist, we use "changes needed" and not "rejected" for copyright and trademark-related concerns. The email sellers receive describes what changes need to be made to comply with our guidelines. The ideal outcome is for seller to make the necessary changes so that their products can be approved.

6. “Our team conducts a manual review of all content submitted to the Marketplace in order to ensure that assets comply with guidelines and standards.” Can we get an official promise of this? my fireworks pack --before I fixed it-- had 152 non-working emitters and still got accepted. not to mention how often I see redirectors, unnamed parameters, and other things that do not comply with the standards mentioned here.

It is first and foremost the seller’s responsibility to warrant compliance. While our team strives to be as thorough as possible during content review, it is not possible for us to catch every single line of code or aspect of content that does not comply with standards. There will always be content that is approved because it is high-quality or valuable enough despite having room for improvement. While our team will always work to make sure that assets completing review meet the standards laid out in the guidelines, this is a system that succeeds when we all work to hit the quality bar together.

7. Can we get a list of content that will be flagged so we can double-check if we have said content and either want a refund or find out if the creator will be spending valuable time to fix these issues?

It sounds like you are asking for a list of audit results before the audit takes place. This is not possible and we will not publish the results publicly. Rather, we will work with individual sellers to update or sunset content. If you think you need a refund on content you’ve purchased, please contact Marketplace support.

8. Not directly related, but when will Stephanie be back

We do not comment on the personal details of our employees.

9. Can we get a list of copyrighted content? i.e. you find something that's not allowed (yet unclear/rather unknown in the community, i.e. the red cross sign) and keep adding to that list?

This is beyond the scope of this discussion. Please see copyright and trademark definitions above. It is the responsibility of sellers and those creating commercial content to comply with copyright and trademark law.

10. May I suggest a stream with Amanda.Bott 's help to arrange it with Epic's copyright specialist lawyers? The person will answer stream questions and pre-made questions posted in the stream announcement thread. This is really urgent and the whole community must be aware of this.

Yes - This is an excellent idea. We will plan to do this and will keep you all posted on the day and time.