Well, as far as i see, the biggest problem is if this is done against the artists explicitly given permissions. If that happens, it could be considered copyright infringement, which indeed is a problem. If there are no explicitly given permissions, well, it's partly the artists own fault for not negotiating these to begin with, and also partly the customer being a dick for not asking before distributing.

Another factor to consider is whether the pay is for the work done or for the product itself. Commissioning an artist is the former, visiting an art store is the latter. If you've commissioned an artist to make something specifically for you, chances are that they'll be a lot more lenient about what you do with it, or at least more negotiable, since you can discuss those things before work actually begins. If you're buying from an art store, the artist might not even be around, and in that case, my opinion is that you only buy as many instances of the product as you pay for, and while you can give these to others if you want (and thus stop using them yourself), copying is probably a no-no unless otherwise stated.

Of course, the fact that digital copying is so easy makes it very tempting to just copy-paste to your buds and not think further of it. That, however, does not automatically make it legal; video game piracy works the same way, and is definitely NOT legal. I mean, if we are to go by technicalities, nothing is set in stone unless the artist puts a license on their work, but it's pretty safe to assume that if you've bought something in a store that isn't made specifically for you, you're probably not allowed to copy it. If, however, the artist says "sure copy as much as you want", then by all means, do exactly that. If nothing has been stated, it's kind of a gray area, so you should probably ask first if you can.

Long story short, communication is key, and please respect the wishes of the artist(s) even if they haven't put an explicit license on their stuff (one such way to do so is via Creative Commons if you're curious, although that particular license does promote free sharing). I doubt that we'd ever have to contend with dead artists in this community, so don't worry too much about that part. :P

So you mean if the artist says that it is not allowed to make the texture free, it is forbidden ?
Makes sense to me but no dead or inactive artist can say that afterwards

No dead or inactive artists is complaining about this aswell.

As for inactive artists, that's a bit trickier (although as Reta says, they aren't going to be around to complain). You could still send them a message, maybe they'd get an email notification (or, if they have their email listed, send one of those). If it's really not possible to get hold of the artist, and they haven't licensed it or said anything about sharing, i'd normally say "be on the safe side", but the thing is that i don't think many texture artists here are expecting to sell a particular texture more than once, and in a "sell to one person" case, i'd say it's reasonably fair to assume that you've paid the artist for their work and can do more or less what you want with it (although common courtesy says at least provide due credits), since you aren't taking potential sales away from the artist. However, if a rule is to be laid down, we'd need a lot of texture artists chiming in on that, so as to say hey, if nothing else is specified, the rules say you can/cannot do X and Y. I'd personally say that's a decent idea, but that's not for me to decide. :v

I saw the art thread that caused all the problems and it looks like he just gave them away to be a jerk/start
Shit. Since this could possibly turn artists away from making it may want be dealt with since we don't have much of a art community anymore and we don't need to support the sanctity of giving away free art. The real problem would be coming up with rules for it, which i can't see being too effective.

A simple rule could be that the artist just needs to mention that it is allowed to make the texture free.. if not mentioned you need to contact him. Thats all...

Also the guy who is the reason for this thead atm, is provoking I think.. 1day after jusmi said that he would be offended if he would make his heads free, the guy posted a jusmi head

There are no rules for or against stuff like this. Just don't be a douchebag long story short. If artist says don't give out for free, respect that. Seriously, people being asses is the only reason this would ever be an issue.

Respect the pouch, respect it!

Its not the same though, he is doing it out of generosity, people have done item giveaways before, its more comparable with that. He has paid a correct price for the art and thats how much he sees it as being worse, might not be its "true" value, but he obviously doesnt think its worth nothing and noone does, its not an insult.

How does the community get killed? You havent explained that, if anything you have contradicted yourself here:
"if you kill those textures there is less worth in the art section, so at some time there wont be an active art community anymore."

If there is less supply and the same demand, artist will be more wanted and more prized, so by the train of thought you are using this will actually cause the artist community here to prosper not to die.



What has been done is not wrong in principal, but Shook is right, if an artist has openly said they dont want their own textures to end up free it shouldnt be allowed, the thing is the way the current Toribash art system works is when you "sell art" is more comparable to selling the rights to art in real life, where the buyer can sell the art or use it however they want and you no longer can.

well I'll just repeat some stuff.

No reason to go overboard with the analogy, the buyer might do whatever he wants with the head after buying it as of now, it might not be ethnically correct but it is not against the rules. Of course the Artist can say "hey please don't fuck up my texture" and they have the right to share their opinion on the matter, but in the end the buyer has freedom to do whatever.

However you could add a disclaimer for future texture sales that prohibits this kind of behavior, if this gets applied or not is up to the market squad to decide. As for former sales, though shit.

Remember that we are not using the copyright laws, we are just using a local internal set of rules within the community.

I just see your point is useless,
The deal is He gives you his TC/Items and he receives the rights to sell,Trade or Give it for free.
The only thing I see wrong about this, Is just pretending that you made the head-Texture.
but, if your point that there should be a part of the deal where You refuse the head to be published for free, I'm with you, But even though, If it got published for free, this means lots of people will go after it, so It's an advantage for an artist to get more famous.