I am not a lawyer, but I can decently interpret legalese and, being as I also suffer from tl;dr syndrome and assume others may as well, I took one for the team and went through the updated TOS for the post+ accounts and highlighted (what I understand to be) the most pertinent information, which ultimately comes down to this:
You cannot monetize copyrighted works (aka charge and earn money from fanfic, fanworks, etc) and if you do decide to put your fanworks behind a paywall via Tumblr, when you are inevitably sued, Tumblr will not protect you and will not defend you and you alone, personally, will be responsible for whatever monetary damages said lawsuit results in.
If anyone is a lawyer and knows I've gotten any of this wrong, please do not hesitate to correct me/this post.
Screenshots taken from Tumblr's TOS (updated 7-21-21), Stripe's Account Agreement, and the post+ FAQs.
1. Your paid account will not be hosted by tumblr; it is routed through a 3rd party.
2. By signing up for a paid account, you're entering into an agreement with Stripe, so in addition to Tumblr's TOS, you are also bound to Stripe's TOS.
3. Stripe, like Tumblr, will not defend you or protect you against any lawsuits.
4. Furthermore, you may end up owing Stripe money (indemnify = compensate)
5. Tumblr's TOS specifically states that you can't put any content on your post+ account that violates any laws, including laws that protect intellectual property rights of others. This is super important, because Tumblr's post+ FAQ also states that you can post anything that you would regularly post on tumblr, which I'm sure many will take to mean that gifsets, fanworks, etc are fair game, since all of that stuff can be posted on tumblr now. However, the difference is, you're not making money from the fanworks you're posting or reblogging now. Once money enters the equation, the game changes.
Tumblr is making it seem like any and all content goes for post+ accounts, knowing 90% of this site is fanworks. This is not true and you'll be opening yourself up for lawsuits if you charge for fanworks.
6. Tumblr further disclaims any and all liability in any legal issues.
tl;dr: Please do not make a post+ account, bc you will be opening yourself to lawsuits and if that happens, Tumblr's response will be not our problem, you agreed to all the terms which said you couldn't do that, sorry not sorry. Please protect yourself.
This staff’s post explaining their POV on this just showed up on my wall, so here, have the relevant part:
We do, however, want to address the main concerns we are hearing:
Fanfiction & Copyright Infringement
Basically, the process works the same as it always has. And yes, the following information is coming to you straight from a lawyer:
We fully support Creators sharing their fanfiction and fanart on Tumblr. We encourage sharing creative work of all kinds on the platform.
Fanfiction and fanart are frequently considered fair use and we support our Creators’ fair use rights. Monetizing fan work does not necessarily mean that it isn’t fair use.
Any content posted on Tumblr, both free and monetized, should follow our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines, which prohibits infringing the intellectual property rights of others. Whether a piece of fanfiction meets the requirements for fair use varies depending on the work. Intellectual property rights holders are in the best position to decide if they think a fanfiction or fan art violates their rights. If they do, they can use the normal Tumblr DMCA process to identify content for removal. Creators can also take advantage of the normal counter-notification process if they believe the content was misidentified as infringing.
So, basically, with a bit of fancy wording around it how it’s gonna be Totally Cool, No Worries on tumblr’s side, OP’s point still stands fully, imo.
Once again, I am not a lawyer, but here's my interpretation (again, anyone who is a lawyer please correct me if I'm wrong) of the above post (because I think it's deliberately misleading):
Basically, the process works the same as it always has. And yes, the following information is coming to you straight from a lawyer: We fully support Creators sharing their fanfiction and fanart on Tumblr. We encourage sharing creative work of all kinds on the platform.
Emphasis mine. This is worded very specifically; Tumblr is not supporting or encouraging you to sell your fanworks. They are not encouraging you to charge for your fanworks. Share =/= sell.
We encourage you to share your fanworks
means
we encourage and support posts and reblogs containing copyrighted works, but we're not telling you to SELL ANYTHING, so if you do, then the consequences are your problem.
Fanfiction and fanart are frequently considered fair use and we support our Creators’ fair use rights. Monetizing fan work does not necessarily mean that it isn’t fair use.
I think this is irresponsible wording bc it makes it seem like you have the right to charge for copyrighted works if you claim that your work falls under fair use - but how many of us actually know what fair use means? And if you don't know what it means, how can you use it as a defense by claiming your work falls under it? I'll be honest, I don't really know what all "fair use" entails but when I looked it up I found a pretty straightforward and thorough explanation that cleared things up for me.
From this article on fair use, published by Stanford Libraries:
In its most general sense, a fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work. Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner. In other words, fair use is a defense against a claim of copyright infringement. If your use qualifies as a fair use, then it would not be considered an infringement.
So what is a “transformative” use? If this definition seems ambiguous or vague, be aware that millions of dollars in legal fees have been spent attempting to define what qualifies as a fair use. There are no hard-and-fast rules, only general guidelines and varied court decisions, because the judges and lawmakers who created the fair use exception did not want to limit its definition. Like free speech, they wanted it to have an expansive meaning that could be open to interpretation.
Most fair use analysis falls into two categories: (1) commentary and criticism, or (2) parody.
Emphasis mine.
Translation: You can share your fanworks (we're not telling you to sell them) and if you get in trouble, you can claim "fair use," and if that defense doesn't work because fair use isn't applicable, we will not protect you from whatever legal ramifications you face.
Whether a piece of fanfiction meets the requirements for fair use varies depending on the work. Intellectual property rights holders are in the best position to decide if they think a fanfiction or fan art violates their rights.
I'm just going to say Anne Rice and leave it at that.
Okay, I'll say more than that. Many authors, creators, etc won't hesitate to, at the very least send you a cease and desist and, at the worst, file a lawsuit against you. This is why it's so important that AO3 is non-profit and you can't link to or mention your ko-fi, patreon, etc - because many ip rights holders do not consider fanworks to be fair use and will go after authors (or artists, etc), so AO3's legal defense rests on "nobody is making money or profiting from this."
What Tumblr is doing is removing itself from any responsibility here by saying, okay, even if what you post isn't considered fair use, it's fine unless the person who owns that intellectual property decides to come after you, in which case, again, we are not going to protect you.
Tumblr went out of its way to say their statement on copyrights came directly from a lawyer. All this means to me is that Tumblr got their lawyer(s) to word their side in a way that protects them from any legal liability while still encouraging you to profit off of copyrighted works, and they're trying to make it seem like a lawyer has said this is fine, but that is very much not the case.
tl;dr: Copyright law and "fair use" are much more complicated than you might think, and the latter is probably not going to hold up as a defense if someone comes after you, and Tumblr still will not protect you. So again, by creating a post+ account and putting fanworks behind a paywall, you will be making yourself very vulnerable to legal action being taken against you and Tumblr will not do a thing to help you.
!!!!!!! If possible please reblog this version, re: tumblr's stance on fair use. I've already seen a few people saying tumblr said it's legal to monetize fanworks, so their post is definitely sending the wrong message to users.
Aquarius sun, Gemini moon, Aquarius mercury, capricorn Venus, Leo mars and virgo rising.
First of all, I feel like he is a very chill person to be around. Even in relationships, he might not even behave like the ‘typical boyfriend’.
I feel like he might behave more like a best friend to his partner. I am not getting that lovey-dovey energy from his chart.
For example, if he and his partner were like best friends before, they suddenly started dating. His behavior won’t suddenly change, he will still be that best friend you can share everything with.
Also, he is not very clingy, as he won’t be with you 24/7 and he doesn’t expect that from you. For him, dating doesn’t mean being together 24/7. It will exhaust him.
He has his own work to do and you have your own. Hanging out like 4 to 6 times a week is okay for him but he doesn’t wanna always be with you, leaving all his work.
Being said that, I think he is very generous but kinda secretly. Like he is very affectionate but not at the beginning. He tends to kinda hide that side of his.
He is not too emotional but he is attentive to everyone’s needs.
But if his partner is too emotional and complex, it’s not gonna last long.
He believes in communication, if you want something, tell him. He is not a mind reader to figure out your needs if you don’t be vocal about them.
He will get frustrated if you act like he needs to figure out what you want without you telling him. It’s not gonna happen.
He is also not very romantic. His love language might be acts of service. Even teasing because he is a Gemini moon after all.
He might not talk a lot but when the discussion is about something intellectual, or if there’s a debate then you will see a new side of him.
He doesn’t like to take small things too seriously, so a too serious partner won’t work with him.
He might wanna adopt animals with you? Lmao, that just came into my mind.
He will adore you if instead of getting offended by his continuous teasing, you respond to him with a better sass.
He’s the type who never shows what he’s feeling and who would rather avoid situations that could make him experience the pain of others. You can talk to him about anything, he would never lose his temper if contradicted.
Very demanding of himself, he’s also very insecure and worried about the future. He likes to think of the past, which often makes him very depressed.
At times like these, you need to reassure him. Tell him the qualities you admire about him. Don't make it too emotional, keep it lighthearted and crack jokes.
When it comes to his priorities, he values work and money more than anything else.
Relying on his intuition and thoughts, he would never make a decision without weighing all the pros and cons.
Not at all the type to be jealous, he will believe everything his other half says and blindly trust them.
He has a quite traditional mindset about love.
He prefers to have long conversations with you instead of lovemaking.
He’ll invest a lot of time and effort to get his relationship as close to perfection as possible. If it would be for him, there would never be any conflict between him and his partner.
He loves to engage with strong, free spirited and individualistic people. He is kinda attracted to them.
He prefers his partner to be intelligent and traditional, with whom he can have fun, joke around with and talk for hours with.
He’s more the secretive type, so he never shows his true feelings and tries to hide what he thinks wouldn’t be suitable to be expressed.
Inside, he may be an avalanche of emotions, but no one would know because on the outside, he would only seem calm. One thing’s for sure: his private life is only his.
He’s also not known as very passionate or talkative. When it comes to his style, he’s simple but always elegant. At parties and other types of gatherings, he stands aside and doesn’t engage in heated conversations.
But as soon as someone gets to know him better, he becomes this charismatic and nice person. He needs to be aware of everything or else he desperately worries.
When he criticizes, it only means that he really cares and wants that person to attain perfection.
he will want to build up a long-standing relationship based on self-respect, dignity, principles and a traditional homely life.
He will never commit without being sure that it’s all worth it, and this means that he will do it wholeheartedly, with all his mind and soul, and without hesitation.
The best thing about him is that you never have to worry about him hiding things from you.
He’s too focused on his career and professional ascension to ever have any time for lies or manipulation.
In this sense, he will always be honest, even more so in a romantic relationship where he will always put all his efforts to reach a desirable level.
He might love to help you in any work, to provide assistance but he never wants you to be fully dependent on him.
[⌗] — [ Requested by anon ]
[⌗] — Note ; this became too long and detailed because I got this rising sign too. I might do another extended version of this one by explaining his 7th house. If y'all want me to. I am not very familiar with this idol so I took the help of astrology for this post.
I think the thing that worries me so much about this tumblr plus bullshit isn’t the fact that creators can put their stuff behind a pay wall - for everyday regular bloggers that’s fine! Do what you want I guess.
But fanfiction writers CANNOT do this. Point blank PERIOD!
And some might say “oh but Aeryn it’s a choice! You don’t have to do it!” And, yes I KNOW this. I know it’s a choice. But younger fanfic creators out there may not be aware of the absolute shit show that went down several years ago where people SUED fanfiction writers over their work. And that is dangerous for many reasons.
These companies that own the characters we love do. Not. Care. About us. They will sue us the second some fanfic creator unwittingly uses this paywall to gain money from their fanfiction works. That is illegal. You CANNOT do that. You cannot gain money from fanfiction Bc technically it isn’t yours. The characters and the worlds are not ours and if just one of us gets caught doing it tumblr will get sued and we all know they don’t have the money to fight them and tumblr will go poof.
This post isn’t meant to be rude or demeaning or condescending. I am just genuinely so so worried about this because if it takes off, tumblr as a fandom space is as good as gone. And as much as I call this place a “hell site” I do love it. I love the community I’ve built here and the friends I’ve made and I don’t want to lose it because of the IDIOTS at yahoo want more money.
*sigh* so - please complain to tumblr about this and hope to god it doesn’t actually happen. For all fanfic writers sake.
These observations won't resonate with everyone. These are just my observations, don't take them too seriously.
[✳️] — I have observed that most of the time, people with Scorpio risings have small, cat-like eyes. Also, there are prominent dark circles around the eyes.
[✳️] — The eyes of people with Scorpio rising tend to look tired all the time. Because of that, they look like they are done with everyone's shit.
[✳️] — Scorpio risings or just water risings, in general, have naturally well-shaped eyebrows.
[✳️] — People with Pisces rising tend to have bushy eyebrows or just more fuller eyebrows.
[✳️] — Scorpio risings tend to dress up in a very edgy but elegant way if you know what I mean. Black and grey is their dress code. Blazers, leather jackets, lacy crop tops, ripped jeans, ankle-length boots, stockings, etc find their way in a Scorpio rising's closet.
[✳️] — Leo risings seem to not age. There is always a certain glow on their face that makes them appear so playful and child-like. They also have a very infectious, child-like laughter.
[✳️] — I will say this again and again, Gemini risings have the best fashion sense! Their fashion sense is different and unique, it's not for everyone.
[✳️] — Also, Gemini risings are very confident. I believe that their confidence is the most attractive thing about them. They unknowingly inspire others to become confident too. You will get a confidence boost by just looking at them.
[✳️] — Aquarius risings love to wear bold-colored outfits. They can rock the type of outfits, everyone will think 100 times before wearing.
[✳️] — Libra risings know what to say at what time. They will say everything will a calm and neutral expression. They know when to keep quiet and when to speak. These people rarely get into trouble because they know how to speak in public settings. Even if they are annoyed, they will still speak in the same calm tone.
[✳️] — Aries risings are quick to react to a situation on the other hand. This is what gets them in trouble most of the time.
[✳️] — I find that pisces risings seem to love floral patterned clothes. They love wearing clothes with neutral or pastel colours. Also they seem to like dressing up tomboyish. They will pair a lace crop top with some grey joggers and still make it work.
[✳️] — Water risings and air risings tend to dress according to their mood and the occasion. These people can rock every style of clothing.
[✳️] — Scorpio risings have a habit of smirking while talking. That's what makes them appear as over confident and egoistic to others. People actually just need a reason to hate on scorpio risings.
[✳️] — Scorpio risings are also very secretive of their private life, they never open up to anyone about their personal life, that includes their friends too. That's why many people assume that their life is perfect and start envying them. If only they knew…
[✳️] — Something about Taurus risings makes me think of freckles and moles.
[✳️] — Taurus risings tend to have a really soft skin. Like how do I explain this? Their skin looks really healthy and soft and glowy. They of course take good care of their skin.
[✳️] — Taurus risings are usually quite tall and have prominent shoulders.
[✳️] — Cancer risings a lot of times, get mistaken for virgo risings. Because of the way they speak and present themselves.
[✳️] — Capricorn risings usually are very skinny or have a really petite frame.
[✳️] — Capricorn risings also have pouty lips. Their lips are one of the most attractive features.
[✳️] — Capricorn risings can go months without being active on social media. It's not important for them.
[✳️] — Pisces risings have a very alluring voice. I am not kidding, their voice can be really soothing.
[✳️] — Gemini risings on the other hand, seem to have a very seductive voice. Especially the females. They have a voice that is easily recognizable.
[✳️] — Cancer risings age like a fine wine.
[✳️] — Gemini risings maybe going through a really shitty phase in their life but their social media always has such happy and good vibes thingy going on.
[✳️] — Gemini risings also tend to see social media as an escape from the shitty reality.
[✳️] — Also Gemini risings can never have only one social media account. They are managing two or three or even more accounts at once.
[✳️] — Scorpio risings are the ones always deleting their social media accounts to start a new one.
[✳️] — Aquarius risings are the ones always doing some legendary shit. I love you all for that.
[✳️] — I must say, pisces risings aren't the most active ones on social media too.
[✳️] — Capricorn risings also have that kind of tired eyes that scorpio risings have. They also have huge dark circles around their eyes.
[✳️] — Scorpio risings don't like when people talk over them. When they are speaking, no one should interrupt them. And they kinda have this power that whenever they speak, everyone becomes silent.
[✳️] — Scorpio risings can get irked easily. This is especially when people use a wrong tone while talking to them. They might not outright display their annoyance but you can see the way they frown when someone does that.
[✳️] — Libra risings are really good at lying. I don't mean this in a malicious way. But people can have a hard time figuring out if these people are lying or not. They are very convincing.
[✳️] — I don't mean this in a bad way but Libra risings can really come off a certain way when they are completely different from it. They most of the time don't realise this.
[✳️] — I believe Libra risings have the most attractive and beautiful smiles. Their smile is their most attractive feature.
[✳️] — Virgo risings usually prefer working behind the scenes. They are the ones managing everything from the back. They are good at it and they mostly stick to it. They also like working alone, where there's no one to disturb them. But if they had to work in a group setting then they would prefer to plan all the things alone and would then give instructions to others.
Guys if you get hate anons once in a while, please, please, please, download statcounter. Track that mf down and report them. Don't let them get away with this please!
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