So, what’s the deal with Left Shark? He became a star, his fame spread across the globe, his copyright was disputed, he went into hiding…and now he’s back?
As we’ve outlined recently, Shapeways takes intellectual property very seriously, and while we respect the intellectual property of copyright holders, we also strive to put community first. We do due diligence on every single takedown we get, inform designers how to issue a counter DMCA if applicable, give them a 24 hour warning before removing models, and offer to put them in touch with the other party.
As a service provider, our liability is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act under their Safe Harbor provision. We outline this detailed process and guidelines, and encourage all our designers and any copyright holders to follow it to ensure swift action on our part.
In the case of Left Shark, Fernando, the designer, chose to send us a counter DMCA Notice, disputing Katy Perry’s rights to Left Shark. You can read all about it on his blog. As per our Content Policy, once we receive a counter DMCA, we can reinstate the model while the two parties decide what to do. In this case, we encouraged Katy Perry to send us a properly formatted DMCA Takedown instead of a cease and desist. While we wait to see their response, Left Shark is practicing his moves for his next appearance.
Long live Left Shark, and may he herald in the proliferation of crowd-generated content!
That is an interesting read, but I have some questions.
He will probably lose this case, but what happens after that ?
Would Shapeways collect all his earnings from this site and share it with the copyright holder ?
What would happen if he would have already withdrawn his earning, would he have to pay anything back in that case ?
He mainly has sold his item on Etsy (through private print by Shapeways?), who have to pay anything back in that case, too ?
What happens to the people who already received that print, can they keep it ?
These are all great questions! Under the DMCA, Shapeways actually encourages the two parties to work out an agreement amongst themselves, so we are watching from the sidelines as much as you.
Your questions about his earnings really depend on the eventual outcome. If you have received a print, you can keep it right now. In the case that a proper DMCA takedown is filed, we may need to stop further production. If it isn’t, he can keep selling the shark on any platforms he wants to.
Hope that helps!