Inktober Book Plagerism Accusations

[NessIllustration]

Right, the name Inktober is trademarked, so actually Watts not using it in his post is the legal thing to do.

[Marta Kitka]

@Coreyartus
"Watts Atelier's strength isn't in inking. It's in the charcoal portraiture and figurative renderings in the old-school Russian realist style they're known for."
Probably for some people they are best known for charcoal portraiture but to me it is the very first atelier that got me interested in inking.
I watched live streams with Jeff Watts inking with his incredible ability long before I was ever interested in Inktober. They have also great online lessons on inking. I think it is definitly one of their strengths.

[Coreyartus]

I'm happy to know I was wrong about a lot of things. Thanks to everyone for pointing it all out. I appreciate it.

[jimsz]

you can see Jakes trademark record here

The interesting thing I noticed was the filing date - days after Inktober ended. Jake encouraged people to make use of his logo, etc. knowing he was trademarking it. for those not familiar, when you file a trademark it is a 12-24 month process with an opposition period. Since this affects mostly individuals, they wouldnt have a legal department to go through the publication and raise any opposition. I think Jake being granted the trademark was proper I also think there could have been opposition raised that with Jake's encouragement the mark was encouraged to be used and publicized for years and could be considered generic ant trademarkable. however, I certainly have zero legal background other than filing some trademark papers.

[davidhohn]

A follow up to my own post (via @jimsz link)
It says on the United States Patent and Trademark Office website that Jake filed for a "Standard Character Mark". And what is that you ask? (because I sure did!)

From:
https://www.l4sb.com/blog/standard-character-marks-vs-stylized-logos/

The Standard Character Mark (also known as a word mark) is used to register words, letters, numbers or any combination thereof. However it does not lay claim to any particular font style, size, color or design element. In other words, a single word mark protects the phrase regardless of how the words are displayed.

So yeah, the word "Inktober" has been trademarked. I note that there isn't anything about the logotype. It's possible that Jake is protecting that via copyright. Or that the logotype is protected under the umbrella of the "Inktober" trademark.

[NessIllustration]

@jimsz I keep hearing people say that - that he encouraged people to use his logo, but did he really? I'm not being sarcastic, I'm genuinely asking. I cannot personally recall a single instance of Jake saying "please go ahead and put this logo everywhere!" Encouraging people to participate in the event, use the prompts and even the hashtag so their posts can gain attention is not exactly the same as encouraging people to take the name and logo to sell their products. Did he actually ever, word for word, encourage people to do that? Or did people just assume he did because he promoted Inktober and made prompt lists?

[ajillustrates]

@NessIllustration My memory is hazy on this one. When the trademark huff happened, I felt like the controversy was overblown because unless you didn't title work you were actively attempting to monetize "Inktober" or use the logo, you had nothing to worry about. However, when I first did Inktober in 2018, I did download the logomark, thinking I would draw that into the sketchbook I was using. The thing is I can't remember if the logo was on an official Inktober webpage where Jake was telling people, "Hey, download and use this!"

So, without the smoking gun of a publicly accessible and promoted branding page, the only example I can think of for people to claim Jake encouraged the use of Inktober mark on products would be an old YouTube video where he shared examples of artbooks that others had sent to him of their Inktober drawings. I'm going to track that video down, because it's really driving me crazy trying to remember what was shown and said.

[ajillustrates]

@ajillustrates I couldn't find the video anywhere. Does anyone else no what I'm talking about, or did I just dream it up?

[TessaW]

@ajillustrates I remember a video where he was showing off people's physical Inktober projects, like books and stuff. There was a cool one that was a big drawing, and it was on a long accordion fold out I think. Can't remember if they had the logo on them or not.

[jimsz]

@NessIllustration I don't remember the exact words but he did not discourage it . Also, it is not the logo design that is trademarked but the word.

[Jules]

I want to say a quick thank you to Jake for all of his amazing classes here on SVS and all of the awesome videos on his YouTube channel. They really have gotten me through some low confidence moments and they have improved my skills immensely! I love Inktober and I’m so grateful that he started it! This will be my third year and I am a junior in high school. I loved his robotics and Machinery class and his creative environment design class. I don’t think I’ve ever improved as much in my drawing skills as I did when I took his How to Draw Everything class and his Drawing Animals class. Jake is a genuine person who wants to help artists, and it makes me sad that this has happened. I am very excited for Inktober this year and I hope that all can get sorted out.
Thank you so much for all you’ve done Jake! Hang in there!

[ajillustrates]

@jimsz Whether trademarked or copyright protected, the Inktober site is fairly clear: "Please don’t use the INKTOBER logo, unless you have written permission or license to do so." Since the Standard Character Mark covers all uses of the word trademarked, regardless of how it looks, I think it's safe to say that extends to the logo by default.

[Julia]

https://youtu.be/AQ9pO_saYG8

I wish this video was made earlier!

[jimsz]

@ajillustrates said in Inktober Book Plagerism Accusations:

@jimsz Whether trademarked or copyright protected, the Inktober site is fairly clear: "Please don’t use the INKTOBER logo, unless you have written permission or license to do so." Since the Standard Character Mark covers all uses of the word trademarked, regardless of how it looks, I think it's safe to say that extends to the logo by default.

The word inktober is trademarked and since it is in the logo, it is trademarked there as well. However, many companies will also file a separate trademark for a specific logo design. In this case that has not been done. Copyright has nothing to do with this.

As for the logo, they were made available for years for artists to use without disclaimer or credit asked for. Look into the the old pages at Archive.org.

[ajillustrates]

@jimsz Yes - you are correct. Other than my "copyright protected" flub, we're in full agreement. However, I still haven't been able to find a webpage encouraging the use of the logo, even using Archive.org. One thing that I haven't been able to easily clear up, but you may be able to, is whether trademarks extend backward. Meaning, would artworks for sale using the Inktober name or branding be in violation if they were produced before the filing or registration date?

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@davidhohn @jimsz @pixel-dsp Thanks, guys! This was educational. You have a point, though very similar, it is technically not illegal to start your own inktober-like challenge online.

I don't like people capitalizing on the downfall of inktober but this Atelier might've planned on launching this new challenge even before the new controversy started and have no ill intentions. I guess it's wrong of me to immediately assume that they're somewhat trying to take advantage of the situation.

[jimsz]

@ajillustrates said in Inktober Book Plagerism Accusations:

would artworks for sale using the Inktober name or branding be in violation if they were produced before the filing or registration date?

The way it was explained to me, it can extend back so to speak. If the item were still being sold/used when the trademark is obtained the trademark owner can enforce their trademark. However, don't forget that more than one person can own a trademark on the same word/name under different classifications so that is another set of circumstances to deal with.

[ajillustrates]

@jimsz Awesome - thanks for the clarification!

[A Former User]

This post is deleted!

[ruth]

@jthomas Thanks for the heads up! Just had a check online and looks like Blackwells (UK) will be sending out copies on Oct 20th. Yay!!! Looking forward to recieving my Inktober book!