Opinion About Sprite Ripping

[ethian]

I know sprite ripping is illegal, so, sites like The Spriters Resource and others are futile after all...
What do you think?

 

[Skible]

Using sprites from another game is not okay unless you’ve got a permission to use it. But there is no harm on using those sprites if you create something you are not going to publish. I also don’t believe that big game companies would care about some small fan games with small audience, but there is always a risk.

I think those sprites can be a good learning material to create your own

 

[TheouAegis]

Ripping them isn't illegal -- the sprites are right there. It's little different from copying paragraphs verbatim out of a book. What you actually do with those assets is questionable, but the assets themselves are not. In most cases, people that rip sprites (or even people that use said sprites) are forthright in where those sprites came from, not like most kids who plagiarize sources in school essays. Saying sprite ripping is illegal is like saying 90% of YouTube is illegal. And when the companies have gone belly-up and the programmers and artists have all died, then what? No legal issues at all -- it falls into the realm of public domain at that point. Sprite ripping constitutes fair use until the user crosses the line and uses them unfairly.

 

[JackTurbo]

I'd flag that this issue is a bit more complex than X dev/Y publisher are bust so I can rip their sprites. In most instances when a company goes into administration their assets will get sold to create funds to pay towards debtors and potentially severance to staff. This will generally include IP rights/ownership. To my knowledge these sales arent public, so in most cases even if a company has gone bust and all the people originally associated with its projects are dead, usually someone will still own the IP it just might not be apparent to the public.

That being said yes ripping the sprites is perfectly legal in most countries, publishing them (even for free online) however usually isnt. Although this strays into the classic "rule of law" vs "rule of the land" debate. Whats strictly illegal under IP law is often unpalatable to most people and isn't always practical or even beneficial for companies to attempt to enforce. Publishing fan art online for example is technically IP infringement and is covered by most countries IP law, however no sane company would ever bother to try and enforce it, it'd be entirely counter productive. I imagine with most sprite ripping sites its a similar situation, there is very little for publishers to gain from pursuing legal action against sprite rip website, but a lot of potential bad PR, so they dont bother. As soon as you try and publish a product using these assets that changes however and a Cease and Desist will likely follow should they become aware of the situation.

I've used ripped sprites before as placeholders in prototypes in the past and think doing so is fine, just dont show it publicly and remove all such assets before you do.

 

[ethian]

Finally Answers!

I think you said that i misunderstood something lol

 

[Nocturne]

As with most things related to the legality of X/Y/Z, it should be pointed out that we are not lawyers, and as such you should consult with one if you want a definitive answer.