That depends on how the original artist who has copyrighted or watermarked an image feels about it. Some are honored by having someone else use their work; others strictly forbid it.
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Any advice on the fact that the watch hangs all look white after I enable time and choose black?
No, never had that happening… But then again, I use Photoshop to create all the layers, including hands, and then load them on GWD, just like I do on Facer too.
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it is a fraught issue, but where there is blatant infringement I think something needs to be done. Just my opinion
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It’s so unfair to the ethical designers here who follow the rules. Yesterday as I was looking through Facer I came across a member whose collection consisted of 99% copies of designer brands. Just because of popularity and the fact that people can get away with it doesn’t make it right. Does this happen at other watch face design sites?
Even Samsung doesn’t ban designs, only if they’re copyrighted as well.
Even in the luxury watch world, replicas are not illegal if they don’t use the logos and change at least some features, features that can be microscopic.
It depends on the features. Pasting the brand name on a copied design is a no-no. Microscopic differences do not hold up in a US court.
I’ve been thinking about this as I’ve scrolled through the Featured pages that show many faces displaying obvious famous brand names.
Perhaps a way to discourage using trademarked names would be to not feature them and not promote to Premium status the designers who are copying logos. In other words, if they want to violate rules, don’t reward them for doing that.
Hmm I’ve never actually seen copyrighted material get featured (apart from the brands affiliated with Facer obviously).
There’s currently a game catagory featured. Almost all of the faces in there are violating copyright in some form or another.
Ahh that’s very true! I was thinking more about infringing on watch maker copyrights.
I think they also show up in Newest. Maybe that’s not an official “Featured” page, but there nevertheless. That might be an easier way to start filtering them than for Facer to go through all the millions of already posted designs.
It’s usually because someone includes the trademark logo. The designs themselves are not copyrightable or trademark able with very few exceptions (if there’s a truly unique design that is a trademark of a watchmaker, then it can be an issue - but take a look at all the real mechanical Rolex knockoffs that are made under different brand names)
The bottom line is: don’t use the model names, don’t use the brand logos, and you should be fine.
[quote=“roycaruso, post:28, topic:19129”]
I’ve never actually seen copyrighted material get featured
[/quote] I have noticed lately that Google Images posted as is have been featured.
[quote=“kamensektimepieces, post:32, topic:19129”]
The bottom line is: don’t use the model names, don’t use the brand logos
[/quote] Yup. Brand logos are a no-no, regardless of from where they are obtained unless you have received permission from a brand.
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The most interesting part to me, is that that people creating posts about applying for the premium.
Guys, just do your own thing, do not copy someone’s hard design work.
It is more pleasant to see that your own original brand and ideas become popular 
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I think you’re mostly preaching to the choir in this thread my friend. I’d be confident that nobody who is a premium designer, or who wants to be a premium designer, deliberately infringes on copyrighted material. And if they do, the faces in question will be flagged/ pulled. My comment above about the face I deleted once was referring to the way the ‘favorites’ system works rather then using copyrighted material - I recommended against using other people’s logos/ designs. I will say though that there are premium faces out there that look almost identical to existing watches (minus the logo), so I’m fairly sure that the TM material and not the general design is what Facer must be most responsive to. Interesting thread either way 
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I think the only way to prevent from brand clones would be to set in user moderators like Sheriffs which monitor all published watch faces and have the rights to inform these creators and ban them in last instance if they are not willing to take them off.
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Well, to be fair - if you look at watch designs of actual physical watches, you’ll see a LOT of similarity out there (other than specific complications that may be unique to one maker or another). Just look at Tudor vs. Rolex (yes they’re the same brand) vs. all the “Submariner” knock off … I’m sorry… “Homage”… makers like Orient, Seiko, Alpha, Invicta, Timex et al… (here’s a link to a discussion on Watchuseek: Best Submariner Homage?)
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Hmm really good point
My Watch face just got deleted too. I made it my self and they said it was because of copy write bs. Can i get it back??