Author of a webcomic entitled Arcane Flames, the Ukrainian artist KuttySark had the unpleasant surprise to discover yesterday thatone of the goodies she offered for sale with an original illustration based on the universe she created, was claimed by Riot Games. Once her amazement dissipated, she chose to make a twitter post, asking for advice, intimidated by the fact that such a big corporation could try to steal her work. With the help of the Internet, this affair quickly made the buzz, causing a reaction from the publisher of League of Legends.
A quick reaction
Anxious to avoid any bad buzz, the studio communicated a few hours later. They explain in this press release that several companies are responsible for monitoring their interests around the world, in order to prevent their universes from being exploited by dishonest people, who not only steal content, could also sell poor quality products. If they did not directly offer a solution, they admitted to being investigating how this situation could have arisen, assuring that there was never any question of trying to dispossess independent artists of their work, as long as they don’t make money exploiting original Riot creations. They have also contacted KuttySark, in order to resolve this embarrassing situation, which the latter has confirmed on social networks.
How could this situation have arisen?
While the precise details remain and will likely remain unknown to the general public, one theory seems very plausible. Given the vastness of the net, it seems unlikely that verifications will be carried out by human beings. Bots must certainly be in charge of scouring the sites, looking for keywords to track down dishonest people who would try to exploit the creations of the dads of Valorant. Unfortunately for the artist, her work is called Arcane Flames, and she was trying to sell T-Shirts inspired by it. The bot would therefore have detected the words Arcane and sell, triggering an automatic claim procedure. Without human verification behind it, no one realized the mistake made here, leading to this unfortunate chain of events. It is important to specify that the webcomic premiered in 2018 long before the Arcane series was announced, and that the artist is therefore above suspicion. If the reaction of the American studio is normal, the speed of it can still be welcomed.
What started out as a joke to poke fun at Riot Games and League of Legends music groups has finally won the hearts of the community. Check out KDA Rek’Sai KDA, this player-created skin that definitely deserves its place in the Rift.
esport-lol
As always, we fully support the French players of the LEC. But neither do we forget our Belgian neighbors who, like Targamas, speak the language of Molière. We had the chance to interview him yesterday to tell him about his start to the season and his League of Legends career.
See the rest