Yesterday I was browsing the net and encountered 
a fanlisting page dedicated to the angel breed 
from Nightwalker ( http://fan.steal-the-
stars.net/breed/ ). I was very pleased to see it 
listed in google, but found out really fast where 
they got their images from ^^;

I already know there are just a few cruddy 
screencaps somewhere of him, and my cel scans. So 
I wasn't surprised so much at that...  I was 
flattered to have my images used for a FL.  
Initially the webmistress had a disclaimer saying 
all permission must be asked... etc. I found it 
ironic and emailed the person. All I really want 
is some credit & linkage.

I also emailed thefanlisting.org 's people, along 
with my application for a FL, asking them what 
their policy on stuff like that is. Their 
response was rather... interesting:

"Unfortunately, TFL has 
no control over this sort of thing because the 
cel images do not belong 
to you.  I understand that you bought the cels, 
but the cels were 
created by an animation studio; the images belong 
to them.  By scanning 
them in and putting them online, you actually 
violated copyright law and 
"stole" the image from them.  The only thing the 
other person did was 
take the image you illegally scanned in and use 
it on their site.  If 
TFL refused to list fanlistings that used stolen 
images in their 
layouts, we'd have very very few listings on our 
network, because every 
picture scanned in from a manga, magazine, 
screencap, et cetera, is 
"stolen."  So though I understand your 
frustration, the only person who 
can make a legitimate claim that their work has 
been stolen is the 
animation studio that produced the cel.  Were 
they to contact us on the 
issue, I'm sure we'd do whatever we could to help.

I see that you also have a fanart gallery on your 
site.  Were you to 
find your original fanart that you created, used 
without permission on a 
TFL-approved fanlisting, we'd be more than happy 
to help you in getting 
it removed from the offending fanlisting, or 
whatever path would be 
appropriate.  So rest assured that it's not that 
we don't care; we do. 
It's just that you don't have any claim to the 
cel images. :-\"

I've already worked things out with the 
webmistress and have credit on her index page. 
That's cool and all.. but this email raised some 
red flags for me. How should I respond? Should I? 
Are they right? *confused*

Sorry to bring this up again... I know it's been 
posted into the ground, but I'm really really 
curious. ^^;

~Tara