Greenstuff World Vs Sword N Steele

[deaddaveParticipant 15122xp 4]

For anyone that needs to catch up, here’s Sword N Steele explaining what happened.

Greenstuff World realise they’ve pissed people, off so quickly issue public apology.

Let’s be honest, they didn’t make a mistake. They knew what they were doing. The terms colorshift and chameleon have been associated with colour changing and flip paints for years. Whole situation seems bit GW 2.0 to me.

[ozzie 306xp 0]

It seems a very clumsy mistake, a case of acting in haste and repent at leisure. Naomi was giving an honest revue of a product she had purchased herself. The issue should have been directed at Vallejo and not an innocent third party. Hopefully it can all be sorted amicably.

[collins 16358xp 3]

It’s interesting how people are reacting to this whole saga.

I have not looked into every aspect of this case because I’ve got better things to do with my life but I do appreciate that GSW are trying to protect their copyright as they should, Naomi got burnt as collateral damage (which people are apparently trying to rectify) and Vallejo apparently moved too close to another’s property (deliberately or otherwise)

I don’t understand why the community are expecting anything else? If I release a phone and call it an iPhone and OTT do a video on it using the name iPhone (because they’re android fans and don’t know iPhones already exist) you can bet your ass that Apple would come knocking, just with more expensive lawyers.

[rasmusParticipant 8879xp 0]

A storm in a teacup.

Fully agree with @collins above

Trademark laws is a funny bunch, and if you let one slip it hurt you in other cases – If the trademark become the defacto name for the type of products, the trademark can become lost – Something that could very well happen with GSW

[limburger 21704xp 0]

This is what happens when laws force even small companies to shoot first and ask questions later.

It is what happens when tech giants like Google are forced to automate tasks due to the sheer volume of content that needs to be screened for a list of infractions that are almost impossible to validate without human intervention.

I can’t fault GSW for reaching for automated tools, because protecting copyright&trademark requires more resources than they could possibly afford.

It sucks that tech giants like Google can be pretty aggressive when handing out bans and strikes.
It is ridiculously easy for a hostile *beep* to take out a channel with invalid claims as a result of how Google operates.

It is abso-flockin-lutely stupid that content creators don’t even get a chance to fix anything before the almighty banhammer activates.

At least she got lucky that GSW responded quickly enough so damage could be minimized.

There is literally nothing good that has come from this sort of thing.

//

@collins

this wasn’t a company releasing an iPhone clone.
It was a company releasing a ‘dingleberry phone’ … it was practically impossible for the consumer to even be aware that the name was an existing trademark from a competitor.

It kind of reminds me of how the RPG ‘Aeon'(*) by Whitewolf had to be rebranded to Trinity because MTV decided it owned the Aeon trademark as a result of some animated cartoon it had made decades ago.

If anyone had posted a review of ‘Aeon’ they would have struck by the same impossible to dodge banhammer that was used by GSW

(*) trademark issue appears to have been resolved as the new book has been labelled “Trinity Continuum Aeon”

[collins 16358xp 3]

I think you and I agree @limburger with the exception of what the copyright was on, it was on the name of the product rather than the product itself. a paint that changes colour, not copyrightable as they’ve been around for ages, but the name with specific capitalisation is copyrightable. the iPhone is a phone. I cannot copyright a phone. but I can copyright parts of the overall product, like image, name etc. if I release a generic phone but call it an iPhone I will still get pursued for infringement and rightly so.

sword n steel got harshly treated by youtube because GSW rightly ID’d a product in the video as being in breach of copyright, SnS knew nothing about it but Vallejo and GSW apparently did. GSW apparently following the obvious step of flagging it with the easy to use feedback and youtube bots did the rest.

It is clear that this is a GSW/Vallejo problem but then there is always fallout, collateral and the only winner is the lawyer.

I just don’t understand why people are bashing GSW for attempting to protect their interests in the way they have as its obviously the right thing to do. equally I don’t understand why nobody is levelling any criticism at Vallejo for infringement (if it is proven to have happened), they seem to be smelling of roses right now when really they (allegedly) are the wrongdoer here.

 

[limburger 21704xp 2]

@collins it’s easy to hate … especially a corporation.
Problem is that GSW is probably as big as ‘Sword N Steele’ itself.
It’s tricky to judge the size of any corporation or semi professional youtuber based on their internet presence.

Add to this that the youtuber is in a different country than Vallejo and GSW (both are apparently Spanish)
So while both might have fixed the problem locally there’s the problem of dealing with products that got shipped as well as content produced by creators across the globe.

[yoshiParticipant 3197xp 3]

This was an abuse of the Youtube copyright system and a scummy move by GSW against a Sword and Steele.

And its not the first time they prove to be bullies. They seem to have quite the history of attacking fellow actors on the hobby market.

This is making  the rounds on newssites and by the look of it they deserve envy bit of shit they are getting.

 

[limburger 21704xp 1]

@yoshi if they have a history of ‘attacking’ then please provide proof.
Because while they were a bit trigger happy the entire conversation they had with Sword n Steele was pretty friendly.

I’ve seen bigger companies and other developers do a lot worse and be way more vindictive.

[collins 16358xp 1]

I don’t understand how it’s an abuse of the system. Could you please expand on that thought process?
Im also not familiar with their history you reference in your second paragraph, can you enlighten me?

[slayerofworldsParticipant 3449xp 3]

This isn’t about copyright, my understanding its about trademark.

They trademarked the colorshift name in spain.   The shitty thing is that colorshift has been a term in paint for well over a decade, no one trademarked it.

So they released it, and have now trademarked it for their paints… like their paints are the only colorshifting paints in the world. Which the aren’t.  Paints being able to color shift is a quality/process of paints…. and GSW most certainly didn’t invent that.

What is hilarious to me, is that the company’s name is literally stolen from a product they didn’t create… which defently is infringing on that products trademark.

Im done with this kind of behavior…. and doubt I will support them ever again.

[lobstermooch 2096xp 5]

A business called green stuff world is not infringement on a product called greenstuff.

If they called their putty greenstuff then yes. But gsw isnt a product name, its a business name.

Gsw didn’t do anything wrong, if noone else bothered to trademark colourshift then they have the right to do so.

They corrected their mistake, the tool they used on YouTube is not a precision tool, its a nuke. Not their fault, they will probably be more cautious next time and owned the mistake.

This is a far cry from bullying behaviour, they are protecting what is theirs, which you have to do, of you let it slide then that is the precedent you set for all others who might want a slice of your pie.

You can support who you wish, but I don’t see a reason to boycott gsw. They aren’t a big company, they aren’t just swinging their dick around so honestly I don’t see the reason to give them all this hate. Unless thats how we treat people who make mistakes, in which case I’d pray you don’t make any.

[blinky465 17028xp 4]

@lobstermooch makes a fair point – and one we should really consider before jumping to boycott a small company that makes some pretty neat products (and there have been plenty of calls for boycotting all over the intertubes). Sure, GSW over-reacted at the start. They *should* have reached out to the reviewer but there’s no evidence that GSW went marching to Youtube demanding “we want that video removed and we want to destroy the Youtuber who put it up, make them pay, make them pay”. Maybe they just used the only tools at their disposal – to lodge an issue with Youtube, who then went on to over-react by implementing sanctions against Sword and Steele.

GSW may have behaved like dicks. What I don’t see is anyone criticising Youtube – because their system of strikes and de-monetising is massively disproportionate – yet nobody is calling for a Youtube boycott.

And, as @lobstermooch says, it’s an issue that was due to a mistake and has now been completely resolved by the two parties. What’s the point in boycotting a company *that has recognised their mistake, apologised for it and tried to put things right* ? Holding a grudge like this is harmful for the community:

GSW is a small company, not a multi-national conglomerate (like GW for example who, despite massive transgressions against the community, are still loyally supported by people willing to “overlook” their behaviour to their customers)

GSW has recognised their mistake and taken steps to rectify it. If the community turn against them *after they’ve tried to put things right* then what incentive is there for anyone to try to correct things in future? If we, as a community, remain belligerent and see suppliers as a foe to be smited, how can we expect them to be understanding and generous in return?

Considering so many people haven’t actually been directly affected by this and the original Youtuber has herself said she considers the issue closed, what’s the reason for the *continued* outrage?

I’ll be happy to buy more rollers from GSW in the future. We need to support our community – even those who make mistakes.

[beccasParticipant 1146xp 1]

I think that apology letter from GSW is an honourable way to end the drama.  Much respect to them to take the punches on the chin and say sorry.

[phaidknott 7023xp 0]

Storm in a teacup, and nothing harms a YouTube channel like a little bit of controversy to raise the profile of the creator (never heard of Sword N Steel before). This kind of thing is going to happen to just about every content creator on YouTube from time to time. No-one is really at fault here, Sword N Steel just happened to get hold of some old branded Vallejo paints for her review (if she had got the newer box then all this wouldn’t have happened), and GSW had the block removed after a few hours. To be honest the creator is milking it a bit here to garner support (where none is needed) by putting up “Censored” and “Uncensored” versions of the video.

 

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