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The official position of the SCP Foundation in relation to the ARTSCP project and on registration of the trademark No. 661748
Update from 10/16/2020: The Federal Antimonopoly Service found a violation of the law on the protection of competition on the part of Duksin
Update from 03/02/2020: Reaction of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, initiation of proceedings and appointment of a meeting
Update 11/12/2019: Official position of the SCP Foundation global community regarding current events
Updates from 06.11.2019 to 10.11.2019:
11/06/2019: *
New illegal trademark use against a competitor
11/07/2019: *
Initiation of illegal blocking of groups in social networks
11/07/2019: *
Dialogue with VKontakte support to challenge illegal blocking
11/07/2019: *
Confirmation of the appeal to 1C-Interest, previously denied
11/10/2019: *
Comment on the blocking of our official representative office on VKontakte
Update 06/29/2019: News has been published
on the status of the trademark and the role of the film company in the scandal .
Update from 05/07/2019: The
legal position of our lawyers on this issue has been published .
Introduction
This post was supposed to look a little different and be more comprehensive, but the latest social media posts call for an immediate response from us. Dear members and readers, please read the information below.
Story
You all know that since 2015 the administration of our site has been collaborating with Andrey Duxin on the ARTSCP project aimed at releasing a thematic artbook based on the SCP Foundation materials. Our participation was mainly limited to consulting and periodic informational support of the project, as well as occasional assistance in the preparation of thematic stands for various exhibitions, provided by the efforts of individual enthusiasts. All this time (in fact, from the very first days of the site's existence), the Foundation's materials were distributed under the terms of the open license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0), which allows anyone to use these materials as you like, including for commercial purposes, but without fail in compliance with the terms of the license, without changing them in any way.
The final idea of the project took shape on June 26, 2015, when Andrey turned to the administrative and moderator staff (hereinafter AMC) of the site with a request to publish an information message in the communities under our control on social networks.
We will not dwell in detail at each stage of the formation of the ARTSCP project, since this is not very relevant. We only note that at first we took all of Andrey's initiatives with great enthusiasm and followed the success of his project with genuine interest. Unfortunately, in recent years, everything has changed.
Throughout our cooperation, Andrei Duksin stated that he seeks to cooperate with the administration of the site and that our opinion is important for him as people who have made a significant contribution to the development of the SCP Foundation project, and expressed his readiness to take into account our position on certain issues of the development of his project ARTSCP.
In the summer of 2017, Andrei contacted us with the news that a large film company had contacted him and offered to release a series based on the SCP Foundation. Andrey, in turn, suggested that the site's AMC take part in the formation of a unified canon of the SCP Foundation in order to maintain the integrity of the narrative in the film and offer the filmmakers a script based on it. The motivation for those site members who were supposed to work on the formation of the canon was discussed in a separate order. At the same time, Andrei openly stated that he was closing all contacts with the filmmakers on himself, so that in case of something we “would not deceive him”, but without cutting off such an opportunity from our side. He intended to keep half of the fee for himself, half to give to those who will directly work on the project, we were offered to distribute the amount at our discretion.
However, the main issue was not even this, but the issue of licensing such a project. Recall that at that time we ourselves were in search of a final solution to the issue of licensing our content and argued about this with the English wiki. You can see how it all ended
here .
But the question of how the filmmakers will react to the fact that their hypothetical series, in which they will invest money and on which they, of course, want to make money, can be distributed for free, we did not receive an answer. We considered that the first thing the film studio would ask Andrey this question and eventually abandon the idea, realizing that it would not work to make money on this project (due to the legal possibility of free distribution of material), we closed this topic and did not return to it until the fall of 2018 ...
In September 2018, representatives of the Geekfunco store contacted us with a problem that their communities, where they trade in branded goods with the SCP Foundation symbols, were blocked by an unknown "copyright holder". We promised them to figure it out, since during the consultation we ourselves voiced the current provisions of the license, and in our FAQ we indicated the current and relevant information.
Then, in a joke format, we also suggested that Andrei somehow copied the Fund and is now using it against competitors.
At the same time, Andrei himself turned to us with a story that several people who ordered goods from the aforementioned merchants allegedly did not receive them as a result. According to him, he wanted to team up with the "victims" to write a joint statement to the police about the fraud. We gave him a copy of the invoice that we had received from the first group, after which he was told that it was strange that the group was blocked "at the request of the copyright holder." Andrey's further answer, to put it mildly, unpleasantly surprised us.
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In our joking assumption that Andrey became the copyright holder, we guessed one hundred percent. It turned out that in the summer of 2017, Andrei Duksin applied to Rospatent for registration of SCP Foundation as a trademark valid in the territory of the member countries of the Customs Union. Registration of TK is a slow process and it took exactly a year to complete the documents. By the
link you can see confirmation of this information.
Although Andrey throughout our interaction assured us that the words and decisions made by the AMC site are important to him, he deigned to tell us about registering a trademark only when he needed support in putting pressure on a competitor. Below you can see screenshots of his letter confirming this.
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Andrey bluntly stated that he “invested a lot in the promotion of this universe” and now does not want to lose the opportunity to recoup the costs, for which he registered a trademark - that is, literally, to fight competitors and prevent them from making money without their permission and money deductions. This is completely inconsistent with his reasoning about the "symbiosis" between the SCP Foundation and ARTSCP in his recent article, since symbiosis implies complete openness in the actions of two partners, and we, as already mentioned, learned about the registration of a trademark after the fact.
As for the fraud, under the pretext of which Andrei turned to us, we received neither reliable facts of fraud, nor complaints about the actions of the Geekfunco store, which could be described in this way. We believe this was nothing more than an excuse to enlist our support in the conflict with the Geekfunco store.
To give you a more complete picture, take a look at the classes of the International Classification of Goods and Services (International Classification of Goods and Services) that relate to a registered trademark.
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09 - decorative magnets; programs for computers; game programs for computers; downloadable electronic publications.
16 - fountain pens; albums; posters, posters; notepads; notepads [stationery]; booklets; magazines [periodicals]; bookmarks; printed editions; graphic images; calendars; the pencils; books; comic books; envelopes [stationery]; work table mat; school supplies [stationery]; papier-mache figurines [figurines]; flags are paper.
28 - indoor games; board games.
35 - computerized online retail store services; marketing; presentation of goods on all media for the purpose of retail sale; promotion of sales for third parties; advertising; interactive advertising on a computer network; services of retail stores.
41 - publishing of books; information on leisure matters; entertainment information; film studios; microfilming; video editing; providing interactive electronic publications, not downloadable; provision of video files online, not downloadable; providing music files online, not downloadable; provision of non-downloadable films through video on demand services; production of motion pictures, excluding the production of commercials; entertainment.
It follows from these classes that the above is not the only reason for registering TK. Class 41, related to the production of video recordings, film studios and the like, clearly hints that in this way Andrei intended to bypass the license restriction and increase the chances of the series being born (and getting money for intermediary activities). This is also supported by the time of filing the application - July 2017, when the series was actively discussed and the first drafts of the script were being prepared. We repeat once again that at that moment Andrei did not tell us anything about this.
Actually, now Andrei openly declares that he registered the mark for the sake of the appearance of high-budget films and video games based on the SCP Foundation, as well as to make it possible to work with the ESKMO publishing house. This moment looks a little strange, since in February 2019 he announced that ARTSCP is now a
publisher (
link to post ). At the same time, we did not find any confirmation that ARTSCP really has the status of a publishing house.
We were also concerned about Class 9, which includes “electronic downloadable publications,” and saw this as a direct threat to take over control of the site. Here it is necessary to understand that contrary to Andrey's assertion, with whom he tried to lull our vigilance, a trademark is not just a formal piece of paper, this document has legal force and in the current situation creates a risk of restricting the rights of readers and site members to use an open license. Even now, his words about the fact that a trademark does not harm the site in any way are true only as long as no commercial activity is being conducted on the site itself.
However, the main consequence of the trademark registration so far has been the pursuit of competitors trying to make money by selling branded products bearing the SCP Foundation's logo. From the logs and screenshots of the correspondence we received from the injured party, it can be seen that Andrey was engaged in blackmail and extortion, demanding interest from them from the proceeds, otherwise threatening to sue them. To all objections regarding the fact that commercial activities are carried out in strict accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (hereinafter CC-BY-SA 3.0), Andrey replied that in our country the license does not mean anything, and what about it “ you will tell the inmates in the pre-trial detention center ”. We cannot judge this otherwise as a crime. All this you can see in the attached screenshots. Note,
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As you can see from the attached screenshots, Andrey simply extorts money from his competitors, namely a percentage of the proceeds, and also openly declares that the Creative Commons license does not mean anything in our country and presents it as if his opponent is a hardened criminal. At the same time, there is not a single reference in the correspondence to any laws or regulations that support his statements. One thing is clear: even if Andrey's claims were legitimate from the point of view of the law, from the point of view of ethics and morality, this could have been resolved differently and in a more civilized manner. However, there is no moral or legal basis for satisfying his claims.
At the time of publication of this article, a scandal is actively flaring up on social networks associated with the release of a number of videos on YouTube, primarily a
video from the "SCP Protocols" channel, dedicated to the registration of a trademark by Andrey Duxin, made in a critical tone. Andrey's response was
an article where he states why he registered the trademark, as well as how his activities influenced the site, the universe and the community as a whole. At the same time, he
accused the authors of the videos of fulfilling a paid order from the Geekfunco store, which allegedly aims to tarnish Andrei's reputation. We have already analyzed most of the statements in this article or will analyze them further in the text, but we will dwell on a couple of points right here.
First, Andrei does not provide convincing evidence of bribery of the authors of the videos. He attaches a screenshot of his complaint to VK technical support with a list of users who, in his opinion, subject him to cyberbullying, the screenshot shows that there is some attachment in his complaint (it looks like it is also a screenshot of the VK page, but the details cannot be made out). In response to questions about the grounds for these accusations, Andrei states that the authors of the videos, by their own statement, previously promoted the products of the Geekfunco store, and it is for this reason that this video is ordered. In our opinion, this is not evidence of bribery, and such a reaction only raises serious doubts about Andrey's position.
The second point that I would like to draw your attention to is criticism of Geekfunco products. Quoting the article itself: "What if you start sculpting the SCP logo on everything, put the received items in a box, and sell?" Nothing, the idea of souvenir merch is not new and it is difficult to name any popular fantastic project, which would not have its own merch. Subject to the terms of the license, the commercial sale of such merch is legal, and the buyers will best of all say about the quality of the product by voting for it with a ruble. Arguments about parasitism in this case are absolutely inappropriate, and in combination with the transition to personalities, as well as the totality of correspondence logs and screenshots above, they form only a negative opinion about Andrei, destroying the image of a decent businessman who advocates for the fate of the Fund, whom Andrei wants to look like.
The position of the Russian branch of the SCP Foundation
Under the terms of
the CC-BY-SA 3.0 license , which protects our work, it is not possible to publish derivative materials from the original under a different license, nor can we modify an existing license. The trademark registration is nothing more than an attempt to influence the SCP Foundation's content licensing rules.
Thus, the registration of the trademark No. 661748 in the name of A. Duksin. contradicts the terms of the license in terms of compliance with the terms of distribution, is its gross violation, and any actions aimed at “protecting” this trademark are deliberately illegal and unlawful. All of our further actions are driven by our desire to ensure compliance with the licensing terms for our work and to prevent the unfair use of the universal heritage of the SCP Foundation.
Not wanting to put up with this state of affairs, we turned to the English and other wikis for help, as well as other authorities to resolve this issue. At the moment, they all provide us with significant legal and information support. In addition, we have taken a number of other protective measures to make it as difficult for Andrey as possible to use his trademark for illegal purposes.
Separately, we note that the English wiki not only supported us in our claims against Andrei Duksin, but also documented this. You can see their position in the original and translation here under the spoiler and it is more than unambiguous.
Total
Our position on this situation is principled and unchanged.
SCP Foundation is a unique collective creative project of its kind. The fact that, subject to the terms of the license, anyone can develop it, while simultaneously earning money on it legally - this is its colossal advantage over any other similar projects.
The SCP Foundation license guarantees the opportunity for everyone to make money from our work. It is absolutely legal legally. You can only infringe copyright on our content by violating the terms of its licensing.
Registration of trademark No. 661748 dated 05/07/2018 directly contradicts the provisions of this License and is its gross violation. Registration of this trademark in order to restrict competition is an aggravating circumstance and a violation of the law, both international and Russian. We will consistently and within the framework of the law seek the cancellation of the registration of this trademark and will use any necessary resources and authorities to achieve this goal.
We consider absolutely unacceptable and unacceptable any attempts to persecute competitors and those who empathize with them. We strongly condemn the actions of Andrey Duksin in this direction and sever cooperation with him and his partners. We stop any support for his projects and undertakings on the resources under our control. Andrey's membership on our website has been canceled from this moment without the right to restoration.
We urge our readers and members to refuse any support in relation to this person and the goods and services it produces. We understand that it seems wrong to punish a product for the fact that its creator acts disgustingly towards competitors, consumers, site members and in general everyone who is interested in our project, but Andrey's financial support will work against our community. The SCP Foundation is our common property, not the personal plaything of one person whose actions and motives are questionable from both moral and legal points of view.
The SCP Foundation belongs to all of us, not to him alone.
We will not blame anyone for your purchases. On the whole, we have no complaints about that part of Andrey's activities that can be regarded as legitimate, minus certain points that are not related to this situation. On the one hand, we could even recognize Andrey's contribution to the popularity of the project as significant, but everything that was described above negates all his merits in our eyes, reducing the desire to admire them and support him to zero.
We count on your support. Tell your friends and acquaintances about the current situation, post a publication on your Vkontakte page, publish a post about it on Instagram, write a video about this on YouTube. The more people know about what is happening, the more difficult it will be to turn the Foundation into an unprincipled gift shop.
We certainly do not expect Andrey to agree with us and part with the trademark in an amicable way. On the contrary, we expect him to act maliciously towards us and our resources. Any activity in our regard will be reported on this page. The entire process will be covered here.
This message will be duplicated on the forums of other branches.
Questions and answers
What will change for me as a participant?
Nothing. The site will function as before. Perhaps you will see more heated discussions on the forum and in the chat, but this is normal for this situation.
I am a fan of the ARTSCP project. Will there be any sanctions against my person for this reason?
Not. We will not block and in general somehow persecute users for the very fact of supporting Andrey.
How can I help you?
As already mentioned - information. Share current events on social networks. If you know something about Andrey's illegal activities or, even worse, you have suffered as a result of his actions, let us know about it. We will not disclose your identity unless you consent to this.
However, we ask you to refrain from any provocation and harassment. This will definitely not benefit the SCP Foundation, but, on the contrary, harm, causing us reputational damage. Operate with the facts that we have published, they speak for themselves. You have already had the opportunity to verify this.
Why did you react to the situation just now?
We deliberately paused in order to thoroughly study the legal formulation of the issue and not hack off the shoulder. We also spent a lot of time interacting with the English wiki to get information about their legal position.
Why can't the matter be settled peacefully?
To a large extent, the toughness of our position is based on Andrey's attitude to his competitors, clients, as well as persons who disagree with his position. The correspondence logs sent to us, screenshots with offensive and immoral reasons for blocking, as well as the initial attempt to appropriate someone else's intellectual property behind our backs, made it a matter of principle.
Andrey was very friendly to everyone, he wanted to be friends with everyone! He was slandered, and you do this to him after everything he has done for you!
The fact is that when two partners are working on something jointly, they do not hide their intentions from each other and do not perform any actions that affect the interests of the other. In the case of registering a trademark, we recall that the registration application was submitted on 06/05/2017, and we only learned about its existence on 09/13/2018, and that was because Andrey needed our support. It doesn't seem like a friendly gesture.
In addition, we have every reason to believe that Andrei intended to “be friends” with us exactly as long and exactly to the extent that this correlated with his financial interests.
Andrey did a lot for the development of the Fund and increase its popularity, launched unique projects that have no analogues, you have no right to do this to him!
We are acting within the framework of this law, and we pursue the goal of restoring justice. We will not tolerate violations of the rights of our readers and participants, and no previous merits can become a reason to close our eyes to this. Andrey's recent statement that the website continues to be written and translated, and the registration of the trademark did not prevent this in any way, is reliable, but this activity is not carried out at all thanks to him. Andrey's activities did not bring anything new directly into the universe, all projects are based on existing developments made by other people. We also note that on the site itself, Andrey made literally several minor edits over the entire period of work, so that his contribution directly to the site is close to zero.
In addition, we cannot fail to note that the releases of the next ARTSCP books, as well as thematic events at exhibitions and festivals, did not affect the overall popularity of the Fund as much as Andrei used to say. The only noticeable surge occurred at the beginning of 2019, when Andrey paid for targeted advertising on VK. Then the site traffic increased 2 times compared to the end of 2018 or 2.5 times compared to the periods of calm in previous years. This is indeed a growth, but it is not nearly the declared rise in popularity of the Fund tenfold. In this regard, we declare that Andrey's assessments regarding his influence on the popularity of the site are, to put it mildly, greatly overestimated and should not be taken seriously.
Regarding the popularization, separate questions are raised by the moment when the obviously non-childish content of both the site and the artbook (especially the last two volumes) is promoted to a young audience through the aforementioned targeted advertising. You can see an example in the screenshot, the age limit is 12+, while our site and artbook have it 18+.
Andrey has invested huge sums of money in the development of the Foundation's universe! He deserves the protection of his investment!
This in itself is not an achievement, and we were not shown any direct bank statements. It should also be understood that Andrey invested this money in his own business, which is a slightly different thing. But this is not the main thing.
Any business involves various risks, primarily financial. There is always a chance that the invested efforts and funds will not be recouped the way it was originally planned, and often even reaching zero is considered a more or less successful enterprise. If you are so afraid of competitors who will take your money that you are registering a trademark as a means of limiting competition, then is your product so good if it needs such interim measures? Look at the situation from this side. For a competitive product, which ARTSCP products undoubtedly are, such protection is only harmful.
However, regardless of Andrey's motives, the registration of a trademark is a violation of the license for the reasons stated above.
Do you understand that because of you and your work, large projects like film and high-budget games may not come to light? You harm the community and the Foundation!
We do not oppose or prevent the release of any projects based on SCP Foundation as long as they are distributed under the CC-BY-SA 3.0 license. We will be happy to meet and highlight all these wonderful works based on our work with you when they appear in public. But if for their creation it is required to violate our legal rights as authors, translators, artists, merchants and just readers, then these projects are not worth it. The very attempt to monopolize creativity based on SCP Foundation is inherently disgusting, especially given the events that accompany it and that occur because of it.
What will happen to the SCP Foundation after this whole story ends?
Everything will be fine, we will continue to develop, quantitatively and qualitatively.
What will happen to the ARTSCP project after the completion of this whole story?
Andrey will retain the right to continue to produce various types of products with the SCP Foundation logo, subject to strict compliance with the license. The question of whether artists, partners will cooperate with him and whether buyers will go to him after all these events, we will leave open.
Conclusion
Of course, we are confident that this situation will be resolved safely and the legal rights of all participants and readers of SCP Foundation will be restored. Of course, we would like this conflict not to happen, and our project with you lived and flourished. We have no doubt that this will continue to be so. We also believe that the wide publicity of this case and its positive outcome will favorably affect the perception of such phenomena as free licenses and accession agreements in the legal field of our country, and that the legal literacy of our readers and participants in the field of copyright protection, especially their own.
We appreciate your support and are proud that our community is truly active and committed to our common cause. With your support, we will certainly be successful. Thank you very much for everything you are doing for us!
We are ready to answer your questions in the discussion of this article.
Best regards, Dmitry Zelten
Site administrator
SCP Foundation Russian Branch