Please Calm Down About Tumblr's New Tip Jar

please calm down about tumblr's new tip jar

I'm going to preface this whole thing with the statement that I'm not a lawyer and if you're truly worried, contact someone with legal expertise in copyright.

1) The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) does legal advocacy for fans and fandom.

2) AO3, which is a project by the OTW, has a non-commercialization policy. This policy means that it is against the AO3 Terms of Service (TOS) to ask for money or link out to monetization sources like kofi and patreon from their site.

3) One aspect of fair use (a concept in US copyright law) is monetization. Another aapect is transformation. These are not the only aspects involved and a court will look at each case on its own merits. The case law isn't black and white.

4) Platforms like tumblr (and Twitter and YouTube etc) are the first stop for a copyright holder. It's much easier for a copyright holder to file a DMCA request and get your content taken down than it is to sue everyone making fanworks individually.

In summary, using post+ and the tip jar may mean you can't link to your tumblr from ao3 anymore without breaking TOS, but that is a separate thing from legal worries and getting sued.

I recommend reading this post from AO3s legal volunteers about Post+ for more details. That's what I'm basing most of this on.

And in the meantime, remember what Ford Prefect would say: don't panic.

Tommen of House Baratheon the First of His Name King of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and cat enthusiast  (inspired by x)

My new embroidery to hang over my work desk by happyeight

PRIDE & PREJUDICE (2005) dir.: Joe Wright

Pray for Tonga 😭