I’ve seen loads and tons of ROBLOX animation videos on YouTube that uses clothings or anything from the website’s catalogue, free or not. I was wondering if it’s legal to do so.
And tell me, what makes it different than recording yourself in real life with shirts uncredited
'scuse me, what? You’re entirely wrong? The same goes with your real life analogy: that requires more research. I don’t know anything about the topic myself so I won’t say something unsubstantiated but there are limitations and exceptions related to brand name clothing in videos. Not all cases are caught but companies are still in their right to make requests regarding your use of their IP in your content and that should be a given especially if it’s commercial.
Shirts and pants are UGC items. Uploading avatar shop items to the catalog is you selling your designs for the purpose of wearing. Selling your items in the catalog is not equivalent to giving people the right to use your clothing for any other purpose unpermissively.
Roblox developers clearly understand that they require permission to use UGC accessories for other purposes besides wearing them, but not with shirts and pants and other assets because IP matters regarding UGC weren’t well-handled early on. The exact same circumstances for UGC accessories are equally applicable for any other avatar item. If you don’t have permission, you shouldn’t be using it.
Furthermore, what are you talking about that these items are in the public domain? They aren’t. Again, selling an item =/= giving others the right to use it beyond wearing. The asset library is one case where public domain is applicable: if your item is free to take or your place is uncopylocked, that is considered public domain. This is not the same for the catalog.
IANAL and neither are you; I don’t think you can authoritatively speak about the legality of this matter and I don’t think I’d want to take this advice when it’s incorrect.
Then again, ROBLOX or the people who made the assets that others use for their own content aren’t doing anything. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong I just want to hear an explanation as to how they would take down possibly millions of videos containing assets around the catalogue used without permission
Roblox does not police content, it is not their job to manage the licensing of others’ content. They will only uphold valid requests made to them regarding unpermissive IP use provided sufficient documentation.
The developer who created the asset is responsible for being aware of and raising the issue of unpermissive content use directly to another user or through the appropriate venues if applicable. If the issue isn’t raised, Roblox will not take action because they positively assume you have a license or permission to the content you use unless otherwise stated (in some cases, they will assume the opposite and you will need to contact staff regarding your license to have the asset restored should it be deleted or blocked).
And the cherry on top is that Roblox does not have jurisdiction over YouTube/other video hosting platforms beyond their own corporate entities/IP. UGC (anything created by and/or uploaded by you) belongs to you, not Roblox - you simply implicitly extend them an unlimited, unrestricted license to use your content for company purposes, you don’t hand them ownership.
So what you’re saying is, all GFXes, Animations, and other content containing the use of an asset from a developer is the developer’s own responsibility to strike it down or not, noticed or unnoticed.
Lets say that I’m making a GFX for someone that is wearing clothings made by a dev I do not know, or making animations of characters with random clothings. Is it the dev’s problem that they should’ve specified that I am not allowed to use their assets by any means other than wearing it OR is it my problem?
Correct, that’s what I’m saying. As the creator of the asset it is your responsibility to handle misuse of your content in someone else’s work, not Roblox.
Ideally, and ideally, you should have permission on hand when you’re creating a work for commercial purposes that involves someone else’s asset. While a player buys avatar shop items for the sole purpose of wearing, you’re doing something else with those items beyond wearing. It’d be up to you to get or find the relevant information about creators of the assets someone’s wearing.
The only exception around unpermissive use is Roblox. You can use any asset created by Roblox without their permission (well, to be pedantic, their permission is implicit) for any purpose in line with their rules or guidelines (if there are asset-specific guidelines, those should be acknowledged as well) as long as it’s on the platform and it’s not part of a sponsorship event with another entity (e.g. collaboration involving another entity’s IP).
In short: it would be your problem. Developers do not need to specify that you cannot use their assets, this is implicit unless the asset is able to be taken and therefore in public domain. This extends mostly only to library assets. Avatar shop items are always non-public unless otherwise stated.
The best consultants on the matter are DevEngagement and actual lawyers who are familiar with copyright laws. I mentioned DevEngagement because they may be able to provide you a bit of information about use of content on the platform.
As usual, obligatory IANAL. This is not legal advice or authoritative commentary and you can take it or ignore it at your own discretion. Licensing/permission concerns are between you and the creator of the asset to settle ultimately: Roblox does not mediate.
I often do not follow my own advice.