CS2 Sticker: Loving Eyes - copyright issues and legal action

I am sure that each of us at least once in his life has thought about what it will be like to design his own skin or sticker for Counter - Strike. Many of us, with more or less success, have even tried to make a dream come true.

For a dedicated artist, there can be nothing worse than having an artwork stolen. Unfortunately, in the world of free creation of content and works, such occurrences are very common.

Copyright situation

The sticker referred to in the title is Loving Eyes (Holo). It was added to the game by the hands of two authors named snail_nz, who made the drawing, and tsiceca, who added the sticker to the Steam Workshop - both from Russia.

However, according to reports from a community member on X (@Quzga_), the design of the sticker was based entirely on the work of another artist (@kikyo_toruko on X) - from Japan.

The supposition turned out to be true, and the real author of the drawing took the legal route, applying for the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). The response came quickly, and the case gained momentum, as it didn't end with one message.

The answer came after just 6 days, but it did not end the story.

Current situation

A very important link for the further development of the case is @gabefollower on X. In his post, we can read that he is not only in contact with one of the creators, but is helping him to solve the situations. According to his words, tsiceca was convinced by snail_nz that the artwork was created from scratch and no part of it was the work of someone else.

tsiceca received an email with the contents of the DMCA by the reason that he was the one who added the sticker to the Steam Workshop. After the whole incident, he tried to contact the author (@kikyo_toruko) to explain his point of view. However, shortly thereafter he also sent a message, the contents of which can be read as a grudge against kikyo for not communicating with him in any way.

Now, according to the words, he himself wants the sticker to be changed and the design of the rightful owner of the drawing to be used for this change.

But he is worried that the sticker will be replaced with some random sticker, not one from the original creator.

Continuing, part of the content of the message were the following words (taken from @gabefollower's post).

"If you feel that the DMCA notice filed against you is inaccurate, Valve can reinstate your posting on Steam only upon receipt of a DMCA-compliant counter-notice from you containing the following information listed below. Upon receipt of your counter-notice, the claimant is allowed 10 business days to bring legal proceedings against you. If we do not receive notice of such proceeding within that period, then we will reinstate your content. Please note: If the content in your post infringed when the original copyright complaint arrived, your counter-notice is not legally valid. Do not submit a counter-notice if there was illegal content, even if it has now been removed."

However, we don't know if tsiceca still stands by his assurances and won't fight to keep the sticker in the game. A relevant comment under the post says that after consulting with another Russian Steam Workshop author, he sent an objection to the matter, filling it with information of questionable content, probably through his lack of advanced English skills. After this message, he sent another one asking to ignore the previous one.

What will happen next?

On the legal issue and Valve's response, we can't predict much. The case is complex and intricate, but with the offered language support from @gabefollower there is a chance for a clear solution. The final verdict should be made by everyone themselves, as BitSkins we will not impose our opinion on anyone. However, when it comes to the topic of skins, we can already say something more.

In the past, on such occasions, usually only the design or possibly the name was changed, and the item remained available. We observed something like this with the changes of AWP | Doodle Lore to AWP | Duality or M4A4 | Griffin.

Of course, we all know one exception to this rule. That is the M4A4 | Howl, which is the only item with Contraband status.

In conclusion

The whole matter is still awaiting its resolution, but simple conclusions can already be drawn. If we plan to publish the artwork, let's keep in mind to actually do all the work ourselves. Let's not complicate our lives and at the same time let's not make someone else suffer.