I'm not surprised that this happened at all. Neopets is just going downhill. It's sad really. The way they avoid their customers. My friend is still on Neo and she was charged for a premium she didn't sign up for. She's been trying to get a hold of them for months, even posting on their Facebook page. I have my accounts up still and I can't get rid of my pets because I worked too hard on them, but I don't actively play anymore. It would take something drastic to get me to go back, and I highly doubt that will ever happen.

Haha, I don't know. When I see things like this, I can't help but think what a silly thing to steal. It's such a simple image and for someone to be an artist on staff, I would assume that before they got hired, they showed examples of work that met a certain standard. I wonder what made them think it was necessary to trace for this.

Anyways, sucks to hear that about a site I spent most of my childhood on. I know for sure how unlikely it is that I would support them now.

After the recent 504s and the lags here at Subeta over the holidays, I tried to waste time on Neopets to get my fix, but it's just unplayable now. Maybe I've been spoiled by Subeta. There just don't seem to be as many ways to make NP as there is SP here.

I have left neopets years ago when they started with nc. Besides I left every site with a staff who gives the user warnings by the smallest things and doesn't listen and comunicate with the users on a reasonble way.

What about fanart. I suppose fanart is never art you can earn mony on a legal way. It's just for fun, because all rights and conditions are reserved for the formal artists. It's pitty for the fan artist, but I assume neopets has got even the rights to claim their work as their own, even when fanart is "original" and not a copy.

But it could be I don't understand really the official rights from formal artists and fanart artists. It's just what I suppose not what I know.

I saw this and it makes me so angry. They got a new team and sold out to Jumpstart. I don't think any of the original TNT work their anymore. It sucks. Lol.

It's obviously copied, but the Jumpstart team @ Neo released a statement saying its not. The nerve!

I'm glad I made the move over to Subeta. I loved Neopets since like 2002, but it just went down hill. Esp after they sold out and went into customization. /rant

To Neo: REPORTED!!!11

They've really gone down the crapper. Glad I bailed back when they did the revamp in 2007. :/

wow they sure have sunk low lmao. i remember back in the summer of 2010 when they updated their rules and included a paragraph that stated that anything you post on their site is free for them to use. needless to say the rp boards went fucking crazy. even i for a while didn't feel too comfortable putting up my pets' stories and designs.

and this is coming from someone who used to absolutely love neo until 2012 or so. hell i even spent the vast majority of my teenage money on neocash.

don't regret quitting though.

http://media32.onsugar.com/files/2011/07/29/4/192/1922664/aa4fff6f0563d733_fruit-pops.jpg

http://www.theparentspot.com/wp-content/uploads/Cashew_ENG_lg.png

I'm not terribly surprised. More confused why they needed to copy a carton of milk or popsicle. I mean, you don't even need a reference to draw either. Just go in your damn fridge Neo if you really need it. And why copy the box art for milk? I have so many questions.

I think the big issue here is, Neopets is making money with the stolen work, Suta-Raito is not. Also shouldn't the fanart be protected by derivative works laws? Either way it's super shady to take someones work and claim the line-for-line copy is just 'coincidence'. As for the newest example, that's not even something they hold a copyright for, that's just stealing. To add insult to injury, the popsicle clearly has copyright written on it. :| Glad I switched to Subeta honestly, Neopets has been going downhill for a while now, this is absolutely the last straw for me.

I'm a little surprised no one has yet mentioned the pending class action lawsuit against neopets/Jumpstart for being in violation of CA state law for their neocash system. Just appeared on sunnyneo today or yesterday.

Oh, just updated the first post about that. I heard about it but didn't realize the severity of it. Thanks for mentioning it!

It is actually pretty crazy-- anyone since 2010 can claim money from it if it wins.

the OP has been updated to include info on a pending class action suit regarding automatic payments for premium subs - your friend could probably be compensated and then some once the courts decide.

thanks for updating! I honestly don't think I've had premium at all, despite being active all of those years. Do you know if you can check anywhere on neo for past subs?

I don't actually think there is a way to check for past subscriptions, unfortunately. Probably only way would be to check your provider.

Legality of fanart doesn't work that way though. Neopets owns the characters, the owner of suta-raito does not.

By definition, fanart, any fanart, not just neopets fanart is illegal under the law because it's a legally owned character by a company, property, etc..etc.. It doesn't necessarily mean they have to profit off of it, but using a copyrighted character by definition in your own artwork, and not crediting is a breach of copyright law, at least in the US.

So, in essence and this is based on what I remember from discussion of copyright law in college Neopets would probably win in the suta-raito case.

The subscription based service though, that's another matter altogether and the issues with premium is why even though I still have a neopets account I have and never will buy a premium account. I just don't trust neopets to distribute them in a fair manner.

Damn, I haven't logged on there for years.

Another great reason to stay away, I suppose. :P

Oh boy. I feel bad for Neopets as a... collective site. But JumpStart? Not really.

i still find their policy, NC will expire after one year is very ridiculous.

Wow this is pathetic. Bye bye neo. You were fun a decade ago.

I joined Neopets when it was still really new- I think I was in...7th grade at the time? You still needed totems to get onto Mystery Island I think it was, there was only 2/3 different 'worlds' to visit...It was so much better then.

Then it seemed like it went all to hell when NeoCash came into use...

The only time I go back is to create a new account, and see how long it takes me to get frozen after I post on the boards.

I knew about the Suta-Raito fanart stealing but not the class action lawsuit. Having heard some horror stories of Neopets auto-renewing subscriptions though I'm not surprised. Neopets used to be really fun back in the day but it's completely shit now which is a shame because it could've still kept going for a long time. NeoCash, the pet revamp, being sold to JumpStart and them killing off all of the big draws to the site... yeah, they should just shut Neo down at this point.