To make it short and sweet, the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) is a reporting tool for copyright infringement. The person who originally created the work owns the copyrights to the work, and it includes (but not limited to) artistic, musical and literal work. In copyright law unauthorized use of someone elses work is considered theft, and therefore the original creators of the work have the right to submit a DMCA takedown.

On Steam, this means that if you have created original work such as an artwork and someone else starts using it without your permission, you have the right to make a DMCA claim and try to get the artwork removed. The reports are viewed by Valve only.

Review the Rules and Guidelines For Steam User Generated Content (UGC)

Go to Steam page of the content in question, find and press the "Report" flag/button





Click the link leading to the DMCA form:

Read carefully and throughoutly what the form has to say. The language will be strong and it will be tricky at times, but that's what Google is for.

After you have read and understood the form, start by filling in the first box under the first part about identifying content.


In this case the shortest thing to write would be "I am the one who created this artwork. The background is a [rarity] background from the game [game], but I created my artwork on it. The artwork I created and own is..." and then fill in what parts of the picture you made. Of course, this can be longer and I suggest you write your own version of it.

After this, you move on to the second box. I strongly suggest you read the info above the box and follow it. Basically, it's the box where you provide proof of you being the creator.


I recommend you have at least these as your proof in case of artwork reporting:

• A picture or gif where the original artwork is open in a photo editing software with all the layers and the name of the artwork visible, with a layer top saying "Copyright 201X, [Your full legal name] and [your steam name or user ID]"
  
• A picture or gif where you show the creation date of the artwork or file
  
• A link to your Steam profile's artwork if it's found on Steam

However, you're always welcome to use more proof that you're the creator, such as (but not limited to) progression pictures and timelapse videos.

The last part is really simple. It requires you to fill in your personal information which gets sent into Valve alongside the DMCA claim.

This is the last part of the form. You need to verify you are the copyright owner or the creator of the artwork and you need to check all boxes that you're sure that the user you're reporting is using the artwork without permission, and that you have not tampered or misrepresented any evidence.

Then you just need to write your name in to the box and verify one last time that all the information above is accurate.



After that you can submit the DMCA claim. But like every other form, make sure to proofread it before posting so you can avoid any misunderstandings or broken links!

http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=835308111

http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=836808327