Riot Files DMCA Claim Against Independent Artist for Using the Word "Arcane"

Riot Games has allegedly filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) claim on Teespring, a platform for custom apparel and designs, for promoting a Ukrainian independent artist who had used the word ‘Arcane’ in her work. The artist who goes by the name KuttySarkArt took to Twitter to allege that her t-shirt design created to promote her comic “Arcane Flames” was taken down after Riot issued a copyright strike against it.

Riot released a Netflix animated series titled “Arcane,” earlier in December.

Artist throws light on her comic Arcane Flames

Kutty Sark wrote on Twitter, “Riot Games claimed that my original artwork is their intellectual property. I'm just some girl from Ukraine and have no voice if such a big company as Riot Games claims that my work belongs to them, even if all facts prove them wrong. The only thing I can do is to speak here.”

She also posted a screenshot of an email that Teespring allegedly sent her along with photographs of her t-shirt design that was marketed on the website.

According to the Tweet, the t-shirt bears the design of the comic’s protagonist Al’vis and also has the logo of the comic. Kutty Sark further shared that she came up with the idea for the artwork during the Inktober 2018 challenge and posted screenshots of her Tumblr profile. She voiced her frustrations and said, “It relates to my comic ‘Arcane Flames’ that clearly has no connection to any Riot Games’ intellectual property unless they copyrighted the word ‘arcane’.”

“I managed to reach TeePublic trying to file a counterclaim but their answer, in short, was like ‘The claim from Riot Games is valid because they are Riot Games’,” added Kutty Sark.

After sharing her helplessness in the situation, many users came to her defense and criticized Riot for its actions.

One Twitter user threw some light on what could have transpired and wrote, “Big company uses AI scraper to search for key images/phrases that match their intellectual property. If over X% plausible, DMCA request is sent. Storefront site is not going to argue on behalf of anyone. Storefront site gets hundreds of DMCAs every day. Storefront site complies.”

Riot’s response to the controversy

Riot posted on Twitter saying that it was working with many teams and third-party agencies to protect its IP (Intellectual Property) and clarified that the takedown notice was issued erroneously. It also apologized and added that it was investigating the issue.

After Riot’s intervention, artist Kutty Sark thanked the community for its support and added that she would keep everyone informed on how the issue pans out in the future.

The company has been facing a number of legal issues lately. Earlier in December 2021, the company was asked to pay $100M to settle a class-action gender discrimination lawsuit brought by female employees of the company.