 Is the SCP logo trademarked in Russia? Well, there's been a bit of a problem that's cropped up in the recent days, involving an individual who has registered a trademark for the SCP logo and tagline in the Russian Federation. Current international agreements pertaining to Russian trademark law mean it is, as of this posting, valid in the Eurasian Customs Union. That means Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan. This covers about 180 million people total. Now, you might be asking some questions as to what this means exactly, and probably also how could this possibly happen? Those are very different, but also incredibly important questions to answer. Now, there have been two videos by SCP Illustrated in the Volgon as of this posting that have gone into many of the core past details of the case, and I don't think it's going to do very much good to repeat those points here, except in as much as they pertain to helping explain what's actually happening. First of all, we're going to talk about what this revelation means. So, this is a trademark on the SCP logo. Not a copyright on SCP content. The trademark is also almost certainly invalid, but I could only say almost because a court or the trademark office will be the one who will ultimately decide that, and they could, against all logic, come to the wrong conclusion. But even if they did, it doesn't mean anything for people living outside the Eurasian Customs Union, and it actually means very little, though more on that in a second, to those who actually live inside that Customs Union. We should at this point probably put a name to the mysterious Russian fellow. His name is Andrey Dukhsen. Andrey is the man behind the ART-SCP project, though I should note, because I'm sure you're starting to get a little bit angry at this fellow, not the sole participant in that project, and I say that because, well, like I said, I can sense the rage building in my audience already. Let me be clear, this issue is being handled in court, and you're taking any actions against this individual or the ART-SCP project will diminish the chances of those court cases being decided fairly. So put the pitchforks away, and definitely watch all the way to the end of the video so you can understand what you should and shouldn't do about this problem. At this point, I'm probably going to enrage you further, so, you know, keep what I just said in mind. This individual registered the trademark of the SCP Foundation logo in mid-2017, and a physical copy of that document can be seen on your screen right now. Apologies for the poor resolution, but it's the best version I could find right now. So first we have to talk about what a trademark is in comparison to a copyright, and why it matters here. And we talk a lot about copyright law in regards to SCP content, because it's the most applicable and important piece of intellectual property law to worry about. There are, however, three cube pillars to intellectual property law. Patents, which are for inventions and designs, and are therefore almost completely irrelevant to this conversation. Copyright, which is the right of a creator to decide how and when their work is reproduced, and a trademark, which is for protection of brands and logos. Now, you'd get a patent on a new phone microchip, you'd get a copyright on your novel, and you'd get a trademark on, say, the Pepsi logo. Trademarks are supposed to be used to protect the integrity of a brand. If you buy a Pepsi branded product, you can reasonably expect a certain level of quality, because the owner of that trademark has barred others from using it on their own beverages. It protects consumers, it protects the companies, and generally isn't all around good thing. A copyright is a bit more complex, but it protects your right to choose how your creative works are distributed or used. For most of this, that's really hardly applicable, because we release our works under a Creative Commons license at publication. Now, the reason I'm making this hard distinction is because logs of the conversations with this individual, the person who acquired the trademark, indicated he's acting as if he owns a copyright on SCP content in the Eurasian Customs Union. That's assuming, of course, these third-party characterizations are correct, which I have no reason to think they aren't. From all I can gather from these conversations, this individual is contacting others who are producing SCP-related content in the Eurasian Customs Union, and essentially demanding a royalty licensing agreement from them in exchange for using the concepts behind the SCP Foundation. That is, he's asking for a cut of their profits in exchange for allowing them to continue to create merchandise or services based around SCP content. Furthermore, this individual seems to have a poor understanding of how copyright or even trademark law works. I'll quote from the logs, which again, I must be clear, are a third-party characterization I've collected from the Russian Wiki statements, directly here. Now, the person who is being contacted, one of the creators says, Creative Commons, Attribution, Share Like 3.0 is the official copyright owner license, and that's that. And the individual who trademarked the logo says, we're living in Russia, rules are a bit different here, so you'll be telling tales about Creative Commons to your cellmates in the Detention Center. Fun guys they are. I'm growing weary of this exchange. Channels closed. Let me be clear, in almost all countries, including Russia, the usage of criminal proceedings against trademark infringement is almost exclusively reserved for large-scale counterfeiting. And at worst, if the infringement was upheld, there'd just be limited civil penalties involved. This is not, however, legal advice, because I'm not a lawyer. The problem with this sort of behavior is always that nothing is certain, so if you think there's a 1% chance you're going to go to jail over a thing, you're probably quite likely not to do that thing, and rightly so. Also, just to note, the Creative Commons license is applicable to works in the Russian sphere, because Russia is a signatory to the Berne Convention, along with several other international copyright agreements that act to protect both foreign and domestic Russian copyrights. It's a two-way street. To act as though Russian law supersedes international copyright law would be to say that Tunisian copyright law supersedes Russian law, and that isn't how intellectual property law works on an international scale. But more to the point, as far as I can see, these are not even trademark infringement cases. They would be copyright infringement cases if this person owned a registered copyright on the concept of the SCP Foundation, but as of this publishing, he doesn't. Essentially, if you're not using the logo in the trademark application on your screen right now, that logo, you're not using it. You're almost certainly not violating the trademark. I mean, obviously. And at some point, this trademark will likely be ruled invalid on several merits. I'm not going to go into the details there, but that said, I should still warn you to act to limit your liability by avoiding use of this logo if you live in the Eurasian Customs Union until this is resolved. Finally, angry as all of you people are, you might be wondering how such a thing could happen in the first place. I've even seen some folk talking about how this is somehow a uniquely Russian problem, like, oh, this could only happen in Russia. I'll tell you right now, it's not helpful, and it's actually untrue. While there are probably conversations to be had on this topic, this sort of mistake in allowing the wrongful registration of a trademark could happen anywhere. Is it more likely in some places? Sure, but it was bound to happen somewhere eventually. Mistakes happen. The important part is that they get corrected. Now, what does this mean to you? Well, if you live in the Eurasian Customs Union, which as of this publishing is, again, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan, and you're creating SCP merchandise or services that don't feature the SCP logo, you should be fine. The individual who registered the trademark on the logo may very well still try to get you to sign a royalty licensing agreement where he demands part of your profits in exchange for allowing you to continue selling your goods or services. If that happens, you should probably contact the SCP Wiki staff, someone on the Russian branch or the English branch should be able to direct you to the right people, and they can help you further. If you are selling goods or services in the Eurasian Customs Union with the SCP logo on it, you should probably preemptively contact SCP Wiki staff, either again, the Russian or English branch, to direct you to the right individuals to help clarify any questions you have and so you can be prepared. And if you're like me, and you aren't in the Eurasian Customs Union, the core problem won't affect you. But knowing who this person is will be important. And it's also important to know what products or services he's behind. If you support the continued use of the Creative Commons license in SCP content, you cannot accept this behavior as normal. So I'll repeat and clarify. Andre Duxen is behind the ART-SCP project which sells SCP-related media. Do not, under any circumstances, take a hostile action against this person, his site or his project. Doing so, regardless of how anonymous you think you are, will harm the case currently being brought to resolve this issue. And moreover, you'd be harming folk who did nothing wrong but associate with someone you don't like. As far as I know, this individual doesn't actually create even any of the art in the books himself and merely collects it for resale. So even the artists involved in the project have nothing to do with this. But of course, giving how much of a threat this person is of the free and open, collaborative nature of the SCP Foundation content, I personally couldn't, in good conscience, buy any media produced by him or anyone who freely associates with him after being informed of these issues. That's a personal opinion though. It may all have to come to our own conclusions. Anyway, that said, I'll update the description if this case resolved in a definitive way so you can be informed as to if this is still a current issue, no matter when you're watching it. And if you liked the video and you'd like to see more of this kind of content, hit the subscribe button. I'm a writer on the wiki myself and I create all sorts of lore, writing advice, and creative content here on YouTube. You can also join my Patreon at patreon.com forward slash decimarian. You can find a link in the description and at the end of the video. I'm ready for you to join the wonderful individuals on the screen right now and help me keep making this kind of content. As is still early in the month, it's a great time to pledge and get all the benefits of being a patron. And most of all, thank you very much for watching.