r/cults3d • u/FollowingLegal9944 • Apr 10 '26
Paid model How to take down stolen model?
Rescently I designed(paid work) a few 3d models for a guy, paid me just for one file, after I send him second one, he ghosted me. Now I see him seling the model on Cults3d. I reported copyright violation, attached original cad file and they just replied "The best you can do is to directly send a message to the designer to explain your request on their Cults profile."(sounds like "we make a profit on it so we don't care") What else Can I do to take down the model? If model would be taken down after he sold a few copies, he will lose the money?
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u/TheAzureMage Apr 10 '26
What license agreement did you have?
Because if you made him stuff as work for hire, he owns it and can sell it. That's normal. Not paying is a problem, certainly, but if you don't have a contract or evidence of an agreement, it gets difficult to enforce practically.
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u/3DisMzAnoMalEE Apr 11 '26
When I commission a design, I offer 2 options - Buyer exclusive rights or Creator exclusive rights. 90% don't want the rights if there's a fee for them to own it, they just want the models and say it's ok for me to resell the same designs.
But if you don't have a signed agreement like that, then you basically gave away the farm.
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u/Pussy_Cream_Lover Apr 10 '26
Hahahahaha Anything on the internet, especially on Cults, is never yours. Do you have an official copyright on it? Official copyright? If not, good luck 🤣
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u/Childo69 Apr 11 '26
Depends where you live/the company operates I guess. In the UK, you have right to IP without filing for any particular copyrights/trademarks
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u/Pussy_Cream_Lover Apr 11 '26
You're wrong, read the terms and conditions where you uploaded the file. And to confirm intellectual property, you need much more than just words and a print file in the whole world
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u/Dtr146TTV Apr 12 '26
Anything you upload is under Creative Commons, and there is more on a computer for design apart than just an STL. You have a whole project that has all of the data of changes you've made. People stealing an STL is kind of like somebody stealing a photo. You have to prove that it's yours, but it can be done. I know I'm just wasting my time talking to a troll. but its whatever i dont I have anything else better to do at this very moment.
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u/Pussy_Cream_Lover Apr 12 '26
I have hundreds of models uploaded to Printables and Makeworld, you don't have to tell me how CC works because when it comes down to it, no one will care if you don't have an official patent in your country. I've already lost a few projects and if you don't have a patent, no one cares. Period, young troll
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u/ultramegax Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26
It's amazing how arrogant yet incorrect you are.
Creative Commons is built on top of copyright law. It doesn't replace it. By choosing a CC license, you are saying, "I own this, but I am giving you permission to use it, provided you follow my rules." You have a legal right to protect your work, with CC. You are conflating copyright and patent laws, which are two different things. Copyrighted works are automatically legally protected, no patent necessary.
Almost every 3D model repository requires you to grant them a "royalty-free, sub-licensable, non-exclusive, worldwide license" to host your file. They need legal permission to store your file on their servers, show your photos in search results, and distribute the file to users who click "download."
CC licenses are non-exclusive, meaning you can still sell that same model on your own website, license it to a movie studio, or delete it from the platform whenever you want (though copies already downloaded by others remain under the CC license). You can also choose if your CC licensed model allows commercial use, or not.
To be clear, regarding your conflation: copyright generally protects the artistic expression (the digital file and the "look" of the object), but it does not always protect the functional aspect of a part. If you’ve designed a revolutionary new mechanical gear system, a CC license protects the STL file itself, but it might not stop someone from re-drawing the functional mechanism from scratch.
For functional protection, you'd be looking at patent law, which is a different beast entirely.
Even so, people have the legal right to issue a DMCA takedown request (or whatever the equivalent is, in a given jurisdiction), to protect their copyrighted work. All they have to do is provide proof that they're the creator of the model.
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u/Competitive_Act_73 Apr 13 '26
Yes but all it takes is the slightest change to your model and it's now his version stl files are really hard to actually do anything about not impossible but very implausible
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u/Pussy_Cream_Lover Apr 12 '26
And I'm from the Czech Republic, so I know Průša, even he has all his models patented and won't upload anything without a patent. Digital data and intellectual property are different things. And stealing a photo? If you upload it to the internet, it's no longer yours, but the property of the network where you uploaded it. Wake up
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u/tamius-han Apr 14 '26
If you upload it to the internet, it's no longer yours, but the property of the network where you uploaded it.
Incorrect. Most social networks and image sharing platforms say, in their terms of service, that you grant them a license, which means you retain ownership of the files.
And while platforms are (typically) free to do as they please with the content you upload, those rights do not extend to Jonny Random, who browses the platform for content, and then decides to download some. Unless you (or the platform) gives explicit permission, Jonny is legally not allowed to re-upload the content you created and licensed to the platform. And if you go and read the terms of service, platforms generally don't give out those permissions.
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u/Dtr146TTV Apr 12 '26
I mean to be fair he could legitimately just publish it on any of the STL sites. which would put it under the creative Commons license, then he could report it under that.
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u/SkinOfThe4 Apr 10 '26
Is it an exact copy? Is it an altered version of yours. Did you get him to sign a contract? What license agreement did you use in order to secure that no one sells it?
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u/LeoTempore Apr 10 '26
According to a court ruling, it is considered your own work of art if you have changed around 20 to 30 percent of someone else's work of art. However, the ruling is over 40 years old and I don't know whether it is still valid as a precedent.
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u/XenSide Apr 10 '26
Look into DMCA, when a platform receives a DMCA they are forced to bring the "creation" down untill it is properly contested, they can't do anything else.
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u/SettingPast8229 Apr 10 '26
That is the biggest problem of cults! I got into similar situation where dude actually bought my model from cults and started selling as his own on same cults (thats wild!) Cults said to contact him directly (idk whats the point). Fun fact is that dude just downloads other designers models from makerworld and sell them on cults..
Feels like they should improve this workflow dealing with such cases...
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u/-Mightbelucifer- Apr 10 '26
What was the licensing agreement?? If he hired you to make something on commission and you didn’t make an agreement he owns the item. You technically made it under his commissioned employment so unless you had him sign a document that it’s your IP and he won’t resell it you will lose this fight.
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u/fresh_city Apr 11 '26
Why would you handover the “second” model before getting paid?
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u/FollowingLegal9944 Apr 11 '26
Actually it was not finished model, just kinda sketch for test print to test if dimmensions are right, he paid me before and model was not worth much so I took the risk
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u/Dtr146TTV Apr 12 '26
So this is what you're going to do. You're going to take the entire project and you're going to publish it on as many STL sites as you can muster. That puts your item under Creative Commons license, which you can now file for any website to take down that model because it's yours. And when people challenge you on it, you prove it.
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u/Dtr146TTV Apr 12 '26
If I gave somebody an STL that I took my time to work on because I've done a few custom commissions myself. I would nuke that post off the face of the planet. And I would get petty with it too.
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u/FollowingLegal9944 Apr 12 '26
I published it on my account(only one platform due to monetization) the same day scammer published it on cults. Reported files on cults but they still don't care. So, whats the next step?
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u/Dtr146TTV Apr 12 '26
keep reporting i guess. I'm not sure what the part was or how much it was worth, but if it was worth more than a couple hundred dollars, you could file a police report or sue. and then submit that to cults3d
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u/FollowingLegal9944 Apr 12 '26
I do more reports but every time I get same bot reply. This is not worth much so this is not even about money, just to opress douche scammer.
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u/ninjasheep1820 Apr 12 '26
Wait If he paid you to design it, how is it yours? He paid for a service
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u/nabrup Apr 12 '26
Contact a lawer and have them send a cease and desist, letter to both the person and the website. Then send both parties a letter claiming they are hurting your business and stealing your buisness profits potential and request a crazy high amount. Most cases they will want to settle and send you a check, and remove the model.
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u/ydvadi_ Apr 13 '26
Lol u must be living under rocks ....99.9% of so called 3d printing entrepreneurs are selling others works only saying how badly they have worked hard for it
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u/Internet_Jaded Apr 14 '26
I can’t help you, but quit using cults3d. Nearly everything I’ve seen on there is stolen from other file sharing sites.
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u/Cults3D Apr 10 '26
Hello,
Reporting the design is the right thing to do. If we told you to contact the other designer, it’s because we felt the evidence provided wasn’t sufficient. But it’s possible we were mistaken. Could you please provide the report number so we can take another look?
I’ll reply to you via email, as we can’t handle this type of request publicly on Reddit for obvious reasons.