Mistigris Computer Art License - NicheInterests/mistfunk GitHub Wiki

Cthulu's initial draft of the Mistigris Computer Art License was a little confusing and had some tl;dr issues, so Polyducks has helpfully boiled it down to the following salient points:

  • The artist has full rights to their work.
  • Mistigris has rights to display their work.

Now, here's where the rubber meets the road:

  • The work can be shared and stored by anyone on any digital platform, as long as correct attribution is given AND it is used solely as an appreciation of the art (not as a method to sell or promote other material).
  • For any other use, including print (please, no more NFT inquiries!), please contact the artist directly or via Mistigris at [email protected]
  • To elaborate on that parenthetical NFT aside: nothing you see us sharing may be used in any blockchain-related technology, including NFTs, cryptocurrency, or future inventions in the space, without express permission by the creator.
  • Additionally, nothing you see us sharing may be used in any AI training datasets without express permission by the creator.
  • Yes, we're serious!

...

In the footsteps of ACiD Productions' much-derided 1995 WE-WILL.SUE (which we even poked fun at ourselves), this license was introduced in a sprawling, indulgent prototype form in MIST1220 (below), then tightened up at the end of 2020 to its current basic form (above, since updated to reflect emerging crypto, NFT and AI use cases). It was first tested by Mikrobitti Magazine in July of 2024, and was unexpectedly found being used by the chipshit crew (who apparently agreed with our copyright terms) in March of 2025.

The original version, including more explicit historical rationales for some of our decisions, follows:

Gosh, here we are in the future, and here we are doing something these wild and woolly info-anarchists of the '90s never in a million years anticipated: stating out terms for fair use of the art contained in this archive. (We haven't just gotten uptight in our boneless dotage, actions on the part of our fans and colleagues really have forced our hand in this matter! We do fully expect however that anyone viewing the artpacks on 16colo.rs or visiting our website will have long since internalised all these unwritten guidelines, and that it's the randos on social media -- who won't be visiting the source or experiencing the works in their intended context, sand consequently... will never be reading this in a million years -- we mostly need to worry about.) There is an understanding that some parties are given license to use computer art from artpacks. If Bob draws an ANSI screen for John's BBS Deadly Bladez and releases it in a g00bers artpack coordinated by TheDankGonch, it is understood that Bob can share it ("look at this great art I made last week!"), John can share it ("Bob made this great ad for my BBS, PS I'm changing its name to The Fleshlight Of Darkness") and TheDankGonch can share it ("Lots of good work coming from the g00b c0mmunity this month, check out this screen by Bob!") In the present day, 16colo.rs is on that list also ("check out this hot new piece from the fresh g00bz release!"). If you love what you see in our collections (this all probably applies to all other artscene releases unless they specify otherwise) and want to share it over social media, but for some reason (cough cough, Instagram) are unable to simply reshare the correctly- attributed posts we make, you should also feel at liberty to post the image with full credit given to the original artist (ideally tagging them as your choice of venue allows), which should be easy since we bake their ID into every piece's filename in plaintext. Can Bob print his art out on posters and sell them? Absolutely, he made the art! (Well, Sam Kieth made the art, Bob just adapted it to ANSI, so he would be pooh poohed from selling it at Fan Alley at a convention, and Sam might send him a cease and desist 8) John would be well advised to run any revisions of the art by Bob, but nominally it's his to fold spindle and mutilate eg. for the needs of Deadly Bladez, to turn into a menu or use on a business card. But don't sell your BBS' art on t-shirts if you didn't make it, John, that's tremendously gauche! Or if you want to go that way, license the art from the creator. No one else besides the original artists should be manufacturing and vending merchandise featuring it. You're not Bob or John? Why are you even wondering, of course you need to go ask the original artist for permission! If you can't figure out how to contact them, please contact US at [email protected] and we will liaise on your behalf.