Posted in: Comics | Tagged: creator's rights, tapas, taptastic

Tapas Removes Controversial Right Of First Refusal From Terms Of Service

Earlier today, Bleeding Cool reported on changes to the terms of services for Tapas, the webcomic syndicate formerly known as Taptastic, which sparked what the company called a "tweetstorm" of criticism on social media. Later in the day, Tapas gave Bleeding Cool a statement saying that they were listening to the feedback and attempting to clarify that their goal was to "help" creators, saying:

The purpose of the Right of First Refusal is not to take any rights away or steal your content. The purpose is to help you. We've witnessed multiple creators on Tapas accept unfair, uncompetitive deals and sign away their rights for far less than their work is worth. Creators who should have been paid 10x what they were offered agreeing to terrible deals because they either did not know their market value or did not have any competing offers.

A few hours have gone by, and Tapas has decided to remove the clause from their terms of service entirely. Here is a new statement provided to Bleeding Cool explaining the decision:

Hey everyone,

Feedback has always been key to sculpting Tapas, both as a platform and community. We've spent all day listening to your comments, and have decided to remove The Right of First Refusal clause from our Terms of Service, effective immediately.

Tapas has always been a creator-first platform. Our goal is to provide tools to make publishing easier, including free hosting, ad revenue sharing, the tipping program, and more.

We've always maintained that creators retain 100% ownership when self-publishing with us, and our goal with the introduction of The Right of First Refusal clause was to give independent creators more leverage when entering into negotiations with other publishers.

We apologize for the misunderstanding, and will attempt to clarify remaining misconceptions. We value your continued support, feedback, and participation.

Best,
Team Tapas

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