Hello, I am Asty.
I am the copyright holder and creator of the original character (OC) ‘Asty.’ Driven by my passion for the song "Lemon Melon Cookie," I commissioned a character animation valued approximately 800,000 KRW (~$600 USD) from the artist 'Myangchodan'. This video is a non-commercial "derivative work" (fan creation) that combines the original song’s essence with a creator's sincere effort.
Recently, however, I discovered that a mobile app developer ('Image Manufactory'; app name: OC Maker: Animal Avatar) has been using this video for paid app advertisements without my permission—and without the original songwriter (TAK)'s permission. This infringes my character's copyright and commercially misappropriates the original song's IP and visual assets. I have reported the situation to the original composer, TAK, and requested a joint response.
What is more devastating is that YouTube (Google), the platform that ought to stop such infringement, continued to collect ad revenue from the infringer while leaving the infringing ad up despite my repeated submissions of evidence.
YouTube boasts of its creator-protection systems, yet in response to my legitimate report it gave me only a "channel termination" threat (citing formalities such as the Brady precedent), and the ad kept running—about 7 days after my first report and about 5 days after I submitted the direct URL and Power of Attorney—for 13 days in total, the length of a typical ad campaign.
The core of this case is a structural problem: with copyright infringement via paid ads, victims can rarely obtain the ad link, so reporting is delayed or blocked from the start. YouTube has not fixed this; it delayed action after my report, and the infringing ad kept running. I repeatedly requested (1) sanctions against the advertiser and app, (2) improvements to the ad-infringement reporting process, and (3) a redress/compensation process for unjust enrichment, but YouTube ignored these completely—without a single substantive reply. In practice, considering litigation means costs in the tens of thousands of dollars, individual creators cannot realistically respond, which functions as "de facto immunity" for bad actors. If we leave this structure unchallenged, the same abuse will repeat—so I am making this case public.
Stolen video:
🍋🍈🍪 Lemon melon cookie!! #LemonMelonCookie #furry #animation #meme #퍼리 #레몬멜론쿠키 먕초단님께 넣은 커미션이에요!
App that stole the video:
Screenshot of the Infringing Ad:
The stolen ad is receiving over 100 times more exposure than the original video I rightfully uploaded.
Original Video: Approx. 3k views (YouTube Shorts) (views increased due to people coming to notify about the ad)
Infringing Ad: Over 17k Likes (Estimated approx. 510k views)
I received a report via TikTok DM that my video was being used without permission in a foreign (Portuguese-speaking) YouTube advertisement.
Upon checking the DM, I filed a report with YouTube.
However, because it was an "advertisement," it could not be found through regular search and was shown randomly based on targeting, making it virtually impossible to obtain a direct video link.
YouTube’s standard copyright reporting tool requires a direct URL, making it unusable in this case.