Valve (Steam) starts legal proceedings against Team Fortress and Portal fan teams for copyright infringement

The world of fan-art, fan-merch and fan-fiction resides in a copyright grey area, not because it is uncovered, but because legal action is taken at the discretion of the copyright holder of the original work.

The case of Valve (Steam) confirms the rule, making takedown requests (DMCA) of the GIT repositories of the Team Fortress and Portal projects that worked to make a fan-made version of these projects.

The motivation behind the take-down is very well defined: the use of digital assets outside Valve's platform, or the use of proprietary software libraries without a licence to use them.

This confirms, once again, the delicate balance that exists in fan-made productions and how much even a digital asset (e.g. 3D model in-game or for the metaverse) is a well-defined valuable asset that enjoys legal protections that can be used.