Character Ownership and Copyright

Written by Masquerading Team • Updated January 2026

Understanding character ownership and copyright is important when creating characters on Masquerading. This article explains your rights and Masquerading's license to your content.

Your Content and Licensing

When you create content on Masquerading (characters, posts, images, etc.):

You retain ownership of your original content
You grant Masquerading a license to use, reproduce, store, adapt, publish, translate, and distribute your content on the platform
This license is worldwide, non-exclusive, and royalty-free
This allows Masquerading to display your characters, posts, and content across the platform
You can edit or delete your content using the platform's editing functionality

For full details, see Section 11 of our Terms & Conditions.

Using Copyrighted Characters

You can create characters based on existing intellectual property (movies, TV, comics, games, etc.), but you must:

Use them for personal, non-commercial purposes only
Not claim ownership of the underlying intellectual property
Respect fair use guidelines—this is a community for fans and roleplay
Be responsible for ensuring your use doesn't infringe on others' rights

Important: While creating cosplay/LARP characters based on existing works is common in fan communities, you acknowledge that third-party intellectual property belongs to its rightful owners. Masquerading is not responsible for intellectual property disputes.

Original Characters

You're encouraged to create original characters:

Completely unique characters of your own design
Characters inspired by (but not copying) existing works
Your own creative interpretations

Original characters give you full creative control without intellectual property concerns.

Character Names: Trademark Restrictions

Character names cannot contain certain restricted keywords:

"Masquerading" or variations thereof
"Admin," "Support," "Moderator," "Staff," "System"

These names are reserved to prevent impersonation. See Can't Create a Character for details.

Respecting Others' Characters

When interacting with other users' characters:

Don't impersonate other users' characters without permission
Don't claim ownership of characters created by others
Respect creative choices and character narratives
Don't harass users about their character choices

Important Information

Key points from our Terms & Conditions:

All information you provide must be true, accurate, current, complete, and non-misleading
Your content must not infringe on any person's legal rights
Masquerading may remove content that violates our Terms at any time
You're responsible for your content and its compliance with applicable laws