Really this thread's utterly pointless and has only so far served to let armchair lawyers stroke their e-peen over how much they think they know about copyright law.

Everyone with half a brain knows that this issue will be dealt with by the mods the same way it's always been dealt with no matter the outcome of this thread, IE respecting artists wishes and honoring takedown requests(though hopefully after actually verifying the artist). I'd honestly just lock and end it.