Copyright Infringement
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@NessIllustration pre-FB they were stealing from my website—this image is from 2003, so who knows how long it’s been ripped off. I licensed it to a U.S. company for a few years in 2004 so it was all over the internet on their products then (flags, mousepads
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@TwiggyT that’s so nice of you to seek the artist out and support her directly
. I find it’s usually artist-to-artist who look out for each other and try to educate non-artists that stealing art (to display as their FB cover page as if it belings to them, to post in their messages without attribution, etc) is not ok. Some people honestly believe that if something is on the internet, it’s in the public domain. The manufacturers I am talking about are not ignorant; they just know they can get away with it. -
@BichonBistro whenever I have my copyright infringed commercially (mostly photos being used on instagram or websites) I register the complaint through my agent then we hand it over to the lawyer and they do it on a no win no fee basis - they do all the copyright registration and sending out legal letters prior to a court case. If you're in America it's worth asking a few copyright lawyers to consider your case. My friend just got paid £27,000 for copyright infringement, his share was £16K. It takes time but is often quite fruitful. I've got 3 cases on the go - one case has taken just over a year.
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@sigross wow, that is great you have lawyers willing to take on cases for that amount of money on a no win no fee basis! And that artists win!
My brother is a lawyer (not a copyright lawyer) and when I asked him if I had any recourse to recover about $4000 that my 3rd party payment processor took from my customers via my website but never paid to me, he laughed. He said #1, the parent company is based in Iceland, so I would need a lawyer certified to practice Icelandic law and #2, damages would have to be in the hundred thousand and up range for any lawyer to consider taking it on.
I know my brother was involved in a case where they wanted to recover funds from a guy in Thailand and they had to hire a Thai lawyer, but it was a case involving millions of dollars so they could afford it.
Have the infringement cases your agent is pursuing on your behalf involved infringers from countries outside your own?
I have a jaded opinion of legal channels in the U.S. based on a personal experience (not copyright law, property law) where the plaintiff won at the first trial with none of the legal shenanigans that are usually required to win a case (no discovery, no jury, just a simple “judgement on the pleadings” based on a judge’s review of property deeds and other documents). Plaintiffs were also awarded attorney’s fees (very rare in property law) but even a simple cut-and-dried case like that took 3 years and cost over $100,000, because defendants appeal. Wealthy defendants appeal until it’s impossible to appeal further, driving up the plaintiff costs and hoping that finally the plaintiffs simply can’t afford to continue and are forced to settle or drop the case.
I can’t imagine the expense involved in trying to sue a manufacturer in China for copyright infringement. But I am curious if there would be any legitimate action against U.S. distributors & sellers who continue to sell infringed items after they are informed that the items are in violation of copyright law. Even if a cease & desist letter stops internet sales, though, there’s no practical way to monitor dog show sales, craft fairs, etc.
Maybe if I had an agent or lived someplace other than the U.S., legal action might seem like more than a lot of money and hassle for very little payoff. My perception is that in the U.S., you have to be a big name, high visibility artist with potential for a hefty chunk of change in the lawyers pocket to be considered for copyright infringement cases taken on no win no fee.
Anybody here from the U.S. who has prevailed in a copyright infringement suit?
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@TessaW thanks! I went to her site and it sounds like she also has never taken legal action. Having my lawyer brother send a cease & desist letter probably won’t be effective since we have the same last name
but I have never tried a DMCA takedown notice as Loish has, which might work at the charm distributor level. I did notice on the DMCA takedown page that there is a reference to “assuming they're not in Rumania, China, or some other country where the locals don't fear U.S. copyright lawyers‘, which confirms what my brother says about taking any kind of action against foreign companies.I guess the bottom line is that life is literally too short for legal action in the U.S.
but publicly shaming infringers and trying to educate people who know and appreciate our work that it’s being used without permission (or financial benefit) is the most we can practically do (unless we are rich & famous). -
@BichonBistro i’m so sorry this happened to you. If there’s any consolation, their product looks like the an overweight dog with a bunch of stretch marks.
your art is great and really cute tho. I just hate it when these things happened. -
@BichonBistro I'm in the UK but the cases I have are being dealt with in the US - the case my friend won was in the US. My understanding is that the lawyers take on bulk cases of copyright infringement and put them all through copyright registration at the same time to save on money. Some cases are settled out of court. Lawyers take the costs off the top of the settlement and the rest is divided between agent and creator. And yes it does take years! Obviously I don't know the full workings of it. But if I get a payment every few years I'm happy for them to settle what cases they can globally. They'll only go after the cases where the payoff is bigger than the outlay. I'll ask my lawyer more about what the process is to gain a better understanding.
Although I wouldn't bother with China, as they have no rule of law when it comes to stealing IP. But ebay and facebook are US companies so at the least a take down notice can be served to cut off their avenue of sales.
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@BichonBistro personally I havnt, but one of my instructors at the SVA residency had his art stolen by disney. And he did win the lawsuit but disney dragged it out intentionally so that he would run out of money. It was a serious ordeal for him.
Im sorry this happened to you it sounds so frustrating. I had no idea doggy pins were such a big thing!
instagram and twitter: @artofaleksey
alekseyillustration.com -
@Aleksey Now that is some SERIOUS theft! I am so glad he prevailed against the odds and won—such a typical strategy for defendants with deep pockets
Yes, doggie art theft is very common—people like it on “stuff” and crooks have figured out how to make money without spending money. Much of the royalty-free canine stuff is really bad, so they look elsewhere.
Looking forward to seeing your piece at the Torpedo Factory show in Alexandria today
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@BichonBistro ohhh yay enjoy! Mine isn’t as great as some of the others damn. I saw some on their website and was totally blown away.
