The Clone Wars

This past year has had it's ups and it's downs. With the economy tanking, every creative business has been effected in one way or another and mine was no exception.

But the most disturbing trends within our industry in my opinion are two fold:

1. The continued growth of the "Creative Industrial Complex" via pre-fab design, which I touched on in an earlier post this year. I'll have more to say about this specific topic in an upcoming post on my blog.

2. The exponential growth in copyright infringement. I've had a total of "62" individual cases (That I'm aware of) where designers, marketing firms, design studios, ad agencies, stock companies, and other businesses used my artwork without paying for it or seeking permission to use it.

Unfortunately I don't see this problem going away. More and more art schools are focusing on the tools rather than the creative process that facilitates original and unique ideas. Thus they are producing the next generation of copyright infringers who ironically in many cases are the same mindless drones who facilitate the degrading of our industry by pimping their ware to industrial hacks like CrowdSpring.com.

But I digress.


Google Image Search.

Showcasing my artwork online is a double edged sword. For a creative hired gun like myself you have to promote or perish. Marketing my services is a must, but it also opens me up to being exploited by unscrupulous design hacks who have no problem googling for their creative solutions.

Most of the cases I was able to handle myself by sending out a copyright infringement letter. Some are just over zealous tattoo lovers who never bothered to ask permission but still feel obligated to email me a picture so I can share in their flattering copyright infringement. This over time has spawned a rogues gallery of what I like to call "Walking Portfolios."


The Damage
I've spent roughly "73" hours responding to the "62" individuals cases. I don't charge by the hour but if I did I figured the amount of time I've invested this year alone is roughly $8,500.

Three of the cases I had to hire a copyright lawyer to deal with them. I settled two of those amicably. The third case is currently ongoing and is represented by the video below.


Chronological list of all the 2009 infringers.

- Photobucket.com User Tribal Tattoo Face Art
- Zazzle.com User Bonehead Skull Artwork
- MySpace.com User Tribal Tattoo Face Art
- Beerorkid.com Trashing Abe Art
- Deviantart.com User Tribal Tattoo Face Art
- Motattoo.com Tribal Tattoo Face Art
- Olloo.com Tribal Tattoo Face Art
- Alaskaslist.com Polar Bear Logo Art
- Deviantart.com User Tribal Tattoo Face Art
- SideHatchEntertainment.com Tickles the Evil Clown
- Chrinodesign.com Billy Mays Artwork
- VolcanoVistaHawks.com Black Hawk Artwork
- Community.mediacorp.com.sg Tickles the Evil Clown
- Flickr.com User White Tiger Art
- Flickr.com User Tribal Bat Tattoo
- Logotypes101.com Fire Giant Art
- ShutterStock.com User / Serbia Black Hawk Artwork
- Lacrosse.schigas.com Black Hawk Artwork
- Deviantart.com User Tribal Bat Tattoo
- IMVU.com User Tribal Bat Tattoo
- 895thehawk.com Black Hawk Artwork
- Dummidumbwit.wordpress.com Billy Mays Artwork
- Unconfirmedsources.com Billy Mays Artwork
- Emptees.com Tribal Bat Tattoo
- Mundozenn.com / Brazil Tribal Tattoo Face Art
- Deviantart.com User Tribal Bat Tattoo
- LAtimes.com Billy Mays Artwork
- SeemyButton.com Billy Mays Artwork
- Consumerist.com Billy Mays Artwork
- Brownsville Early College HS Scorpion Mascot Artwork
- EveryTattoo.com Tribal Tattoo Face Art
- Tao-Of-Tattoos.com Tribal Bat Tattoo
- Twitter.com User Self Portrait Illustration
- Discrim Athletic Tees Black Hawk Artwork
- Zazzle.com User Billy Mays Artwork
- Vyzion360.com Tribal Tattoo Lion
- Flickr.com User Tribal Tattoo Face Art
- Junklist.eu Two Headed Eagle Art
- JohnHaller.com Billy Mays Artwork
- Deviantart.com User Tribal Bat Tattoo
- Deviantart.com User Tribal Bat Tattoo
- Flickr.com User Tribal Bat Tattoo
- Picsquare.com Tiger Art
- Deviantart.com User Alien Skull Art
- Flickr.com User Tribal Bat Tattoo
- Skreened.com Billy Mays Artwork
- Gun Shop, Tacoma Espy Graphic Bird
- Photobucket.com User Black Hawk Artwork
- KosherHam.com Billy Mays Artwork
- InkedMedia.com Tribal Tattoo Skull
- MindSpark.com Billy Mays Artwork
- VectorStock.com User Doodle Fish Artwork
- case-mate.com Tribal Tattoo Face Art
- designbyhumans.com Tribal Tattoo Face Art
- (US Army) wood.army.mil White Tiger Art
- Zazzle.com User Owl Artwork
- WAWK.com Black Hawk Artwork
- Classiccitysigns.com Black Hawk Artwork
- Embroiderydesigns.com Alien Skull Art
- Flickr.com User Tribal Tattoo Face Art
- Houseofgrafix.net Billy Mays Artwork
- Uthstuph.com Security Shield Logo

"Unique" and colorful tribal pattern.

I don't enjoy getting my work ripped off and it frankly pisses me off when I have to waste my time dealing with it when it happens. That said I still try not to be a jerk with the people I'm forced to confront. I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt and try to treat the situation in a reasonable manner. If the infringer responds reasonably and works with me to resolve the matter than I can avoid taking it to next level legally.

But that isn't the case with case-mate. (Pardon the pun) I gave them three months to respond to my reasonable request regarding their infringement and use of my tribal face tattoo art on one of their products to no avail.

So as this year ends a copyright infringement lawsuit begins.

Follow Up: I've settled with case-mate. It took four months of back and forth but I was able to protect my copyright.

Ricoh Copies?

Keyboard Characters Set.

Four years ago I created a unique self-promotional product I called Keyboard Characters. It was a fun set to create and worked really well as a self promotion for my business.

I still give them out at speaking engagements even though Apple has changed the modus operandi on keyboards so you can't insert stuff like your use to be able too. And I still have about five boxes of them sitting in my closet at home. ;-P


"Pet Monster" Keyboard Character.

Since I have them posted on my web site I periodically get email from art directors or creative directors who request a set. When I get a request like this I always send them one and include a few tear sheets as well. So in that respect it's still serving as a promotional item for me.

Around September, 2008 I received a phone call from an ad agency in New York. The person asked if I could send them two sets of the Keyboard Characters. I did and included some tear sheets. Nothing ever came from it and soon I forgot all about that brief interaction.


Ricoh Ad showing artwork in question.

Around February, 2009 I received an email from another designer asking me:

"Did you do some illustration for Ricoh?"

I told them I hadn't and they responded "Well I saw this ad in a magazine and it looks just like your character."

When I saw this ad I got that sinking feeling in my stomach, you know the one that happens when you look in your rear view mirror and a police car is right on your bumper.

It turns out that the agency (I'm purposely not naming names) I had sent two sets of Keyboard Characters too was the same agency that handled the Ricoh campaign for the C900 in September, 2008.

They didn't simply copy (pardon my pun) my art and use it, that would be easy enough to deal with. What they did is borrow the concept and equity (segmented multi-colored monster) of my art and exploited it for their own work. And they didn't even do a good job at that.


Ricoh "Scary!" campaign for C900.

I've talked to my copyright attorney about this and he agrees that it was definitely derived from my work but I have no way to prove it. In other words if I would have sent the Keyboard Characters via UPS with a tracking number and receipt that would have sufficed to prove it.

Since I posted this I've been contacted by a lawyer explaining my opinions and I'm now pursuing that course of action. Thank you for helping me understand how I can address this through official circles, I appreciate it.

I think anyone with an ounce of common sense can discern the source however, so I'll leave it in the court of public opinion.


Hostage quality photo of Ricoh brochure.

This summer I got another email from someone containing this image of a Ricoh brochure showcasing this character art again. Every time I think about this it pisses me off. I know someone, some where had to reference my design in order to create their own B movie version of it.

I debated whether to even post about this or not. But over the last year I've had numerous other people email me who have seen the original ad and thought I had done the monster art. Its like having a scab that just begins to heal and than gets snagged on something and ripped off again exposing the original wound.

So I decided to post about it, and see what others thought.

Is This Your Art?

My fish art stolen and sold on VectorStock.com

Like millions of other people the first thing I do most days is check my email. I sit down with a cup of coffee and read through my inbox early in the morning, respond to anything waiting my attention and put out any necessary fires.

My least favorite email subjects to read in the morning are ones that say:

"Is this your artwork?"

I dread opening them (But I do appreciate people point them out too), because I often find an attachment showcasing another infringement or a link to a web page that has my art displayed on it, or worse selling it.

These emails are always a double-edged sword for me. One one hand I appreciate people watching out for me, but each time always ends up taking at least an hour of my time to respond and there is no way to recoup that loss. On the other hand I've spent about a hundred hours this year alone getting to know the copyright laws in and out.

Well I got one of these emails today and it informed me that a nebulous user going by the screen name of "TuNiSaNo003" had posted my art as his own on VectorStock.com (It's now been removed)

A Growing Problem
As I write this post I have had over "50" separate cases of copyright infringement so far in 2009. I just settled a matter that happened four months ago which I had to get my copyright lawyer involved in, but thankfully most I can handle using my DMCA formatted infringement letter.

Such was the case with this most recent example of stolen art.

I really wish Google would buyout a company like Tineye.com and make it really useful with their infinite database. They could offer it much like Google Analytics and I'd even be willing to pay an annual fee to track my art.

Come on Google Spiders sniff out this post and put it in front of you acquisition board.


My original doodle wall art.

I created this art as part of a creative experiment I did a few years ago. I'm not sure if the weasel pulled the image from this post or if he got it from my corresponding tutorial?


IllustrationClass.com tutorial "Doodle Book Worm."

I'm guessing the culprit pulled this image from my tutorial on IllustrationClass.com since it has a larger jpeg in it of the same artwork?.

Either way VectorStock.com responded to my infringement letter and removed my artwork and shut down the users account in a very reasonable time I may add.

Copyright Infringement Letter
As a creative our work will exist online for the duration of our career in one way or another. So at some point you'll have to deal with those who have no scruples taking your work without permission and using it. I hope this pre-formatted letter will help you deal with the situation a lot easier.

View/Download Copyright Infringement Letter.

Graphic Heists

The original "Tribal Face" illustration.

Recently I've had a handful of infringements take place regarding my tribal artwork shown above. These types of situations tend to happen in clusters for some reason?


My tribal art hacked and sold on Shutterstock.com.

This is now the second time shutterstock.com has been caught selling my artwork on their site without permission. Last year the same thing happened with my hawk illustration and it turned out to be some design weasel in Serbia.

At least this time shutterstock.com removed the art pretty fast. But it makes you wonder what their vetting process is.

If you're curious what if any recourse there is, there isn't. This is due to the inadequate and weak DMCA. Corporations like shutterstock.com can hide behind it and as long as they remove the content when notified, they don't have to reimburse the copyright owner. (Thank you very little President Clinton)


Tribal art tattooed on some dudes arm.

Most of this arts infringements come via tattoo applications. The majority of these type of usages never get my permission, but thankfully some do.


Tribal art tattooed on some persons calf muscle.

I'm often asked "How do you locate these?" Well, most of the time I don't. For example with this specific tattoo my fellow design friend in Portland spotted this tattoo on a guy in the same store he was shopping at and asked if he could take a picture of it with his iPhone. He then emailed it to me.

Talk about walking portfolios.


Tribal art ripped and bedazzled by Diamante Transfer.

I've seen this art stolen in almost every way imaginable in the last five years but this was the first time any of my art has been bedazzled. When it's a company infringing I have to send out an official DMCA Infringement Letter. This usually does the trick without any further followup.

If some of these companies would just approach me I'd be willing to work out a fair licensing agreement with them. And the price I charge for tattoo usage is very reasonable.

In 2009 I had to deal with a total of "72" individual infringements. It got old quick. Thankfully 2010 hasn't been quite as bad, but it's still higher than I'd like at "33" infringements to date.

Rogues' Gallery

My original tribal face tattoo art.

Over the past eight months I've been collecting a rogues' gallery of assorted people who have used my art to either get a tattoo or create a tattoo for another person. None of the people in this post sought permission to use my art and a few even posted my art within their own online accounts, listing it with their own copyright notice.

Every time I post about this topic I get a swarm of people saying "If I were you I'd be flattered!" or "You should be happy people like your work!" etc. Well let me say before I get any further that of course I'm flattered that people like my art and want to get it permanently tattooed on their body. Who wouldn't be?

That said, neither of those two comments excuse anyone from the obligation of getting permission to use another persons artwork. It's my art period the end and if they want to use it they should ask first. A handful have done this and I've worked out very fair arrangements with them and they've received flash sheets from me to assist them in getting my art tattooed with precision. The people in this post didn't do that.


Derived art by Michel Schwarz.

Michel did ask permission to use my art, but it came after he already had the tattoo done. Personally I think he should have just drawn the whole thing out himself, he obviously has the chops. But over all it came out pretty good and he was nice enough to share the picture with me.


My tribal face poorly executed on Natas Filth. (Screen Name)

Some one had emailed me a link that had the photo of the shoulder. I did some connecting the dots and found it's home on Natas. Beautiful women, but an ugly tattoo job. Too bad.


My original tribal bat tattoo art.

This design is becoming my most popular tattoo design. It's showing up all over the place like walking portfolios.


My tribal bat perched on the back of TheDeadAmongUs. (Screen Name)

Originally I thought this tattoo was used by a goth girl celebrity from Transilvania, Romania named Razor Candi? But the real persona behind the costume visual branding seems to be quite normal and answered my email informing me she doesn't have a tattoo on her back.

So I did some more poking around on Deviantart.com and discovered it is on the back of "TheDeadAmongUs" AKA Lauren. (Who apparently is a fan of "Razor Candi)

Lauren values her privacy so she doesn't reveal her last name in her profile, but she does share the fact she loves classic cars, death rock, body modification, vintage corsets, latex fashion, dermal implants, hairless cats, b-rated movies, roller derby and one could argue my tribal tattoo art as well.


My tribal bat on "Hell Ya Buddy!" (Screen Name)

I get asked all the time "How do you find these?" well usually I don't. Most often it works like this:

- Receive email saying: "Hey is this your art?" (Link provided)
- Visit link and usually see a hostage quality photo showing my art
- Shake head, groan, and say "Weasel!"
- Ask person to remove the image showing my art
- Blog about it here

My tribal bat on the leg of Helen Norcross.

OK, so my preference is shown on the left and reality is shown on the right.

If it were up to me I'd make some kind of tattoo law that only allowed well proportioned young people to get them done. Tattoos look great on beautiful bodies but not so hot on the modus operandi of the greater populace. (That includes me BTW)

I have no idea what Helen Norcross looks like? Flickr.com had all kinds of pictures of her family and husband but she always seemed to be behind the camera.


My tribal bat tickling Sherri Langfords leg.

It looks like a guy by the name of Bull Snook is claiming copyright ownership of my work. Well that is a bunch of bull! (Pun intended) And Sherri should know better being a photographer herself.

At best it's a clear case of derivative work.


My tribal bat kickin' it on the calf of Ramsey1984's. (Screen Name)

Kind of a strange location to put a horizontally oriented design? But thankfully Ramsey1984's calf muscle is as meaty as a ham hock with enough real estate to suffice. The tattoo artist seems to have done a nice precise job too, so props for that.


My tribal bat hacked together on Zoro4me3's gut. (Screen Name)

The following is another example of derivative work.

It's bad enough when people use my art without permission, but it's insult upon injury when nebulous screen names have hacked my art and produce a craptacular tattoo with it.

Of course this doesn't stop people from proudly displaying it to the world via the internet of course. So lets all hug one another and celebrate mediocrity!


My tribal bat gracing the wrist of Jakk636. (Screen Name)

Tattoos like this remind me of the old PeeChee folders everyone would doodle on in school. But in this case he chose to do it on his own body instead. So for the next 70 years or so he'll have to stare at this poorly executed art and cringe.


My tribal bat scrawled on EvilMuffinMan. (Screen Name)

Do you know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man, that lives on Drury Lane, and apparently hires the blind to poorly trace my tattoo design on his back.


My original tribal lion tattoo art.

It's not just people wanting a tattoo it's also tattoo artists themselves who have no qualms about using other peoples art without permission. I know there are always exceptions and many good tattoo shops try to avoid this situation, but here is one artist who didn't.


My tribal lion on some persons body done by Pisopez. (Screen Name)

Well I've managed to figure out that the artists first name is Joel and apparently Joel is some what of a renaissance man. He's an artist who paints, plays the guitar, does tattoos (see image above) and even throws axes for fun?

Joel seems to be pretty accurate with those axes too, so I'll just say this:

"Next time axe me for permission Joel!"

VonsterTattoos.com Coming Soon
I've had so much interest in my tattoo art over the past four years I've decided to create my own official set of tattoo flash sheets that I'll be marketing through a new web presence called VonsterTattoos.com. It'll take me a good chunk of the summer to get all the art done but I hope to have it launched by Halloween at the latest.

This will give those who want to use my art for tattoos an easy way to do so legally and at a very fair and reasonable rate. If you subscribe to this sites RSS feed you'll be notified when this new site launches.

Stopping Copyright Infringement

My Original Artwork.

They say things come in threes and that has proven true regarding recent copyright infringement regarding my artwork. Anyone who reads my blog is aware that my hawk mascot art was ripped off and sold online.

When ever I post about things like this on my blog it gets shared with other designer. Designers by nature are visual thinkers for the most part and we remember what we've seen. One person who read my blog sent me an email which has revealed another infringement using my hawk art. (If you are counting that is infringement number two)

But this new matter is far too complicated for me to handle via my own infringement letter and I have turned it over to my copyright attorney to consult on and I'll follow his lead.

Well on Saturday I was made aware of another infringement regarding my bat art. (See they come in threes)


IMVU.com virtual rip.

I was able to follow DMCA protocol and send the infringing web site my infringement letter and they have pulled down the art that one of their users were selling.

It's bad enough people rip my art in the real world, but now they are ripping it and selling it to virtual clients too? (Anyone who is familiar with IMVU.com please feel free to comment)

My infringement letter post shows how to write to a web site or individual that has infringed upon your copyrighted work online. And below is the type of standard issue reply you'll get back once a site like IMVU.com has acted upon it. It's cold, calculated and as you can see allows them to hide behind the DMCA.

Modus Operandi Response From Infringers

Hello,

In compliance with the IMVU policy relating to claims of copyright or trademark infringement, which is meant to adopt and implement the procedures specified under the DMCA and US copyright law, IMVU has taken the following actions regarding your complaint:

1) The offending items have been placed on DMCA hold and we have disabled access to or removed them from the IMVU catalog.
2) Notified the person who created and/or posted the offending items.

For more information on IMVU’s DMCA/Trademark policies, or for instructions on reporting future violations, please visit our DMCA page.

Terms of Service.

Please note that this is our ordinary response upon receipt of a formal DMCA takedown notice, in compliance with the DMCA and our policy.  We express no view with regard to the merits of your claim(s) of infringement or with regard to any other matters you may have communicated to us.  We reserve all rights and defenses.

Kind Regards,
Persons Name

.....................
Persons Name
Title
IMVU, Inc.
fax:  (650) 618-2561

In Closing

All the above transpired over a two day period. I discovered the infringement Saturday. Sent off a my infringement letter the same day. And on Monday I got the response shown above and the matter was resolved.

Now this doesn't always happen this smoothly. And if a copyright infringer insists on being a weasel you might need to get a lawyer involved. But most reasonable people will admit the transgression and align with DMCA protocol.

View Copyright Infringement Letter.

Writing a Copyright Infringement Letter

Design Weasels Beware!

Over the years I've had my artwork stolen via the internet more than a few times. I'll admit it gets old and when I now see an email show up in my inbox and the subject line read "Is this your artwork?" I still get a sinking feeling in my stomach because I know it'll waste hours of my time having to deal with it.

Because this has happened to me a lot (16 times so far in 2009 alone) I've educated myself in regards to the copyright laws as they pertain to my profession as an Illustrative Designer. Specifically the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

I'm no legal eagle by any means but I've had to hire a copyright lawyer to fight a few violations that exceeded my own ability to manage and resolve myself and through these circumstances I've been able to learn how best to handle these online infractions in accordance to the DMCA.

Who Owns Copyright?
In general the creator of the artwork by default owns the copyright for the art regardless if it has been officially filed with the government or not. That said having it filed gives you a better foundation for litigation pursuits of course. But realistically it's not practical for a digital illustrator to officially copyright each and every piece of art they create.

You can gang up 4-6 images on one 8.5x11 sheet and get them all copyrighted officially for around $50. So I've tried to cherry pick the artwork I think is most vulnerable to infringement and once ever quarter send off a sheet to get them protected. So a budget of $200 can go a long way to protect yourself annually.

Responding to Copyright Violation
So what do you do when your art has been stolen and someone is using it online without your permission? Well below is a link that will show you a pre-formatted letter you can customize and send to the web site or person responsible for providing the access to your infringed artwork.

Most web sites have accepted this DMCA protocol requiring six points of information to be provided by the infringed party to the web site containing the alleged copyright infringement. And most web sites will allow you to email it to their legal contact but some require you to physically mail it as well which ironically contradicts the DMCA which says a digital signature is as good as a physical one, but I digress.

You'll notice the six points in my example but I also add a seventh point as well. Most reasonable people will immediately remove the art but very few if any will provide the information I request in point number seven. But that doesn't stop me from requesting it, I should know that information so I can follow up on being fairly compensated for my arts usage but unfortunately most sites will just honor the six points and ignore the seventh and hide behind the DMCA which allows them to. Hence why I refer to them as weasels.

View Copyright Infringement Letter.

I hope this information helps you as you strive to share your work online without fear of infringing weasels taking advantage of your hard work.

Von

Design Weasels

ShutterStock.com used by "Design Weasels."

Like 99% of all the rip-offs of my art I was informed of this violation via email from the agency who originally hired me to create the art for them in the first place. They spotted my artwork being sold on ShutterStock.com.

Having my artwork ripped off is nothing new to me. Unethical corporate weasels can be effectively dealt with via legal measures to hold them accountable. It's a pain to deal with but as you can read in the linked post can be successfully handled.

What upsets me the most is so-called fellow designers or in this case a "Design Weasel" by the screen name of "Milann" who took my hawk mascot art and repurposed it under the guise that it's their own creation and uploaded it to his/her ShutterStock.com account so they could sell it to other designers who purchase pre-fab art on the cheap.


My original "Black Hawk" artwork.

The one aspect about being an Illustrative Designer I love is the creative process. Actually working through the development of ideas, refining my art and seeing it come to life and enjoying how others respond to it. That in and of itself makes all the effort to create the artwork worth it for me. The fact I get paid to do it is awesome.

Not only are these design weasels causing me problems but they are missing out on the best part of being a creative, and that is to create. They will never know the true passion and joy found in the midst of a creative process if they just rip-off the end result from other creatives. It's kind of sad really and just flat out wrong on so many levels I don't even know where to begin?


Animated comparison. Direct lift of my artwork.

Perhaps the design weasel in question will read this post? With that in mind let me talk directly to designer "Milann" who ripped me off.

I suggest you take serious inventory about your own career path. You've been caught, your identity might remain nebulous, but you still know how much of a design weasel you've been in doing this.

You can choose to keep acting like a design weasel, ripping other peoples artwork off and refusing to be an actual creative, or you can realize you've mad poor choices and turn over a new design leaf and start over. Challenge yourself, make a commitment to design excellence and begin to grow your own skills and talent so that you can truly be a successful creative and stop being part of the problem. It's your choice.

Corporations Hide Behind DMCA

Since Clinton passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) back in 1998 online businesses have been hiding behind it when copyright violations are discovered on their own sites. In a nut shell a company can post anything they want and get away with it as long as it takes before someone notices, once they are notified of the copyright infringement all they have to do is remove it. No compensation is given, no royalties paid, no usage fees given. The artist basically gets screwed and the company hides behind the DMCA to justify all of it.

You can read about it for yourself via this DMCA PDF.

Weasel designers and weasel corporations are usually found nested together in their weasel dens of design iniquity.

Hopefully sites like ShutterStock.com will exterminate the design weasels and do a better job of vetting their content. I realize full-blame should rest solely on the shoulders of the individuals who choose to steal the art to begin with and use stock sites to distribute it.

Personally I wish Google would buy a company like Tineye.com and really make this type of searching more viable for artists to monitor who is using their work without permission. Then stock companies could plugin to this service and make it part of their upload protocol and help prevent design weasels from flourishing online.

Follow Up - Phase 1
I know some will disagree with me but I feel when a company like ShutterStock.com hides behind the DMCA like weasel corporate suits it doesn't help anyone. And I'm sorry but I find this statement they provided a little bit self-serving:

"Shutterstock's Privacy Statement constrains me from providing the information you request regarding the alleged infringer."

So let it be known that anyone can use a service like ShutterStock.com to distribute stolen art and they'll cover your back from any legal repercussion via their own self-defined privacy statement if you happen to get caught. Seems like a conflict of interest to me?

I'll give them this though, they have pulled the artwork down and closed the account for the user "Milann." Good, that is an appropriate response. But to say that "Milann" is an "Alleged Infringer" is just corporate weasel talk. Seriously, is there any doubt that this clown stole my art? I'm not alleging anything, I'm stating fact. But I digress.

Follow Up - Phase 2
OK, all is resolved now. All I need to say is Twitter rules!

Please Ask Permission

SirGrimm86 (Flickr User), another fan of my "Tribal Tattoo" artwork.

Seems like every three or four months someone takes my artwork and gets it permanently applied to their body. The last time this happened was in October of 2008.

This same modus operandi has been going on now for the last few years. It makes me wonder how many I don't find out about? Normally other people spot it and let me know, but last night while checking web traffic I came across this latest one.


My Original Artwork.

I certainly don't mind people wanting to make a life time commitment to my art like this, that much is very flattering of course and I'm glad they like my work. I'd just rather people ask permission first, and acknowledge that I own the artwork and need to grant them permission to use it before they use it.


Imperial Toy, LLC ripped off my "Tribal Tattoo Face" artwork.

I'm not a jerk, and have only denied someone permission once and that only was due to the fact that I had a copyright lawsuit in progress with a toy company at the time they had asked. (I won that case BTW)


The bat appears within the "Sims 2" universe.

I suppose one could argue that my bat tattoo has now "Jumped the Shark" seeing as it's being ripped off and used to skin people in the virtual world that is "Sims 2." This of course brings up all kinds of interesting copyright issues in and of itself.

Or, maybe I could take a cue and start selling tribal tattoo undies in my Zazzle.com store? Hmmm.


The Bat Signal.

I have to admit, I think tattoos look cool. But I also think they look better on young bodies. I can't argue with the image above at all, but will my art look so good on a 70 year old canvas with sublimated liver spots, and a wrinkled texture running through it?

In any regard, if you're a person looking for a cool tribal tattoo and have Googled your way to this post, then take the time to shoot me an email (See side bar at top right) and ask permission to use my art first.

Thanks.

Walking Portfolios

'Chris Weiss, another fan of my 'Tribal Tattoo' artwork.'

For the past three years I've received emails out of the blue from people who have stumbled upon my tribal tattoo art and liked it so much they made a lifetime commitment to it. Meaning, they pull it off my web site and get it tattooed on their body in not so subtle ways like Claude Montreal.

I have two emotions in response to such emails. I am obviously flattered someone likes my art this much. I know personally I could never commit to my art to that degree, I'd get sick of it and regret doing it. A few moments later a feeling of irritation takes over that someone didn't even bother to ask permission and thus I can't help but view it as "Flattering Copyright Infringement."


'My Original Artwork.'

I am glad Chris liked my art to the degree he does and I am more than happy to grant permission to others who may want to get a tattoo based on my work. All I require is that you simply just permission to do so first.

Not everyone however uses my art with out permission. An advertising agency guy named Ruben Salavert not only liked my work, he went out of his way to commission me to illustrate the original tribal bat tattoo.


The inset pic is another example of someone using my art without permission.

I'd like to think that only good looking people would snag my art off my site and have it tattooed on their body, but clearly that isn't always the case. Obviously my art looks better when it's found in context of a well-proportioned, toned body type be it male or female. ;-P

My tribal bat tattoo art has really taken off of sorts. So much so a popular tattoo web site reported on it here.

I still think a good story line for a law show could be written about this type of situation. Some artist sues a person who took their art and tattooed it on their body and now has to get it surgically removed. Maybe a Hollywood weasel trolling for ideas will read this last paragraph and rip that off?

Flattering Copyright Infringement

'My Original Tribal Tattoo Art.'

I created the above artwork about two years ago. It was something I did for no other reason then to have fun. I've used it on several creative projects and a t-shirt design I give away when I do speaking gigs. It now seems this art is making it's way into the whole tattoo art sub-culture and people are helping themselves to the visual imagery and having it applied to their body without my permission.

Sure I am always flattered in a wierd kind of way by this type of artistic commitment, but I'd at least appreciate a request for permission first. My morbid curiosity wonders if I could sue them for copyright infringement and then legally have it removed?


'My artwork now graces the forearm of a German man.'


'A hostage quality picture of my art kidnapping the back of some headless body from God knows where?'

Neither of these two gentleman asked permission nor did they pay me a usage fee, but I digress.

In any regard I wish them well, I hope they enjoy it. But as I've said before: As for me and my torso I prefer a blank canvas. I just can't make that type of artistic commitment.

Another Lifetime Commitment.

'John Wilkinson a fan of my 'Tribal Tattoo' artwork.'

Once again someone stumbled across my tribal tattoo art and decided to make a life time commitment to it. The most recent person to have my art applied to their body is a gentleman by the name of John Wilkinson. He took my art and had a tattoo artist replicate it on his calf. The artist obviously took some liberty with it. This is now the fourth time (that I am aware of) that someone has used my artwork to get tattooed onto their body permanently.


'My Original Tribal Tattoo Art.'

I am always flattered in a wierd kind of way but then there is another part of me that thinks "Hey that is technically copyright infringement. They didn't ask permission nor did they pay me a usage fee." Makes me wonder if an artist like myself could sue someone for using my art without permission and win a case where they'd have to have it surgically removed? Of course I'd never do that myself but I can't help but wonder.

In any regard, John enjoy the art and thanks for sharing the picture. As for me and my torso I prefer a blank canvas. I just can't make that type of artistic commitment.