London Art Expo Vendor Accused of Image Theft

DarkGuyver

I didn't know how many others have seen this but it's going around DeviantArt and I thought I'd post it to make people aware who haven't heard about it. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117533-London-Art-Expo-Vendor-Accused-of-Image-Theft
Us artists have to stick together. My question / thought is: I know what this guy is doing is morally wrong. I think it's despicable and I hear it happens all the time all over the world, taking credit for someone's work that he didn't create but when an artist illustrates something using another's licensed property what kind of action can they take? The artist doesn't own the property so do they have any legal rights to the image? Besides bad mouthing the guy and putting a watermark on the image what else can an artist do?
What thoughts does everyone else have?

John_Steed

That lowlife should have been escorted off the premises and the prints confiscated and destroyed.

After reading the article I wonder though how someone can sell stuff at a Art Expo without any ID in the first place :-?

Zhurrie

Unfortunately not much. My grandfather was a fairly well-known artist and we have had numerous issues with assholes selling prints (he rarely sold prints so that alone is a dead giveaway) and even a shop in our/his own small town was selling illegal prints. When confronted they actually put up a fight which was simply astounding to me. It is disgraceful and despicable but what is worse is that art appreciation and respect for the fine arts is lost more and more from schools and parents and there are tons of people/consumers that don't care one bit even knowingly buying this stuff. I find that worse actually.

Personally I don't go the watermark route, it cheapens the image and with stuff like Photoshop's content aware fill it is barely a deterrent. What I never do it put anything online in high DPI (never above 72) nor do I post very large resolution images so that at most a 4x6 could be printed with any clarity. It sucks but that is what I have found as the best option.

matchkitJOHN

Seems like Rob Granito has an overseas cousin.

DarkGuyver

@John_Steed

After reading the article I wonder though how someone can sell stuff at a Art Expo without any ID in the first place

That puzzles me as well. If these event coordinators are really working hard to run a good con i think they should try to verify that someone is who they say they are, whether it's an artist, publisher or vendor, at least to some extent. I'm not talking DNA samples and dental records but if someone is an authorized dealer they should be able to produce some kind of credentials. Otherwise i think it cheapens the whole experience and will eventually give comic cons a bad reputation for both the vendor and consumer alike. What artist will want to waste his time at a con if 2 booths down on either side of his table is some jerk selling cheap prints of his work?

David_D

That's awful. And given that it looks like many or most of these were takes on the IPs of others, so I don't know what legal recourse there would be. But I suppose what should be done is what started happening via social media: document, identify (looks like that is a step they are still working on that step), publicly shame, and most importantly bring it to the attention of the people running the con.

It seemed like that approach made a difference in the case of Rob Granito, and maybe it will in this one as well.

This is a change of mediums, but the question of how to police the pirating of another artists' work when they are in a legal grey area to begin with reminded me of an excellent segment that NPR's On the Media did about intellectual property enforcement and comedians. Given that there is not (I think) settled law about protecting the ownership of jokes told onstage, comedians have to resort to social pressure within their community to police such theft, and some professors studied it. For those interested in such a wonkish subject, you can find the segment and transcript here.

Torchsong

This is a change of mediums, but the question of how to police the pirating of another artists' work when they are in a legal grey area to begin with reminded me of an excellent segment that NPR's On the Media did about intellectual property enforcement and comedians.

Gonna have to listen to that one. I know I've heard some comedians talk about how (particularly when they're starting out) that some of the pros would come by the clubs to basically "steal" material, so they'd pass word around that so-and-so was in the club and (sadly) the up and comers would sit on their "A" material until it was a sure thing they were gone.

Flintlockjaw

This is a change of mediums, but the question of how to police the pirating of another artists' work when they are in a legal grey area to begin with reminded me of an excellent segment that NPR's On the Media did about intellectual property enforcement and comedians.

Gonna have to listen to that one. I know I've heard some comedians talk about how (particularly when they're starting out) that some of the pros would come by the clubs to basically "steal" material, so they'd pass word around that so-and-so was in the club and (sadly) the up and comers would sit on their "A" material until it was a sure thing they were gone.

Robin Williams has often been accused of stealing other comedians material but it's unintentional...I think it was Dave Chappelle that went to see him live and he heard Williams tell a joke that Chappelle used. After the show Dave met Williams and said that he uses that joke. Williams was horrified and didn't realise it. He gave Dave $100 bucks and said 'Thanks'.

Flintlockjaw

My shit gets stolen all the time. They sell knock-offs of my artwork on t-shirts and mugs. It's hell to fight. Even had lawyers contact ebay over it. But it's slow and painful. On one side I'm delighted that people want to rip-off my work...it's flattering and shows that I'm making it! On the other side I'm pissed-off becuase it's taking money away from me.

Torchsong

This is a change of mediums, but the question of how to police the pirating of another artists' work when they are in a legal grey area to begin with reminded me of an excellent segment that NPR's On the Media did about intellectual property enforcement and comedians.

Gonna have to listen to that one. I know I've heard some comedians talk about how (particularly when they're starting out) that some of the pros would come by the clubs to basically "steal" material, so they'd pass word around that so-and-so was in the club and (sadly) the up and comers would sit on their "A" material until it was a sure thing they were gone.

Robin Williams has often been accused of stealing other comedians material but it's unintentional...I think it was Dave Chappelle that went to see him live and he heard Williams tell a joke that Chappelle used. After the show Dave met Williams and said that he uses that joke. Williams was horrified and didn't realise it. He gave Dave $100 bucks and said 'Thanks'.

Yeah, I wasn't going to name names but I've heard that about Williams. Also heard Leno and Leary are notorious culprits and "on the list" so to speak.