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
12 comments:
I read your blog and my husband reads Pam's blog, For the Love of Cooking. Today he asked me if there was anything Pam could do because someone was stealing ALL of her blog content, including her original recipes, and selling them. Ironic considering your post and that I've seen you battle this over and over.
Would the information you have here apply to blog content and photographs?
My husband has directed Pam to your site and, as fans, artists and content creators, we are trying to help out.
Great share, Von!!!
Years ago, I heard of an "unofficial" way of timestamping your work by snail-mailing yourself the work and then keeping the postmarked envelope sealed, thus providing a legal date on the envelope. I've never tried this, nor have heard anyone comment on the validity of it, but was wondering if you have ever heard of this method, and if it's valid in court? Just curious.
The perceived rights of the consumer to enjoy free culture sometimes clashes with the rights of the artist to control their own work and make a living from their art. There are no easy answers to the problem of plagiarism and infringement on the web but thanks for letting us know how to put up a fight against the weasels. We artists need all the help we can get.
Great post Von!! I've mad my email draft.
Josh,
Snail mailing yourself doe you no good. Does not hold up in court. Better off filing online through the copyright.gov site. It's all online now.
Cheers,
Jay
Thank you Mr. Monster!
Von, Thank you for this post. I appreciate all the frustration and headache you had to go through. We can now learn from your experience and for that I'm grateful!
I've personally had to handle this issue re: my work. I'm tired of people who steal, too. I say, "May karma kick 'em in their creative ass". I believe artists who take from others won't last long. It requires longevity, passion & an inner calling to be a true artist. Thankfully, copiers lack these character attributes. That's how I look at it, anyway :)
Fantastic example on what to do.
Hi Von!
I am myself in the middle of a peculiar situation with one of my graphics showing as clip art in a popular CD and being sold where my art has been uploaded as a licensed graphic right under my nose!!
Your article is very helpful and I hope to write all the steps I have to take and research made etc. some day as it might just help someone too!
Thank you for sharing your experience!
Thank you very much for this post, and especially for the letter! I work for a web design company and we recently got ripped off. There are a lot of dirtbags out there. Thanks for helping to defeat them!
It's always nice to have a structured letter to work from. I am sure in the USA invoking the DCMA is effective and professionals the world over should be sure to familiarize themselves with copyright law. Your letter will be even tighter if you correct "pertenant" with "pertinent".
it's good to see this information in your post, i was looking the same but there was not any proper resource, thanx now i have the link which i was looking for my research.
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