Really?!??

I don't understand why people think they can steal my fanart and use it to try to make money on T shirts. Although I am flattered that they thought it was worthy of using, they never asked my permission to use it. Many of you know that I've been down this road before. I don't mind people using my pictures, even without permeission, but trying to make money with it is a whole 'nuther thing...

I found two of my pieces on a Tshirt website called Redbubble. I see some other work on there that I recognize from Deviant Art. I plan to let those artists know when I figure out who the pics belong to. I have already contacted Redbubble. We'll see if they take it down.

Look familiar? I did get a good chuckle out of "Battle of the Eagle Riding Gatchaman"...teehee...

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There is no problem that cannot be solved with time, patience, and a judicious amount of high explosives.

As long as you can prove that the work is yours you can legally request compensation or demand their removal. Tescos and Walmart have had claims successfully made against them when their designers used artwork taken off the net, even photos of a person without their permission.

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Thanks Cep

Gatchamania.net Administrator

Mention that you're consulting your lawyer on what actions to take. A civil suit sounds interesting.

How did you find out?

That's one fear I've always had about putting things on the internet. Too many unscrupulous people.

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I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers so far...

Mentioning a lawyer is a good idea. Even better, sending an official-looking letter on legal letterhead.

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Eagle Whisperer

Oh, Springie! That's awful. Although I have to say, your art does look cool on a T-shirt.

Every once in a great while, I will find an article that I have written plagiarized on the Internet. If I'm remembering correctly, two times I wrote the page of the person in question. One was a non-profit and I reminded them to ask me next time (no response). One was a successful children's book illustrator who took my words directly and appropriated them in her blog. I can't remember how I found out about that - I stumbled on it somehow via a Google search - and I was livid. She definitely knew better. She never responded, but she deleted the post. A third time, I had a lawyer friend help me with a website that had no contact info. I believe we contacted the web host, said it was copyright infringement, and asked them to remove the page (which they did).

Good luck & big hugs. I try not to worry about plagiarism too much or it would drive me batty. But T-shirt sales, frankly, is a whole other level of violation. So sorry this happened to you & other artists.

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"The heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing." -- Blaise Pascal