Hot Topic Likes Your Art So Much... They're Selling It!
I'm glad I'm bad at everything so I never have to worry about anyone plagiarizing my work. Sadly, this is not the case for Nina Matsumoto. Whoever is in charge of "designing" Halloween merchandise for Hot Topic is apparently a big fan of Nina's.
Above is a temporary tattoo that's on sale at Hot Topic. Here's some art by Ms. Matsumoto:
The tattoo was spotted by a guy who had the original art tattooed on his leg. Here's what the artist had to say about the incident:
As I've said countless times before, I don't consider reposting my artwork somewhere else to be art theft... When someone takes my art without permission and makes any sort of profit from it, that's when something should be done.
Yikes. Sounds like a job for your friendly neighborhood lawyer.
Space Coyote [DeviantArt] (Thanks, Brandon!)
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Comments:
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->:
I think that even without the map, there's a strong enough likeness that even a crappy lawyer could get an injunction against them selling the image.
I like the way they removed the signature and date before using it. Thats classy
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->:
Well if there's no map and no water, exactly what kind of pirate could it be.
It is sad just how often this happens to artists.
It's a great drawing/tattoo, it's a real shame that Hot Topic is trying to claim ownership to it. We all know Hot Topic wouldn't sell anything that cool.
I walked in to a Hot Topic last week and realized why I don't have any clothes from there.
How horrible for the artist. Not only to have her art ripped off and sold for a profit - but by Hot Topic of all places.
(The art is pretty cool, IMO.)
Quick! Someone contact the RIAA! They'll get on it!
I remember reading this on [youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com] . Good job getting it on the Consumerist, it makes it a lot harder to ignore.
I'm sure it's a horrible feeling to find that something you made is being used by someone else to make money.
I really hope the feeling she gets when she sues their pants off, claims all profits from the sales of HER work, and ends up better off offsets that first bad feeling ;)
Sue their pants off Nina!
In addition to being thieves, Hot Topic apparently hates apostrophes.
Wow, that's utterly blatant! I wonder if some Hot Topic buyer saw the art in a tattoo artist's portfolio.
Hot Topic is selling the temp tattoo or are they the company producing the temp tattoo??
Not defending HT but if they are only selling the product then the issue is with the producer of the temp tattoo, right?
This is exactly the kind of thing that copyright laws exist to protect; to encourage people to create original works rather than re-branding the works of others.
Or at least that's the way that it's supposed to work (IMHO)...
This stuff happens /constantly/. There's just so many people in so many companies who feel that work posted on the internet is either public domain (it isn't) or that the people who make it could never stand up to their fancy new-york lawyers. I browse a number of art sites, and almost every damn month one of them howls when they see their artwork being sold by megacorporations.
Many have sued, but I have yet to hear of any of them winning.
Also: the skull-and-cross-swords on the lower right is lifted from the Lego Pirates flag. I grew up with Lego Pirates and there's a huge Lego Pirates ship in my parent's basement right now. I would never not notice it.
Many many moons ago when I was a freelance designer, I landed a gig for a large retail company based in San Francisco. The 'art' director handed me a copy of an illustration that had come in from another designer looking for work. He liked the illustration, photocopied it from her portfolio and now wanted to use it without paying her.
When I objected, his reply was "Yeah, well it works for the design we want and (giggle) she's not going to sue __large company___, right?" At break time I left and took the photocopy with me. I kept his enraged/panic 'you'd better bring that back!!' voice mail for over a year. It still makes me smile.
*sigh* Hot Topic does this more than I'd like to admit...they also have a bad habit of stealing designs from Threadless.
Why does the nice lady pirate have a belt on her leg?
I dont know how this is a surprise. Hot Topic has been selling unlicensed band t-shirts and posters for years.
IP noob question-- is that artwork actually copyrighted?
IANAL, but just because I simply create something, does that mean it's automatically 'mine' (in a legal sense)? Doesn't there have to be some sort of proactive, I'm-filing-this-as-a-copyrighted-work thing that has to happen before anyone's work enjoys the protection of IP law?
I'm on the side of the artist here, but just asking a valid question. There may be nothing she can do about it. Can't click on the links, blocked here at work for me.
Hell, at least she didn't get ripped off by friggin' Hallmark like me. There's my street design cred.
@savvy999: Good god yes, if you create something it is automatically yours, in every sense of the word.
@savvy999:
The Copyright Act of 1976 declared that all "original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression" fall under copyright. As of 1976, artists did not have to register their work to be protected by copyright laws.
@van_line: You're technically right but Hot Topic is still profiting (albeit not much, probably) from the sale of an illegally reproduced work, so the sword swings both ways.
@savvy999: The putting it in a fixed medium is enough to create copyright (at one point, my university was advising professors to tape their lectures, thus putting them in a fixed medium, in order to insure their copyright if notes from the lecture were sold to one of the businesses that does that). There are, however, things one can do to strengthen the claim. Here's a quick overview: [inventors.about.com]
@savvy999: if you create something, you have a copyright on it. The signature and date on the drawing are proof enough of when it was created.
More Info: [inventors.about.com]
At least the op knows shes good now. Time for her to get the money she rightfully deserves.
@msthe8r: Nothing original needs registration to be protected under copyright laws, but for whom it's being protected depends on the circumstances of its creation. For instance, photography or art created within a marketing firm is credited to the artist, but could be owned by and protected for the company.
@incognit000: There's just so many people in so many companies who feel that work posted on the internet is either public domain
I've been the victim of this as well - the person who lifted some of my photographs from the web didn't sell them for profit, but also insisted (until I had my attorney send him a very strongly worded letter) that since I:
-Put my work on the web
-Didn't register with the copyright office
-Didn't have a "publisher"
-Didn't suffer real financial loss
that his use of my work without license or compensation to promote his own product was OK. Of course, none of these reasons for stealing my intellectual property (work I created with my own money and time) would hold up in any court of law.
Of course, the guy who stole and displayed my work to promote his product was also someone who insisted that downloading music from Napster (this was 2001, before they were shut down) was OK, since the record companies hadn't done anything about it.
As a reminder, there is no requirement to do anything to be granted copyright. You don't even have to claim it. Under U.S. law, copyright is granted to the creator of the work upon creation. Filing your work with the U.S. copyright office (there is a small fee for each filing) makes it easier to sue and claim your $10k/per instance damages. Having an attorney in the family helps, too.
@incognit000: The Lego pirate flag is a skull with crossed bones, not swords (at least the original line).
The skull with crossed swords is the flag of the pirate Jack Rackham.
@BumpinUgglas: In the USA, copyright exists as soon as the item is "created" (my paraphrasing) (edit: oh, no, it's the actual word used; I guess I _was_ paying attention). No filing, no registering, no nothing.
[www.copyright.gov]
When is my work protected?
Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.
and from
[www.copyright.gov]
- Registration establishes a public record of the copyright claim.
- Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary for works of U.S. origin.
- If made before or within 5 years of publication, registration will establish prima facie evidence in court of the validity of the copyright and of the facts stated in the certificate.
- If registration is made within 3 months after publication of the work or prior to an infringement of the work, statutory damages and attorney's fees will be available to the copyright owner in court actions. Otherwise, only an award of actual damages and profits is available to the copyright owner.
- Registration allows the owner of the copyright to record the registration with the U. S. Customs Service for protection against the importation of infringing copies. For additional information, go to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website at www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/import. Click on "Intellectual Property Rights."
@msthe8r: Is skin a tangible media? If it was created for a tattoo, does that count as a commissioned work? Could the original artist sue to get the artwork back if it is a tattoo? Does making it a tattoo make it public domain? If the person who has the tattoo gets his picture taken, do they need to get a release from the original artist? I think tattoo art might be a horse of another color.
@chrisjames:
Yes, but such rights are custonmarily specified in the contract. In the absence of such specification, the copyright reverts to the artist.
I assume the artist in question knows whether she owns the work or not.
@incognit000: I blame all the Silicon Valley activist types in the '90s who kept shouting "information wants to be free!" and insisting intellectual property had no monetary value. (All the while collecting fat paychecks from software companies were in the business of selling intellectual property, of course.)
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->:
ANY tangible medium of expression. That includes skin.
Just because something is on display (ie, on your skin permanently) does not change the analysis. A work of art is on display in a home or gallery.
Taking a photo of a work of art is not infringement. Selling or displaying that photo might be.
The fact that it's a tattoo changes nothing.
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->:
I don't know whether a tattoo artist would sue for the wearer of a tattoo copyright infringement if he/she took a photo. It probably falls under "fair use."
However, she would have certainly designed it on paper first (geezum crow, at least I hope so) which IS a tangible medium.
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: Not really, but it is mirrored. That surely counts for something.
There's no map, does that count?