Wow, another site blatantly stealing my work /slow clap
Things can be really exhausting for artists that solely support themselves. I’m always having to come up with ways to make interesting content while supporting myself with finances and then also while fighting off bills, student loans etc. I don’t own a car, I don’t have health insurance, I pay rent and feed Banjo premium dog treats—I get by but I’m HAPPY. I never chose to do art to be rich, I chose art to go at my own pace, do my own thing and be happy. I chose art to make others happy, to spread joy across this world, to offer a smile to someone suffering depression, to be a rock to someone in need. I have supported myself 100% since college. Working minimum wage retail my entire life at $6.25 an hour to (surprise!) my last job gave me $8.25 and I could afford Carl’s Jr once a week while drawing at home after retail shifts and between college.
In 2016 I was beat down constantly by sites like Sunfrog, Teespring and Teechip. They were not just stealing art from me by either ripping low res images from my sites, but also leveling up and tracing and matching a front of one of my dogs to the back of another, which is still copyright infringement. On top of just surviving I had to also pay a lawyer for Trademarks, Copyrights, and consultations. This is something not really in my budget, but I *make it work* because this is my life, my future. While battling all of this garbage it really dampened my spirits and made me want to create less. I no longer had the drive to make fun things but had just enough energy to plow throw the same old websites every morning, sending DMCA take down notices etc– it’s not fun and it’s made me rethink my life and goals a lot. Like I can’t afford to go to urgent care and am sitting on an inflamed leg and pinched nerve, but people out there are getting fat off of small indie artists because many artists don’t know how to protect themselves (REGISTER YOUR COPYRIGHTS), don’t have the energy to follow through about theft or just don’t know, so these sites are constantly reaffirmed that it’s ok to steal and make more and more sites to steal.
My artwork stolen here—and they even mimicked my promotion of buy 2, get 1 free prints! Gross! /shivers
This site in question I stumbled upon last night while looking for reference to make some new pug art, I was not even hunting for sites selling my stolen work. They took images directly from my etsy, which is why I only post icky low resolution images online now, and were too lazy to even bother removing my internet signature.If you want to buy interesting art, even on etsy now, you have to do research that it’s from the actual artist. Sure there might be resellers, but more often than not it feels to me that art is ripped and it’s *depressing*. I will never sell someone else’s work, infringe on a trademark or copyright and in general try to provide 100% original content, to the best of my imagination (when it’s in it’s happy place) but so many do not.
So what should you do to protect yourself? Take action! You can register your copyrights both through yourself online or through a lawyer. It’s $50 to register your copyrights online both as a single item and as a bulk pdf. I choose to go through my lawyer because I don’t want to screw up paper work myself. Follow up with copyrights here for more info: https://www.copyright.gov/
While I know a little about copyrights, I don’t know everything. I cannot consult you on your rights as I am still learning about my own and learning how to enforce them. I will stab down thieves with a mighty thunderous internet sword!
If you are a fan of an artist and notice stolen work, always report the link of stolen content to the copyright owner (meaning the artist). Sites are not legally liable to remove stolen content unless it’s reported by the copyright owners. For sites like Sunfrog they have an amount of time to remove stolen content before the content owner can sue them, so always report to the artwork owner/creator as it speeds up the process—then drop a flaming deuce on them!
If you love an artist’s work and can’t afford to support them financially, simply like, share and comment on their work. Exposure like a share can help a small artist a lot! It also helps us know that we are not alone and our work is liked, which powers us to make more.
This might not be the most interesting post, but please share if you can. If your artwork has been stolen too, please say so in the reblog. It only helps spread awareness to your friends and fans. Awareness on important matters like this makes a huge difference as our copyright laws fight to keep up with the internet to evolve at a faster pace to *protect* us.
My friend, Kyla, commented on this websites facebook page, @getpuggedup.com and it looks like they have no remorse for impersonating artists or selling stolen artwork to use to promote their own website, and feel like they are doing artists a favor. I already have a phone call scheduled with my lawyer early tomorrow morning. So in theory any shop impersonating an artist or selling stolen artwork they are ok to promote to benefit their site flow and profits. Funny when thieves support thieves.
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