I was just checking the artist gallery for a show that I'm going to do, and was shocked to see a piece that is a blatant copy of another artist's designs. I'm not talking similar technique or something that someone else could have stumbled into on their own. The work is unique and unusual, and the offender is passing it off as their own design. I've polled a few artist friends and they all agree that either the artist or show producer should be informed. Should I just stay out of it and keep my mouth shut?
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Yes!
I was at a show and was told someone was selling work similar to mine - turns out, someone had photographed my work, made prints and was selling it. Nuff said!
Sandhi what a horrible surprise! How did you handle that?
The reason that "neighborhood watch"s work is because the offender KNOWS that they are being watched. I think its every one's responsibility to confront plagerists. If we only tell the show officials, or the victim, that still leaves the offender with the impression that 1 person doesn't like the behavior. If 6 or 7 nail him or her, they tend to leave the neighborhood.
What would happen if AFIers had biz cards that said "Copying the work of other artists is plagerism/piracy: and may be prosecuted under criminal law. I report plagerism" The card could id the watcher as an AFIer, but not give all their id info. Then, we could just leave the card for them. Who knows, someone might find 5 or 6 such cards in their booth. & start worrying instead of gloating. Let us use our creativity to figure out a game plan that we can all DO to stop this behavior.
Yes, you should let the artist know about the copycat and let him/her decide which actions to take.
I would notify the artist whose work has been copied. If the artist agrees that it is a blatant copy, the artist might want to contact the show producer. Some artists are not concerned about attempts to copy work, while others are offended. If I were the producer I would definitely want to know if one of the artists in my show was pretending to be selling his/her own design and in fact it was a work previously made by another. The credibility of my show would be at stake.
When someone is using someone else work without their written permission, they can be prosecuted under copyright/piracy laws. There is a division of the FBI devoted to internet intellectual theft. You might mention this to the copier. Do they know that an investigation by the FBI is every bit as sweet as an IRS AUDIT? Give them some information to wake them up.
People who have damaged boundaries copy (or seduce) without fully understanding the legal & CRIMINAL consequences of their behavior. Once a person knows that copyright violation is criminal behavior, if they persist, they need criminal consequences.
I think we need to stop enabling this kind of behavior by our need to be nice. Clear boundaries are much kinder in the long run.
I'm following this thread with great interest. I see Marti's story and I'm sure there are many, many like it. At the same time, I believe it behooves me to keep something in mind - I'm an auto-didact. I taught myself bead work out of books and magazine tutorials, which is absolutely imitating what others have done before. And now, I've been approached by a European beadwork magazine to create a design similar to my best-selling bracelet for publication. I crave the exposure but since I'll receive no compensation, my first reaction was defensive, to not want to share the design or technique, because I'd be enabling others to create what is essentially "my" work. But on 2nd thought, I realized that what I create is usually inspired by an existing work of art, or on antique carpet or tile, for example. That's not copying, as I understand copyright law. But duplication is.
Well, now that I know that it was the original artist's picture and not a copied design, I'm thinking it's far more likely that it's a mixup on the webpage (the original artist is not in that show though). But, if the web designer is working on a number of things at once, it could easily happen. Hopefully it gets straightened out.
I would definitely mention it.
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