22 May, 2013

Flattery?

This morning I woke up to an email from someone asking me to look at an image of something they'd seen on etsy

For those of you who've been following along with me for a while, you will know that that is an image of my work (ever so slightly changed; there are round things on it) that's been used by someone else to make money without my permission.

It's a double edged sword this internet thing.  Yes, a fantastic way to get your work seen by so many people, to get it out into the world.  I did water mark my images for a while but it was insanely time consuming and meant I had to keep 2 lots of all my images, and I've since read that there's software out there that can remove water mark easily.

Looking at this particular seller's work though, it seems that she does it to other artists on a regular basis.  In fact the email came from another artist she'd ripped off.

Not sure how to deal with it all.  This particular seller is claiming that she bought the images from a graphic designer in Belgium and that they are readily available, but it doesn't change the fact that she is profiting from my work (which I never bloody profited from!)

Makes me think about sharing what I do.  The photo was taken from Flickr and to be honest I really don't use flickr any more, so I think I'll close down that account.  I have all kinds of things telling me what gets copied off my blog, but obviously people still get around these things.

When I have a day to waste, I think I'll have to do a google search by image and see what comes up....

6 comments:

  1. Clever post title. Beastly occurrence - and conundrum.
    As a child, our school bus service was run by a company called Slattery...
    Maggie XXXX

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  2. I also deleted my flickr account, too many of my images had been taken from there and used by others and I am having to rethink the whole way I show my art on my blog. sigh!

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  3. Yes, but such a complicated issue, artists have been knocking off other artists stuff for as long as there has been art, and musicians, well...but that doesn't make it easier for the original artist/song writer.
    How to best use the web for thesale of art...well when you work it out make sure to tell your Dad....

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  4. What a bummer, but she obviosuly thought it great idea and worthwhile stealing!

    mumx

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  5. what is wrong with people.

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  6. there are some real losers out there who have not an ounce of there own creativity and have to copy someone else's and then have the gall to say it is theirs...and all without a conscience...
    yes you should feel flattered but you have every right to crash their site and leave your print and tell the customers it is YOUR work ...they are fakes... feeling for you Georgia...XXXX

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