Monday, October 25, 2010

The Internet: A double edged sword for designers

I got an email from the good folks of the ACME Speed Shop asking me if I knew about a person selling stickers of my design for them on eBay. I had to see it for myself: item #220685777210

You've probably heard the old saying "Imitation is the highest form of flattery", but honestly, it's not; it's a down right violation of intellectual property and against the law.

Here's the hard part: I'm by no means well off. They don't call us starving artists for nothing. I need to show work I've done in the past to draw new clients to continue to work. But anything I put up on line is subject to being stolen, aped, ripped off, hacked, etc. So what can I do!? Watermarks only do so much good. The fact of the matter is anyone who can retouch a photo can make a watermark disappear (for the most part) and you also need to make an image large enough to show a client but at the same time not so large that someone can nab it, reproduce it, and sell it on eBay.

The fact of the matter is, I was paid to do this design (outside of a change in typeface of "speed shop" that the person who is trying to pass this off as their own work did) So really it's hurting the good folks who paid me to design for them, but at the same time this person is not afraid to place their own watermark on the design!
Man Cave Accessories? You didn't do this work, you are a hack. Your balls are mighty big to go ahead and watermark hacked work!
Vintage? It's only 3 years old buddy! Oh, looky here! You're from Westland. You are in bitch-slap distance!
Please everyone, don't buy from mancaveaccessories1 on ebay. This person is bad for the automotive collective.

My work was "copied" among about 200+ other rip off pieces that this person is selling illegally. If you are a designer, you may wish to check and see if your work is up there among his own too.

Fuckin' Ugh!

2 comments:

  1. that sucks man...

    I'm sorry to hear it...

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a piece of shit!!!! Cant stand people like that.... trying to make a buck off other peoples work = scum bag !!!

    ReplyDelete