So after a day of ranting and raving it seems we were able to keep the designer from using the altered image. Thanks to all who contacted her with informative and supportive emails. Since we were successful in having her explore other routes for her client, I am taking out the designer's email to save her any more grief and embarrassment. She has demanded that I contact her client and retract my statement by threatening to sue for libel. I'm not concerned about that since she literally said in her email "I'll use it anyway." Doing so would be stealing which is exactly what I called it. Under the definition of libel, one must use a FALSE statement as injurious.
It still boggles my mind how someone can say "I'm taking this" and then tell me I'm wrong to expose that theft. This "internet borrowing" is getting out of hand. Even having a watermark with my name did not stop this designer. Her argument was that she hadn't published it. This is true. However, she did still take my image (with my name on it), alter it, and comp up a poster. THAT IS USE without my permission. I do this with advertising agencies (loan art for comps); they gladly pay for it as they know they should. This designer did it backwards and expected me to be thrilled to have "the opportunity." Here are some more quotes from her:
"Stop playing the angel, here. From now on, your email address is blocked on my list. Stop sending me emails!!" (Please note, I only ever responded to emails she sent me.)
At this point, it seems she received several emails from folks:
"Hi A---,
I just wanted to try to get you to understand why your appropriation of someone else's art would be deemed as less of a tribute, and more of an insult. The Artist, as any TRUE artist would understand, creates something meaningful from any combination of their mind body & soul. The Professional does everything they can to assign worth, and protect that precious creation in both its tangible forms as well as it's intellectual property. Both behave at best, as all people should, to the highest standards of propriety. This is commonly referred to as "the golden rule", which, as all professional artists can attest to, not enough outsiders such as yourself adhere to.
I have to commend you for originally contacting the Artist in question to ask for his feelings on it, and even your tardy offer to compensate him. He was clear about his feelings though, and it should've been on you to not take a classless, lazy way out, resorting to childish name calling and sleazy ultimatum including the stubborn insistence of theft. Chances are, in the future, you won't bother to tell anyone about the things you do that no one beyond the Romanian borders will ever ever see. And so I write to implore you to maintain the original respect you had for the image and artist, but perhaps with a reevaluated upgraded morality.
I've seen your e-mail exchanges and you should be woefully embarrassed. You should certainly never throw stones of "immaturity" around. You do NO favors by removing any credit or worth to any artists creation, and you do not uphold the spirit of the only non profit homosexual film festival in your country. If you wish to show the world the best of yourself, your country, and humanity, then reconsider your current furor, and reevaluate the way you treat another persons extension of who they are, how they make a living, and respect their wishes and move on with mutual aplomb.
sincerely,
Peter Wonsowski
fussy poor 12 year old nobody"
I just wanted to try to get you to understand why your appropriation of someone else's art would be deemed as less of a tribute, and more of an insult. The Artist, as any TRUE artist would understand, creates something meaningful from any combination of their mind body & soul. The Professional does everything they can to assign worth, and protect that precious creation in both its tangible forms as well as it's intellectual property. Both behave at best, as all people should, to the highest standards of propriety. This is commonly referred to as "the golden rule", which, as all professional artists can attest to, not enough outsiders such as yourself adhere to.
I have to commend you for originally contacting the Artist in question to ask for his feelings on it, and even your tardy offer to compensate him. He was clear about his feelings though, and it should've been on you to not take a classless, lazy way out, resorting to childish name calling and sleazy ultimatum including the stubborn insistence of theft. Chances are, in the future, you won't bother to tell anyone about the things you do that no one beyond the Romanian borders will ever ever see. And so I write to implore you to maintain the original respect you had for the image and artist, but perhaps with a reevaluated upgraded morality.
I've seen your e-mail exchanges and you should be woefully embarrassed. You should certainly never throw stones of "immaturity" around. You do NO favors by removing any credit or worth to any artists creation, and you do not uphold the spirit of the only non profit homosexual film festival in your country. If you wish to show the world the best of yourself, your country, and humanity, then reconsider your current furor, and reevaluate the way you treat another persons extension of who they are, how they make a living, and respect their wishes and move on with mutual aplomb.
sincerely,
Peter Wonsowski
fussy poor 12 year old nobody"
As well as:
A---,
I am writing this to you in regard to the Poster that you have been trying to use of Chris Whetzel's. I kindly as that you do not use his image for the festival, and use your own creativity to design something. The opportunity to create a poster for a Romanian Gay Film Festival is a really great opportunity, and I feel would be a great project to show your own creativity and build your portfolio. This could be a chance to really expose yourself and your design skills through this project, and using someone else's design is not going to do that.I understand really appreciating someone else's work, I see things people have made all the time and think about how I wish I had created it or would like to use it. But that's not fair to the original designer, or to yourself. You can take inspiration from the art you see, but channel that into your own designs and creativity. Replicating someone else's work is not only hurting them for not getting compensated or credit, but also yourself because you're not learning or growing as a designer.Also, threatening someone is never a good idea, especially when it's over plagiarizing their work. It is his design, and he has the rights to it.The art/design industry is tough enough already for us artists.I wish you the best of luck in the future, and hope that the film festival goes well.- John Sorci
John forwarded me her response which said:
"Thank you, I apologize for all inconveniences, I asked nicely, I expected a nice response. I haven't, nor will I use it. Have a nice evening!"
At which point I thought "Ok, I think she gets what we are trying to say and isn't using the image. Cool."
But then I got this email in the evening. This is literally the entire message. keep in mind I never wrote her:
"Oh and one more thing. Considering what I "stole" has never been sent to anyone BUT YOU, has never been published and has never appeared in a public space, stop judging me and start considering the consequences of LIBEL. This is a criminal act all over the world and as I see it, you're guilty before I ever got a chance to be. Please, don't make me use my agent's legal team and apologize to the people you have e-mailed and tell them this was a misunderstanding."
NOTE: I'm not going to open anymore of her emails after someone on Twitter thought she tried to send them a virus. So this is the end for me, unless she sues me. I'll also be removing some aggressive comments as I think the education is in the email thread. Hopefully, she will just give it up and make some art. I want to focus on work, not this malarky.
Enjoy the Day,
Chris
---------------------------------------------------------
Original post:
Hi! I've been super busy lately as you can guess from my lack of posts. However, I woke up half an hour earlier just to share this with you!
So, I have been getting these emails which I decided to share with you. They are from a person in Romania. Apparently, it is ok to threaten to steal art there and call them body-part nicknames when they don't do what you want. I have never witnessed such a thing: "Sell it to me or I'll steal it." I emailed her client to let them know what their "designer" is up to. Feel free to email her and I'll later post client email addresses if the poster does get made; I would hope that an art-based film fest would respect an artist and not steal their work?
Also, here are the images being discussed:
My ol' film fest image.
A horrible monstrosity that screams "I'm too lazy to make art so I'll butcher someone else's image to fit what I need. They'll love it because I'm OBVIOUSLY improving it!"
Now I would just like to say that if this person had just contacted me BEFORE doing any of this and asked to use it for a non-profit, I would have probably let them. I really don't understand how some people think.
And now for an email thread (below).
Enjoy the Day,
Chris
Hi A---,
I'm so sorry; I have an agent (complete with lawyers). I should have
told you. He is one of the largest and most-respected reps in the US
who works globally; I'm sure his lawyers do the same.
Thanks for this string of emails; I am going to feature it on my
blog/twitter. I'll be sure to leave your name and email in the thread so
that you get credit for the hard work and beautiful image.
Thank you for your professional approach regarding this project. I'm
afraid I will have to now get back creating original art for clients no
one has ever heard of.
Enjoy the Day,
Chris
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: Request
> From: A---
> Date: Thu, September 06, 2012 10:31 am
> To: Chris Whetzel <chris@chris-whetzel.com>
>
>
> Dude, I ASKED FOR PERMISSION, you acted like a prick! Hope you will be able to sell your work to other like you did to me. Stop making a big fuss about it! What are you, twelve? You can't afford a legal agent, let alone a legal team and stop act like Jackson Pollock. No one has ever heard of you. If anything else, I was doing you a favor! F off!
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Chris Whetzel <chris@chris-whetzel.com>
> To: A--- (And others who work at the film festival whose emails I will not show here)
> Sent: Thursday, September 6, 2012 5:22 PM
> Subject: RE: Request
>
>
> Hello. I hope you are well, and I apologize for bothering you with this
> email.
>
> I have been contacted by someone claiming to be involved with your
> festival, A---. She is threatening to steal my artwork and
> use it as your poster. As people involved with an art- based festival, I
> thought you should know about this disrespectful and ILLEGAL action.
> Please do not use this stolen image. If the image is used, my agent's
> legal team will have to take action as well as bringing attention to
> this theft online and in art publications. Thank you for your help and
> support of artists. Also, I have copied her emails below for you to read
> as well as images the person has sent me.
>
> Please see attached images of my original and A---'s
> alteration/plagiarism. If you would like, I can offer you usage of my
> original image for a small re-use fee.
> Enjoy the Day,
> Chris
From: A---
To: Chris Whetzel <chris@chris-whetzel.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 6, 2012 4:03 AM
Subject: Re: Request
Ask for a price or I'll use it anyway. Sorry for this..
From: A---
To: Chris Whetzel <chris@chris-whetzel.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 5, 2012 4:51 PM
Subject: Re: Request
Is that for sale, still?
From: Chris Whetzel <chris@chris-whetzel.com>
To: A---
Sent: Wednesday, September 5, 2012 4:45 PM
Subject: Re: Request
This is theft. Do not use the image. I'm very offended you have done this.
-Chris Whetzel
On Sep 5, 2012, at 4:29 AM, A--- wrote:
This is the final work. :) Thank you, again! Hope I'll hear from you!
From: A---
To: "chris@chris-whetzel.com" <chris@chris-whetzel.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 5, 2012 9:56 AM
Subject: Request
Hi!This may sound preposterous to you, but I am wondering if I could use one design of yours for a film festival poster, here in Romania. It's the only gay film festival in the country and the work I'm doing is pro bono. I attached the file i want to use and also the poster i want to make. I just tought I'd ask, feel free to say anything you'd like. :) Thankx, have a good day!A---
Posts
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteWow. Just wow. Two things, and I'm sure you're way ahead of this here, but I'm throwing this out there for anyone else reading your blog too...
1) Register everything with the US Copyright Office. I won't get into it, but you really can't sue anyone without the registration. That's not an entirely true statement, for the sake of brevity, just consider it so. (I honestly don't know how infringement works with people outside the US, but without a registration, you're legally powerless)
2) I'm sure you have a lawyer already. If not, I recommend Ed Greenberg if you're anywhere NYC.
Thanks for the advice, Jude! Hopefully, it won't come to that...
DeleteI don't understand this at all. She is an artist wanting to support a festival so she offers her work free. That's nice of her. But then her "FREE" work consists of using another's work? And then when you respond with no, she gets offended? She even said in her original email, for you to "feel free to say anything you'd like", which tells me she did not really care if you gave permission or not. I would seek legal counsel and give the festival a cease/desist notice ASAP. What laziness.
ReplyDelete-Mike
"Now I would just like to say that if this person had just contacted me BEFORE doing any of this and asked to use it for a non-profit, I would have probably let them."
ReplyDelete"I am wondering if I could use one design of yours for a film festival poster, here in Romania. It's the only gay film festival in the country and the work I'm doing is pro bono"
I may be missing something but isn't that what she did?
Hi Anonymous,
DeleteI'm sorry, but you seem to be missing the fact that she had sent me a final image of her creation before I even responded to her initial email. That indicates that she took the image from somewhere and altered it without my permission. It also indicates that she was going to use the image with or without my permission. THAT is the reason I said no to the usage. If her client responds to my email, I'll most likely let them use the original unaltered version. I want to be clear that I do not hold the client responsible.
Unbelievable. She asked, you clearly said no, she ignored you, and then has the NERVE to get indignant when you attempt to defend yourself in a professional way. I lose a little more faith in humanity every day.
ReplyDeleteYou handled that well, Chris. I hope it's the last of it.
I mean, it's not THAT similar. Look at those colors! ;)
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, what a tw@. You would think an artist would respect your right to say no without getting all troll about it. What a world we live in.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess this means we're all heading to Romania to ruin a gay film festival. Again.
ReplyDeleteNo way! Can't blame the client for a freelancer mistake!
DeleteBrutal. Hope she gets whats coming to her.
ReplyDeleteHahaha, way to go, I really admire your speed and strength in reacting to this really idiotic display.
ReplyDeleteInternet exposure is one of the best ways to deal with art thieves. I won't get into any specifics but one guy who got particularly jerky to the people he had stolen from was exposed on a rock poster forum. That thread is now the number one google entry when searching his name.
ReplyDeleteIn an entirely amateur move he posted as his own mom and begged that the thread be deleted out of respect since he had just died in a horrible crash. That ruse was uncovered and it just added fuel to the fire. As far as I can tell his "career" pretty much tanked.
Moral to my long winded post- Expose all art thieves!
That is just repulsive...
ReplyDeleteI remember using other artist works for posters when I was a student, but I would always ask for their permission before I used the images with full credits and links to websites. That was short exercises, which would make it no further than our teacher's desk, or be shown in a classroom.
But to do that for a job? No way!
Why didn't she just create one of her own original images, which would be a great way to get her name out there, not copy or alter someone else's work.
I know there are time crunches and stuff, but if you are to ask to use someone else's image then you need to get it approved by the artist beforehand.
Please note I deleted some comments that may be offensive to the designer. Not out for blood here, just education.
ReplyDeleteThis really pisses me off. Well done, Chris. I would never have made encouraging comments to someone like that (in the way your supporters did) because stealing art means you don't have any. I went to the festival's website and can't find the new poster for a taste of their "talent" (unless it's the banner, in which case: massive meh).
ReplyDeleteI don't see why you took their name away though, people like this devalue our industry and take jobs away from those who practice and work hard, they don't deserve to be here.
Looks better with the multicolour eyes. -1
ReplyDelete