Work copied as tattoo

I’ve been following this thread out of pure interest as the
discussion has been thought provoking.

In checking my email tonight, I had one from my sister. She has an
artist friend that makes beautiful steel firebowls. Another person
has copied his designs, started mass producing them and is now suing
to have the copyright overturned! I can’t even conceive of why
someone can get away with that but that’s a whole 'nother
conversation about the not so fine points of the legal system.

If you’re interested, more details are here:

http://www.johntunger.com/legal-defense-fund.html

For you Stephen I think the bottom line is that you need to decide
how important the copyright really is to you and then take the steps
needed to protect it accordingly. In reading about the situation
with the firebowls, the point was made that since the suit was filed
by the other guy, the onus is on the original artist and copyright
holder to prove that his work came first, not the knockoffs. I know
nothing about law so I don’t know how true that is but it makes sense
since the original artist is the defendant in the case.

This really makes me ill for so many reasons.

Hi Jamie,

I have been to some web sites and tried to "right click" on an
image and received a pop-up notice that states, "This is a
copyrighted image and it is illegal to copy." There is no copy menu
pop-up. Although it will not deter a determined plagiarizer, this
makes it more difficult to copy the image and prominently posts a
notification. 

I tired that for a while. I am sure it helps deterring
infringements, but it also was a drag on sales. A lot of my customers
e-mail images to each other when trying to choose what to buy. In the
case of rings, many couples shop this way. In the case of large
crosses, it is often a church or committee buying as a group. Thanks
for the suggestion anyway.

A couple new developments. Regarding the Celtic Cross image that
keeps coming up in the top 5 images on google; the webmaster on that
site has very kindly added the copyright notice as I requested. No
link and the position of the statement might confuse the reader as to
which image is actually being described. But it is success.

http://tinyurl.com/yh3fejv

The other image, the drawing is by UK Celtic artist Courtney Davis.
Courtney published this copyright drawing in a “Source Book” and
then expressed outrage at how often if was copied. Not sure what he
expected people to think a “Source Book” was intended for. Apparently
he did not think it should be clip art, but this drawing has been
copied far more often than any of my Celtic Crosses. I even saw it on
the sign in front of the Episcopal Church in Ft. Augustus in the
Highlands of Scotland.

The other interesting discovery I made regarding Celtic tattoos that
are copied from copyright and trademarked work was this page:
http://www.kelticdesigns.com/Pages/copyright.html Jen Delyth has
been struggling with knock-offs for years. She has been very
professional about it. This page has had a lot added since she and I
were discussing the problem several years ago. At that time she used
a copyright statement I wrote for several other members of the Yahoo
Celtic Art group. Her policy is the same as mine. Copy for
non-commercial use, OK, but give the artist credit, a back-link and
display the copyright notice. Jen’s “Tree of Life” is one of the
most popular of all modern Celtic tattoos. I would estimate that it
has been inked on tens of thousands of bodies. Most of the people
wearing it have no idea where it came from, which says a lot about
tattoo culture.

Stephen Walker

http://www.celtarts.com

Actually all that is necesarry is a copyright notice on the image
itself. And post Bern Convention, the notice isn’t even necessary to
protect your copyright (although it probably wont hurt your claim if
the image was posted with a notice of copyright).

Anyone with basic skills can make a screen capture, regardless of
the individual measures taken to protect digital images on a
computer.

Fortunately, the availability of access to the infringer is
generally all that is required for the copyright owner to make a a
valid claim of infringenment upon the copyright by the alleged
infringer.

If I have an image up on the web, and the alleged infringer has a
computer with an internet connection, access is pretty much a slam
dunk.

Where copyright is concerned - the alleged infringer is guilty until
proven innocent… that is to say that the burden is upon the
infringer to prove that he/she/they didn’t infringe, rather than
upon the creator to prove that an infringement has occurred.

Tattoos ARE the jewelry of the current age, and tattoo artists have
become the “jewelers”. An infringement is an infringement, and IMO
should be taken seriously, and dealt with accordingly.

Michael Rogers
M. M. Rogers Design
Albuquerque, NM

Hello Cherre,

Another person has copied his designs, started mass producing them
and is now suing to have the copyright overturned! 

The only time I ever got a lawyer involved in a copyright dispute, I
was warned of just this sort of thing happening. For this reason she
insisted on immediately filing a federal lawsuit in a jurisdiction
that would be more convenient for us than for the infringer. My
opponent caved in before he was ever even served papers, because
often enough, just knowing that your adversary is serious and has a
lawyer is intimidating enough. This stuff gets real expensive real
fast, so it is like a game of chicken. The lawyers must really love
the internet. Brings them lots of work and fat fees.

Stephen Walker

http://www.celtarts.com

This happened to me when I went after a large company I asserted was
copying my work down to the last detail, and distributing nationally
and internationally.

I literally went door to door and distributed “cease and desist”
letters printed on NCR paper in triplicate to every store I found
carrying the merchandise.

Long story short. They sued because they allegeged I was interfering
with their contractual agreements.

That case was tried in district court in California, and I won the
judgment, establishing an artists right to distribute cease and
desist letters to alleged infringers.

I can’t personally comment on the remainder of the case other than
to say the other side settled and paid me money, but a third party
link follows.

Good luck!
Michael Rogers
M. M. Rogers Design