katiewoodger:
DISNEY HAVE STOLEN MY ARTWORK
I don’t know what to do. I am so upset. Can anyone help me?
My painting was created back in 2010, (see it HERE) and since then so many people have expressed their love for it, not just on tumblr, but in many places. At least 9 people had it tattooed on their bodies. It’s one of my favourite images I created at University and I was proud of it in many ways.
Disney have used it on a cosmetics bag HERE (look at the back)
and they have produced a Tshirt HERE with a really similar design clearly modeled from my painting
I’m so mad because I have no chance at getting Disney to do anything about it. I had so much respect for the company and now I am just SO upset and disappointed.
Any help, advice or signal boosting would be amazing. And thank you so much to the kind person who messaged me about this.
I heard this one is on the verge being settled, Disney already started working on it.
When artists meet this kind of situation, don’t panic, this situation doesn’t look that bad to me. Go to Volunteer Lawyer for the arts because you will surely win this kind of case, and probably get a settlement quickly.
Nation wide: http://www.vlany.org/legalservices/vladirectory.php
NYC based lawyer volunteers: http://www.vlany.org/
CA based lawyer volunteers: http://www.calawyersforthearts.org/
I can see this as an out-source problem with a large company, a company like Disney being so big can’t watch every worker in China, India, USA… They are the biggest outsource client to various country. So this is probably done by one of the workers under Disney without them knowing since its work of an indy artist. Disney pride itself with original content, they will likely take this down ASAP if a lawyer writes a letter for you to them and help you settle this issue. You can decide to settle this out of court or in court. To them, this is just a bag, they can do without it and make another one really quickly. It’s not worth it to risk their rep on it.
FYI: This applies to all artists: JUST be careful about going online FIRST with the news, I know a lot of artists DO this! Because if you screw up and hurt a company’s reputation with vague/unclear accounts, they CAN sue you for it! SO Go contact a lawyer FIRST before you post on social network sites unless you REALLY don’t know what to do. Especially if the artwork isn’t an OBVIOUS steal but more of a conceptual steal, (like stolen composition, character face design, looks similar but not completely the same) that CAN REALLY get you in trouble if you pick a fight online FIRST before getting your case straight. Basically, try the safe approach before you try the risky one. Posting online is easy, but it’s actually a risky move for you and the company.
