Folks Of Interest Stolen from Friday Art Show and on Sale at Essen Motor Show

I hate thieves. Car thieves, tool thieves, Idea thieves. Pure scum of our sport and they deserve to be ratted out. While at the Essen Motor Show in Germany this week, a friend found my low-res art stolen off the HAMB Friday Art Show and my website and turned into badly printed stickers for sale.



There are few things worse than some lowlife scumbag opening a website or pop-up store calling himself a hot rod shop and filling it with counterfeit ripoffs and selling to an unsuspecting public.



Germany's Johan Werner - also known as Joe Werner - runs www.factory68.com and is out looking for art, logos, etc to steal and make a quick Euro on.

If you're a contributing HAMB artist you might to check out his site and make sure you're not on it.

Yes he's going to get a cease and desist. But creeps like this deserve a lot more.

 

He prints them himself? I guess the big name race decals would be an easy target, but one off "art" pieces?? I bet he don't hold a licence to print/reproduce anything. Go get him!

Scotty

 

Bad guy!!! I hate it!

 

Go get him tiger!

 

Sadly, this happens in Europe quite a bit, you see T Shirts all the time that you think are the real thing, but then find out that they are ripoffs...

 

i feel your pain.....but what can you expect from someone sellin Sons of anarchy merch.

 

To bad it has to happen if he was around here i have a shovel and open ground but i guess it is just a part of our lives now people are raised different i just had stuff stolen from my place lately cant prove it even if i could nothin will happen to the theives sorry to say the guilty have more rights. The honest hard working people get screwed but please sir dont quit showing your art work it is honestly awe inspiring just as much as some peoples builds around here are. Like i said you do awesome work please dont deprive us of your work just because of some a##hole thieves.
later sir
MIKE

 

"imitation is the highest form of flattery".......?

 

Boy oh boy Bomonster, everyone's stealing your shit. Must be nice to be so in demand!

 

What a douchebag!

 

Get a rope!

 

No expert on computers, but I've seen sites that prevent copying of pics. Don't know how it's done, but it may be something worth looking into. Is there anything legal to do being foreign country?

 

Here is his contact info. What an ass.

factory68.com
Johann Werner
Sterngasse 5
74535 Mainhardt
Deutschland
Telefon: 0049-157-745 905 88
Fax:
[email protected]

 

This sucks, but it's tough to enforce U.S. copyright laws in Europe. The rest of the world does not treat intellectual property the same way we do here. Might be more expensive than you bargained for if you have to fight this in Euro courts.

 

is it not possible that he bought that stickers somewhere in the usa and just resell them in essen? That is what a lot of peoples do here . A friend of mine for example does exactly this at the essen show. Its not this wolfgang by the way.

 

F'n losers, they must think that being so far away they are beyond legal matters. About as low as it gets, yes, a compliment to your talent when properly licensed. Really b.s. pal. Get em. ~sololobo~

 

Didn't SoCal sue someone for coypright infringement....?

 

Are they copyright?
If not..............................

 

Makes you want to think twice about watermarking or serrating any art shown on the web?

 

It's called Intellectual Copyright. Original pieces of art are automatically covered. There is no copyright symbol on the Mona Lisa .

 

Seems to me there are alot of people out there printing junk stickers how ever they can. I've purchased several off of eBay that are horrible pixelated junk that are printed off of a computer. I guess the old ones were screened??? But there is an obvious difference in quality between this junk and original old stickers. Glad I was getting them for a tool box and not a vintage race car.

 

Since 1989 in the U.S.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary_and_Artistic_Works

 

thats why, from a photographer's standpoint, that you MUST remember to put watermarks on your photos/artwork when uploaded online. The more you copyright them before you upload them ANYWHERE on the internet; the better. I understand people can photoshop that out but if you take the time to do some really good watermarks; it becomes increasingly difficult to photoshop them out. Sad to see this happen; but its occuring everywhere...not just in the "art" world.

 

That's a damn shame Bo. How can these dolts not figure out to go through the right channels to get their merch? They'll still make their $ selling while the artist gets their piece of the pie too. Hope you can resolve this will quickly.

 

this sucks
did you have a few words for the guys
thanxs
for the in fo

 

Ugh, I have been dealing with this shit for so long, but it still depresses me to see it happen to other artists.

I've seen everything that can be printed or manufactured with a bootleg smoking Devil printed on 'em. There's even a guy in Europe who was doing a whole clothing line with my art - he approached me for a license, then did it as bootlegs when I said no. There's another turd who was working as an "artist", showing clients my work in his portfolio, then photoshopping together art from bits and pieces of my stuff. The list goes on and on and on...

Ebay will take down auctions if you show that you are the creator/copyright owner, but in a case like this, there's not much to do but show up at his booth and deliver a cock punch (not that I am suggesting you do that, wink,wink)

The bigger problem is that most people who don't make their living as an artist simply don't understand that this is stealing, same as prying open my garage door and hotwiring my car.

 

"If it's on the internet, it must be free" that's the excuse I have heard several times from ignorant designers and art directors - do they not teach copyright law in art school?

At a certain point, I think it becomes like shoplifting in chain stores - a certain amount is always gonna happen, and it is built into the accounting. Make your own stuff, and make it of a higher quality than the bootlegs, and hope that people have the sense to want the real thing - ultimately that's the only way to beat them.

 

Oh, and watermarks don't stop anybody, unless it is completely covers the artwork and makes it so illegible that you might as well not post it anyway. Anything else is easy to remove/cover up in photoshop.

 

Damn, sorry to hear Bo. I have seen this done many times over with Weesner's art at big shows. You can say something to him but good luck in him stopping since he's not close to you. Some people are just asses! If it's not him, it will be someone else. I too have had some of my art stolen and reproduced as someone elses. Best of luck in what you do!