Please don't buy this Rat Fink Sticker!

Avatars are not stealing. There are HAMBER's using my photos as their Avatar. They are not selling anything, simply an avatar. Its no big deal.

 

If the original owner being Ed Roth died then the license you had with him died also unless in your contract the terms were to include the new trademark holder. No lawyer would touch this with out a bonafide legal contract between you and the current trademark holder. Before everyone goes out and lynch mobs this guy they better make sure who owns the Rat Fink rights and who has legal documents to prove it.

 

Sonny,
I hate a thief, hope you can find the lazy asshole that stole your ink.

Alfred_E_ Newman, quit acting like your illegal avitar, if your not a lawyer you missed your chance,

 

wow... I bet you had a ton of friends growing up...

 

contract with Ed or not, the art was done by him, it is being stolen period.

 

Being a true smartass is an art.

 

Art is defined as:

the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/art

Making something more beautiful.

Being a smart ass it just that.

No offensive dude.

Wish I lucky enough to have the original of this piece of art. Very cool and a significant piece to the Fink archive.

 

"Being a smartass it just that"..
Beautiful.
The dude from Alabama correcting gramatical errors. Funny.
Going to Turkey run next week will be on the lookout for pirated Finks.

 

It is not infringement to use any artwork for personal use. I've had people use my artwork to create a personal iron on that they themselves are wearing. As long as it is not used for promotion, for profit, or to make a claim of ownership rights, or resale rights or ability, it is not infringement. If I wanted to make a t-shirt for myself with Coca Cola on it, Coca Cola has no recourse. I ran a family screen printing business for nearly 21 years. Now, would I reproduce ANY copyrighted art for customers? Never...

What has happened here, stealing, reproducing and reselling the design, is plain and simple theft.

Nice design BTW. If you ever do reproduce it and decide to sell it as the artist, I'd be interested in purchasing it.

 

so how'd this turn into a thread about avatar artwork?
My avatar is artwork done for me by Mr. Roth for my 11th birthday at his shop on Slauson in 1961.
It's his artwork, but it's on my sweatshirt.

and, yes, art theft is cowardly and against the law...

 

actually if you make a shirt with a copyrighted logo you have infringed on the owner of the artwork, in your example coca cola, by making an item for your personal benefit you have cheated them out of a sale they should rightfully get in order for you to own an item with their logo. it's illegal to reproduce someone else's artwork for any means

as far as avatars, you can be asked not to use an artist work, Coop for example was shutting down people for using his artwork in avatars, I know this for a fact as a close friend was using his american flag helmet as an avatar on myspace some time ago and was contacted by him. personally i thought it was petty but it is his artwork and if he doesn't want it being used that's his right.

 

Ha ha, you got me there.

 

Thats nice work sorry to see it was stolen , I will keep a look out and not buy one and inform my non hambfriends as well !

 

Having known you from Motorburg and Pinhead Lounge, I have come to know your passion for R.F. and learned of your friendship with "Big Daddy" himself. You have always done an amazing job rendering the Rat Fink. It's a damned shame that some ass-hat is not only taking advantage of your wonderful artisic skills, but also latching on to the undying popularity of Rat Fink in order to make a few bucks. I have nothing but respect for you and your work, Sonny, and it's a goddamned shame that someone has done this to you. Sorry to hear this has happened. Let them eat shit for what they've done.

 

"Personal gain" is clearly stated in the many statutes. Unless something has changed or there are addendums, I don't see CocalCola having recourse for Joe Blo ironing CocaCola on his own, personal t-shirt. I'm an artists, I am an advocate for intellectual property rights. If I'm wrong, I truly would like to see a way of enforcing against personal use.

 

BTW: you have to be able to prove "damage" or "loss" for the courts to hear your claim/case.

 

Sonny, sorry to hear your art is getting ripped off. I'll keep my eye out for it in my travels and let you know where and when I see it.

I see TONS of stuff at the many shows Denise and I go to that I know is ripped off. I've even contacted some of the artists if I specifically known who it was ripped off from. It's a problem I don't see going away anytime soon Like others have said on this thread, I hope it doesn't stop the many talented artists we have here on the HAMB and other websites from sharing their great work.

 

And maybe drawing and quartering

 

let's not get enforcement and what is legal mixed up. sure they won't send the corporate lawyers over to shut down someone making a single shirt, but that doesn't make it legal, it's clearly personal gain

personal gain is stated, as is public display, a piece of art isn't going to fall under any fair use loop hole. claiming damages for losses is a tricky business for sure, issuing a cease and desist on the other hand is not, we do it all the time.

bottomline is if you create an original piece of artwork, noone is entitled to reproduce it in any media for profit or not. regardless if you have paid for a copyright (although i recommend doing it makes protecting it a million times easier) whether or not it makes sense to take someone to court and sue is a whole other issue.

Sonny should have no problem issuing a cease and desist, but if he decides to sue he may have issues with the licensing agreement if it hasn't been made current with the new owners of the trademarked artwork he used.

 

as far as public display... wouldnt internet be considered public display?

i've used my avatar since the mid 90's, i had a tshirt with the same image on it when i was a kid and thats why i use the avatar.. plus i was a fan of the artwork since i was a kid.. does that make me a thief? NO, makes me a fan of a certain type of artwork... same goes for the magazine Cartoons, i loved that magazine, i would get one of those after a visit to the doctor, yep got a cool mag for having a snotty nose those were the days..

my mother use to run an embroidery shop.. she had to get written permissions for copying images, such as GM's bowtie,Fords script,Dodges ram horns, CocaCola,RC,CSX railroad nearly any type of large companies have their trademark images licensed... that means you cant reproduce them without written consent, generally a legal document stating you have permission to use the image. she had a stack of documents allowing her to use them, she embroidered alot of the safety award jackets hats and t-shirts for alot of large companies...

there are alot of images that are not licensed, signed or copyrighted for that matter, they are actually fair game. the bad thing about it is you could actually copyright an image you did not create. I dont even know if a simple signature will do it anymore or not..

since the op isnt licensed to produce that image, there probably isnt alot he can do, could actually get in trouble himself for using the image if the license holder objected to his use of the image.. he could find who was reproducing it ,tell the license holder and then the license holder and lawyers take over from there though...

 

Didn't realise the H.A.M.B. had so many 'Lawyers' and great legal minds.
He simply asked people not to buy it.
Doubt if it will ever make it to my neck of the woods but will keep an eye out.

 

its the same as posting pictures on forums, if a watermark is created on the image you posted, then that would be illegal... how can a website put a watermark on an image that belongs to you then? at that time the website states that the watermark creates an ownership of the image to your picture that you took to post for the benefit of others..

so explain that one.

 

Simple ~ they can't, without permission of the owner/artist. Doesn't mean it's not done, people break the law everyday.

 

yes they do. in the case of image posting on forums that watermark, that forum would be breaking the law.. they are benefitting from your artwork and declaring ownership of your digital photo.. 2 wrongs dont might a right... but the sticker seller might not have a clue about it, hes probably just buying a big lot of stickers and just selling them and knows no better...

In invisible watermarking, information is added as digital data to audio, picture or video, but it cannot be perceived as such (although it may be possible to detect that some amount of information is hidden). The watermark may be intended for widespread use and is thus made easy to retrieve or it may be a form of steganography, where a party communicates a secret message embedded in the digital signal. In either case, as in visible watermarking, the objective is to attach ownership or other descriptive information to the signal in a way that is difficult to remove. It is also possible to use hidden embedded information as a means of covert communication between individuals.
One application of watermarking is in copyright protection systems, which are intended to prevent or deter unauthorized copying of digital media. In this use a copy device retrieves the watermark from the signal before making a copy; the device makes a decision to copy or not depending on the contents of the watermark. Another application is in source tracing. A watermark is embedded into a digital signal at each point of distribution. If a copy of the work is found later, then the watermark can be retrieved from the copy and the source of the distribution is known. This technique has been reportedly used to detect the source of illegally copied movies.


i know a person that has patented a certain mount, that you guys would be suprised to know that even got a patent, the bad thing is i've seen it made a hundred times over, you have also.. all he has to do is object to it and you either owe him money for using it or even making it.. its so common of a bracket you wouldnt believe it..

 

friendly discussion and hey it keeps bumping Sonny's thread so more people see it and hopefully will support not buying it.

Watermarks are just a way to try and protect your art, it's already been said, if you didn't create the artwork it's not for you to reproduce in any manner unless you have permission. that's it in a nutshell

we all know you can get away with alot of things, being able to get away with it and thinking it's your right to do it doesn't make it legal. Feel free to research the rights of an artist if you disagree, I'm only chiming in here because it is what I do and am familar with the legality of it. Seems alot of folks like to assume things and throw it out like it's fact.

if you'd like to put yourself to sleep here's a link to title 17 which is the copyright law

http://www.copyright.gov/title17/

 

A friend of mine is a well know automotive artist/illustrator. His work is all over the place on bogus posters, clocks, etc. The quality of the rip-off stuff I have seen is not as good as the "real"/ligament pieces. But if had never seen the real thing, one wouldn't realize the difference.

 

I don't care if my art is used for a personal avatar, or tattooed on someone.

But as soon as I see something for sale with my art on it, I'm gonna do something about it.

Like to do something about this one, a REALLY bad color copy of my lithograph "Sparking" for sale in a stall at Chapel St. Bazaar in Melbourne, but it's small potatoes and too far away... He had others too-

 

THAT is typically the main issue, and is also pretty much the ONLY scenario that can be enforced. Enforcement is the issue. I hate to say it, but there isn't much you can do about PERSONAL USE. What's a guy going to do, ask the judge to order that a tattoo of his art be removed from some guys shoulder? There are SO many laws that are unenforceable...that's life. Like I've already stated, I've had my artwork stolen and reused. If I chased after every schmoe who had no ethics in my life I'd be broke and insane. If someone makes a lot of money off my designs, I'll take them to the cleaners...if they put my design on a t-shirt they're going to wear, so be it.