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Artists Using Doll Likenesses without Crediting [Mijn Schatje discussion]

May 31, 2009

    1. Yep, that's right. The sticky wicket in this case would be that we're dealing with international copyright laws. It's all well and good to serve someone with a cease and desist but if they don't cease the next step is to call in lawyers which could get very costly for the artists who were wronged.

      I wonder how someone goes about starting a class-action suite?
       
    2. I asked my art teacher what we could do, and she said we could write to a French magazine or newspaper. That way, the artist's story and exploitation would be in the same country, and she might actually get cut down faster. The media would be all over it, and hopefully she'd get stopped.

      Maybe we should look into magazines and newspapers that are more opinionated so we wont get in trouble if she decides to pull the law on us?
       
    3. One thing to remember is that controversy often really helps allegedly infringing artists by calling the attention of the news media, etc. to their work. I'm not saying every artist is out to provoke a lawsuit or start one to get attention, but for some people, pushing boundaries of what's permissible is an important component of their work. Obviously that sort of behavior isn't looked on very well in this type of a forum but there are other forums out there, including legal ones, that support it, especially where an artist is perceived as getting too hoity-toit or overprotective. As an example, I just read a lengthy post on the blog of a professor I know criticizing the author JD Salinger for suing a relatively unknown (and likely to stay that way sans controversy) author who wrote a sequel to "Catcher in the Rye" using elements of the original. Rights enforcement thus runs the risk of making an artist into a hero, a poster child or just bringing in more sales from people who wouldn't have noticed the work otherwise, but saw it because of the fuss and decided they liked it.
       
    4. Bunnydots hits it on the nail.
       
    5. What kills me about this situation is that there are so many ways she could have gone about this legitimately -- she simply chose not to. She could have gotten permission to use the images. She could have done what an illustrator I know does; he takes his own photos to trace over and fiddle with. Heck, there are even a handful of BJD figures made in Poser that she could have made quick images from even more cheaply in any position imaginable, with a variety of features and whatever lighting she wanted that she could have done the same thing with.

      To me, the issue here is that she had plenty of legitimate avenues open to her to produce the same kind of work. She didn't take them. That's the problem. Saying where something came from isn't relevant -- if you have proper permission to use it. If you don't have proper permission to use it, you shouldn't be using it.

      There has been talk of the percent something needs to be changed to make a new work -- unless I'm remembering incorrectly, that's a myth. A very common one, but it is. It certainly isn't something I'd ever count on professionally.
       
    6. I doubt this will bring about reform in copyright in that photographers have no say about what happens to their photographs. If anything copyrights are getting more protective of the original artist's rights.

      I would be offended if someone came along and took one of my pictures and tweaked it to start making millions off of it. Why would I be offended? Because the original is MINE and I'm not earning diddly squat on it. Maybe if they pay me royalties I would be happy... but being presumptuous enough to take it without asking and making a huge profit on it without offering me compensation rubs me the wrong way.

      Photographers are artists too. We work with lighting, composition, etc. We crouch down in the dirt in order to get the correct angle in order to capture something. People who profit from a photographer don't haul a tripod on a 3 mile hike in order to capture a waterfall before the light fails or spend $800 on a better telephoto lens that can render bars of a zoo cage invisible by focusing around them to see the animal inside.
       
    7. Has anyone contacted Facebook or MySpace about the stolen images she is promoting on her pages? It may not hurt to try...If it is your image you can report it is what I am trying to say. ^_^

      EDIT: Just read the My Space Terms of Use and she is in violation of them...I wonder if she is for Facebook too? There is a report Abuse at the bottom of the page...if she used your image you can report her there.

      EDIT: It is a Volks...thank you Branchuchan!
       
    8. One of the new images have been discovered and has an overlay here.

      Another photo was discovered last night, here.

      25 so far, possibly more. I think the second "new" picture on her myspace is still being identified.
       
    9. I know many doll companies put a watermark of some sort on their images as well. Has she removed/painted over any of those? Would that contribute more "oomph" to a copyright infringement case?
       
    10. I knew it! The worst part is all those comments that people are making in support of her work. This is horrible. Also, I am not in anyway saying to go and say bad things about her work! I am just saying it is sad because all these people care so much and they probably do not realize where she is getting her ideas.
      EDIT: Duh , I just answered my own question lol...I am such a dork.
       
    11. "Just borrow your eyes" indeed. And the rest of your face! Hrmph.
       
    12. I just need to step in here as a moderator and state that Den of Angels does not condone or support trolling or harassment; please don't do it.

      Getting the truth out is one thing, but you might want to consider doing so in your own space (blog, LJ, Facebook, etc.) or by privately contacting companies (Luts, Volks, etc.) as a consumer rather than invading the public space of others. (ETA: You're welcome to discuss it here.)

      Consider your options as articulate, intelligent people. :)
       
    13. Anyone who has the urge to contact a company or gallery that has worked or is working with Mjin please check to see if they haven't been emailed already before doing so. We don't want to flood these people with emails, we just want to contact them in a courteous way and present the gathered evidence so that they can decide for themselves.
       
    14. I've joined the group and invited my whole flist to it as well!
       
    15. I wasn't going to get involved in this because everyone has already expressed how I feel about it, but I wanted everyone to see this:


      What bunnydots said earlier seems to be applying here. She is using all this attention to further her art...this is truly sad :nowords:
       
    16. But she used the sales pictures from some of the doll companies' websites. How does she explain that? Sometimes I wish I was on facebook so I could ask her myself, but I'm not starting an account for that.

      Plus, why would anyone want to contribute to her earning money when she refuses to do as much as credit her sources?