Your Rights Online: Designer Accused of Copying His Own Work By Stock Art Website

[Bob Hubbard]

Your Rights Online: Designer Accused of Copying His Own Work By Stock Art Website on Sunday April 05, @09:04AM


Posted by Soulskill on Sunday April 05, @09:04AM
from the only-so-many-ambulances-can-be-chased dept.

the_harlequin writes "A successful designer, who has a showcase of his own work available online, has had a stock image site accuse him of copyright infringement over his own illustrations, citing damages of $18,000. The story doesn't end there; the stock photo site hired lawyers, who have contacted the original designer's clients. The lawyers told them the designer is being investigated for copyright infringement and their logos might be copied, thus damaging his reputation. 'My theory is that someone copied my artwork, separated them from any typography and then posted them for sale on the stock site. Someone working for the site either saw my [LogoPond] showcase or was alerted to the similarities. They then prepared the bill and sent it to me. The good thing is that the bill gives me a record of every single image they took from me. That helps me gather dates, sketches, emails, etc. to help me prove my case. The bad thing is that despite my explanations and proof, they will not let this go.'"
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http://www.jonengle.com/2009/04/accused/

 

[Cryozombie]

Haha, that stock art site may be in for a HUGE shock when the designer wins and they have to pay him.

 

[TonyDismukes]

There's a pretty extensive discussion of this issue over at Metafilter here. The consensus seems to be that Jon Engle is probably lying about just every aspect of the case and is most likely guilty of ripping off the work of the artists represented by Stockart.com.

 

[Andrew Green]

There's a pretty extensive discussion of this issue over at Metafilter here. The consensus seems to be that Jon Engle is probably lying about just every aspect of the case and is most likely guilty of ripping off the work of the artists represented by Stockart.com.

Yup, apparently he's even been sued and paid up for it in the past.

The blog posting was almost a great little publicity stunt for him though, now he's made himself famous as a plagiarist.

 

[exile]

Thanks for the lead, Tony. Went over there and read enough of the discussion to see that the Engle's story looks... well, like he has a big burden of proof to shoulder. The jury's still out... but the moral of the story seems to be, the combination of Internet and enraged populism can give rise to a hell of a lot of static noise. Getting any signal from out of that mess is probably going to take a bit longer. Meanwhile, so far as any particular story is concerned, buyer beware...

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Very interesting. Thanks very much for the update.