10+ Times Artists Caught Companies And Fake Artists Copying Their Work And Selling It As Their Own
Thanks to the internet it's never been easier for people to rip off something that somebody else created and pass it off as their own. It isn't just individuals who do it either, but major well-known companies like New Look, Forever21, and even Disney. We wrote about one such case before, where artist Tuesday Bassen discovered that Spanish retailer Zara had stolen her designs and were using them without crediting her, and now Bored Panda has compiled an extended list of people who have experienced similar unfair treatment at the hands of people too lazy, or too talentless, to create something for themselves. Scroll down to see for yourself, and let us know how you feel in the comments.
#1 Art By Katie Woodger Stolen By Disney
The best way for it is to post things like this on facebook, twitter etc... Let's see how disney would quiet down a raging fire
#2 Thomas Pullin's Original Work (Left) And Neda Rabiei's Nockoff (Right)
Crazy!! This should get upvotes... it's not freakin triangles!! It's a blatant copy of a very distinctive artwork. Your work is gorgeous btw!
#3 Woman Steals Artwork From Artist Ryan Conners, Paints Flowers On Top Of It And Sells Products With It As Her Own
#4 Zara Steals Tuesday Bassen's Artwork
This is outrageous! Zara should be so ashamed!!! They got enough money to hire an entire team of designer FFS, do they really need to steal???
#5 First Official Art Thief
To be honest that drawing is beyond beautiful I love it so much such a shame someone had to go and steal it!
#7 Lili Chin's Illustrations “Doggie Language” On Kohl's T-Shirts
#9 Ford Steals Firewatch Artwork For A Promotional Ad
Working in advertising, I have to say that unfortunately, most of the time, the clients don't have any idea where the artwork comes from, it's the ad agency or the graphic designers who stole it or are too lazy to produce real work...
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What do you think ?
Just fund a funny detail... Post #58 from this thread shows a design from instagram @crimewa.ve. I found the instagram account @crimewave and found a "nike knife" which is also shown at the bored panda thread "Artist Turns Logos Of Famous Brands Into Weapons, And The Result Is Dangerously Awesome" Snap2-59ca...d86837.jpg
Snap4-59ca...1dc846.jpg
Ha! Good spot!
Interesting. You steal someone else's work and pass it off as your own.
Jeez
But the original persons illustration STOLE Nikes symbol though... then it's a copy of a copy!
This makes me so sad. Specially when the copycats are big companies stealing artwork of new and young artists knowing that the original artists can't do a thing to protect their work. Obviously designers get inspired by the things that they see and might eventually end up creating something similar, but just copying what they see is so low. I have this top which has been fairly popular ever since I made the first prototype in 2013. Over the last year so I've seen it being copied plenty times. The one on the left is my original design. One on the right is IHeartRaves's version titled as "Exclusively designed by the IHeartRaves team". dreamwarri...b1171a.jpg
Awesome top!
Damn, that is awful. Not a top. Just a bunch of straps.
I wouldn't wear it on its own either. Over another top though? Maybe...
Working as a Graphic Designer in the fashion industry I learned that shamelessly copying designs is the industry standard. I worked for the largest clothing retailers in South Africa and they all do it.
They actually send "buyers" overseas to go on clothing shopping sprees. Then the buyers destroy the clothing by cutting them up to make them unwearable (this creates a loophole to get past import customs), then it's the job of a junior graphic designer to make carbon copies of the designs. I'm not talking about using it for trend prediction or inspiration, I mean literally carbon copies, sometimes down to the smallest details.
What I want to see are the reactions of the thieves and how those stories unfolded, be it catching red-handed, lawsuits and other actions. I hope the thieves get what they deserve, starting from social exclusion, through embarrasement and undermined "talent" to heavy financial punishment. How can you be so insolent and steal like that?! Have you no shame?
It's very hard to actually punish them. Those Zara and Berska things are sold all around (saw them at the store only a few months back), and people were buying them like crazy because they're cute indeed. Did these people know the designs were stolen? Probably not. And even if they were, convenience would have probably won anyway. Lawyers cost a lot of money, and usually artists are short on that. The only ones who can easily be taken care of are those small businesses selling stuff online, by spreading the word. But the rest? It's going to be very hard.
It's not difficult to sue, it's just expensive. They're banking on that.
There's always the PRO-BONO case lawyers. Don't need money upfront and if they don't win your case, you don't have to pay them.
Kinda naive. The only artists really capable of punishing them are like the top 3 artists in the world who have enough fame and money to stand a chance. The rest just have to suck it up and accept that this is the way the legal system works. It's biased unfortunately and not likely to change. You need laws for it to change. And gues who influences laws? Major corporations/lobbies. And were back to square one. Money and wars rule the world.
Just fund a funny detail... Post #58 from this thread shows a design from instagram @crimewa.ve. I found the instagram account @crimewave and found a "nike knife" which is also shown at the bored panda thread "Artist Turns Logos Of Famous Brands Into Weapons, And The Result Is Dangerously Awesome" Snap2-59ca...d86837.jpg
Snap4-59ca...1dc846.jpg
Ha! Good spot!
Interesting. You steal someone else's work and pass it off as your own.
Jeez
But the original persons illustration STOLE Nikes symbol though... then it's a copy of a copy!
This makes me so sad. Specially when the copycats are big companies stealing artwork of new and young artists knowing that the original artists can't do a thing to protect their work. Obviously designers get inspired by the things that they see and might eventually end up creating something similar, but just copying what they see is so low. I have this top which has been fairly popular ever since I made the first prototype in 2013. Over the last year so I've seen it being copied plenty times. The one on the left is my original design. One on the right is IHeartRaves's version titled as "Exclusively designed by the IHeartRaves team". dreamwarri...b1171a.jpg
Awesome top!
Damn, that is awful. Not a top. Just a bunch of straps.
I wouldn't wear it on its own either. Over another top though? Maybe...
Working as a Graphic Designer in the fashion industry I learned that shamelessly copying designs is the industry standard. I worked for the largest clothing retailers in South Africa and they all do it.
They actually send "buyers" overseas to go on clothing shopping sprees. Then the buyers destroy the clothing by cutting them up to make them unwearable (this creates a loophole to get past import customs), then it's the job of a junior graphic designer to make carbon copies of the designs. I'm not talking about using it for trend prediction or inspiration, I mean literally carbon copies, sometimes down to the smallest details.
What I want to see are the reactions of the thieves and how those stories unfolded, be it catching red-handed, lawsuits and other actions. I hope the thieves get what they deserve, starting from social exclusion, through embarrasement and undermined "talent" to heavy financial punishment. How can you be so insolent and steal like that?! Have you no shame?
It's very hard to actually punish them. Those Zara and Berska things are sold all around (saw them at the store only a few months back), and people were buying them like crazy because they're cute indeed. Did these people know the designs were stolen? Probably not. And even if they were, convenience would have probably won anyway. Lawyers cost a lot of money, and usually artists are short on that. The only ones who can easily be taken care of are those small businesses selling stuff online, by spreading the word. But the rest? It's going to be very hard.
It's not difficult to sue, it's just expensive. They're banking on that.
There's always the PRO-BONO case lawyers. Don't need money upfront and if they don't win your case, you don't have to pay them.
Kinda naive. The only artists really capable of punishing them are like the top 3 artists in the world who have enough fame and money to stand a chance. The rest just have to suck it up and accept that this is the way the legal system works. It's biased unfortunately and not likely to change. You need laws for it to change. And gues who influences laws? Major corporations/lobbies. And were back to square one. Money and wars rule the world.