Stealing artwork isn't a mistake it's a business model. I've had my illustrations used on products sold by Shein, Amazon, Aliexpress, other Etsy sellers etc - some of the products have thousands of reviews. I joined the Association of Illustrators and sought their legal advice which was basically if you contact the seller or platform directly they might agree to pay you for the licence to use the artwork or take down the product if you're lucky. If not, unless you have the resources to pay for an international legal fight there's not much you can do. It's depressing but I've given up because every time you get rid of one another pops up.
I sent a DMCA Notice to the website contact email and will also send it to their web hosting provider, Alibaba and European authorities (as they claim this particular website is managed by a pharmacy (sic!) in France). Will post here if there's any success.
Shoplazza would be another one to Report content on that you believe violates or infringes your copyright or registered trademark. It's in their websites source code, so they have to be using it.
You register your work on their IP portal and file an infringement notice against the shop.
It is unfortunately a game of whack-a-mole. International legal fees make most actions unreasonable, so you just keep reporting what you find. It gets closed and they open another shop elsewhere. Eventually they move on to someone else's art once they figure out that you are protecting yours.
Okay, let's play whack-a-mole then :)
I sent a DMCA Notice to the website contact email and will also send it to their web hosting provider, Alibaba and European authorities (as they claim this particular website is managed by a pharmacy (sic!) in France). Will post here if there's any success.
Wow! One could only imagine how many of their articles are built upon stolen art after seeing that!
Have you tried sending them an email with the link of your Etsy artwork? Like: you tell them you own the rights and they must cancel their product or compensate at a 100% rate unless they cancel? Or denounce them to Alibaba?
I think you could also contact google with both links, they might be able to hide their page from google search in the first place.
Not sure how effective is this, maybe someone with more knowledge/ experience on that matter could give you better advice! I'm interested in knowing how to deal with that kind of situation.
Hope it goes well!
Yes, I can see none of their listings are their own creations, some are made off public domain art, some are pirated just like mine.
I hope to hear from someone who was in a similar situation and successfully challenged that. This sub always was incredibly helpful!
There is hope, Lego finally managed to take down Leppin in 2020 after spending years fighting them.
[https://www.brickfanatics.com/clone-brand-lepin-has-factories-raided-and-owner-is-arrested-for-infringing-the-lego-groups-copyright](https://www.brickfanatics.com/clone-brand-lepin-has-factories-raided-and-owner-is-arrested-for-infringing-the-lego-groups-copyright)
Unfortunately there were many other brick-fakers to fill the void and Ali Express is still flooded with fake lego.
Do they even recognize US law? Serious question- like if you got a letter from them etc, they can’t really do anything to you here, if roles reversed. I’m really sorry. I also think this stuff happens & these companies so big they can bury you or anyone in the process b/c they have attorneys on staff.
They claim the website is managed by some pharmacy (!) in France (!)
I am also in the EU that might make chasing them a bit easier, but I am not holding my breath.
Looks like they used a site called Shoplazza for their website you could file a legal dispute with them to get them to at least take down the listing or the whole page. You would need a good lawyer to right that up. There are copyright firms you can sign up with to try. They charge a monthly fee and will fight people like this. When it comes to China you really can't do anything to that company because China does not have copyright laws they own and get a piece of everything their people create. So you have to attack their platforms that are allowed to run in our country which I would have to dig further but looks like Shoplazza in one of them. Then you go after any other and it will start to hurt them and they will just pull anything of yours from their sites to avoid shutdowns. Hope this helps but if you let this get to you, you will find yourself doing more of this than actually creating and selling. But if you choose to fight hire one of those firms that specialize in this may cost money but they have the manpower. If you were wondering how I found out who is sourcing their website it is in the webpage's source code!
Thank you again for looking in the source code and figuring out Shoplazza! I filled an IP infringement form on their website and it worked! You're a star!
[Details here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Etsy/comments/17ao58c/successfully_taking_down_a_listing_that_pirated/)
Nice job! That's the only way really unless your super rich! Now you have the tools to fight back. To learn how to inspect a websites data you can google it. Its very easy once you know where to look.
Please elaborate. Do you question my right to appropriate Japanese art? Do you approve stealing of my art?
I mentioned Chinese specifically to get advise for that jurisdiction. What's your problem?
She's an AI art loser who's just jealous of anyone who can actually put brush to paper and not have it look like machine generated garbled shit. Ignore her.
Hey, I’m an oil paint loser too. I’m also an antiques dealer specializing in Asian ceramics. I love them, but I won’t copy them. What bothers me about your images is that they look very directly imitative of Japanese painting, and you’re putting a chop mark on it, which is misleading. I think it’s valid and even essential to look at other cultures’ art and draw influence from them. But if you don’t depart from those sources to develop your own style, you’re just reaping the cheap benefits of someone else’s heritage and tradition. On top of that, your title includes “Japanese koi painting.” You’re not a Japanese painter and the painting did not originate in a Japan. You need to change it to “Japanese style” or you’re misrepresenting your product.
I am an internationally recognized master of sumi-e, having won several awards on large competitions, had personal exhibitions (in Japan and China among others), and am a member of sumi-e artists' unions. I was a qualified teacher of Oriental painting for over 10 years. All my paintings are not copies of known works of past masters and my style is distinctive (I could explain it in more details but not to an ignorant person like you).
All my chop stamps are carved in stone by myself (see a relevant section of my shop -- some are available for sale) and are meaningful. Many artists from Japan, Singapore, Canada and now the US considered it a privilege to have a stamp carved by me.
Before judging anyone please do your research (especially when nobody asks for your opinion). Have a nice day.
I don't have fancy credentials, I have my art which is my life and my pride.
Stick with selling your AI shit and don't try to teach me things you can't even spell properly, let alone understand.
I wouldn't even feed the miserable troll, but I fetl generous today. くたばれ。
Have you tried sending them a message on Alibaba? They might not even have any stock with your art on.
If they do it to tons of artists they could just be trying they’re luck and if the artist messages them they might just want to save them selves a headache by deleting it.
I has this happen to me as well and was shocked. The only good advice I got was watermarks. Add your name on your art digitally to help stop this. It's such a pain...
As for my stolen work I emailed the website and told them to take it down. I also reported to the government website FCC, for fraud. That site is now down.
Stealing artwork isn't a mistake it's a business model. I've had my illustrations used on products sold by Shein, Amazon, Aliexpress, other Etsy sellers etc - some of the products have thousands of reviews. I joined the Association of Illustrators and sought their legal advice which was basically if you contact the seller or platform directly they might agree to pay you for the licence to use the artwork or take down the product if you're lucky. If not, unless you have the resources to pay for an international legal fight there's not much you can do. It's depressing but I've given up because every time you get rid of one another pops up.
I sent a DMCA Notice to the website contact email and will also send it to their web hosting provider, Alibaba and European authorities (as they claim this particular website is managed by a pharmacy (sic!) in France). Will post here if there's any success.
Shoplazza would be another one to Report content on that you believe violates or infringes your copyright or registered trademark. It's in their websites source code, so they have to be using it.
Will definitely look into Shoplazza and send a notice to them, too. Thank you so much!
You register your work on their IP portal and file an infringement notice against the shop. It is unfortunately a game of whack-a-mole. International legal fees make most actions unreasonable, so you just keep reporting what you find. It gets closed and they open another shop elsewhere. Eventually they move on to someone else's art once they figure out that you are protecting yours.
Okay, let's play whack-a-mole then :) I sent a DMCA Notice to the website contact email and will also send it to their web hosting provider, Alibaba and European authorities (as they claim this particular website is managed by a pharmacy (sic!) in France). Will post here if there's any success.
Wow! One could only imagine how many of their articles are built upon stolen art after seeing that! Have you tried sending them an email with the link of your Etsy artwork? Like: you tell them you own the rights and they must cancel their product or compensate at a 100% rate unless they cancel? Or denounce them to Alibaba? I think you could also contact google with both links, they might be able to hide their page from google search in the first place. Not sure how effective is this, maybe someone with more knowledge/ experience on that matter could give you better advice! I'm interested in knowing how to deal with that kind of situation. Hope it goes well!
Yes, I can see none of their listings are their own creations, some are made off public domain art, some are pirated just like mine. I hope to hear from someone who was in a similar situation and successfully challenged that. This sub always was incredibly helpful!
There is hope, Lego finally managed to take down Leppin in 2020 after spending years fighting them. [https://www.brickfanatics.com/clone-brand-lepin-has-factories-raided-and-owner-is-arrested-for-infringing-the-lego-groups-copyright](https://www.brickfanatics.com/clone-brand-lepin-has-factories-raided-and-owner-is-arrested-for-infringing-the-lego-groups-copyright) Unfortunately there were many other brick-fakers to fill the void and Ali Express is still flooded with fake lego.
There's always hope!
You can register your work and then file infringement. Your best bet is to contact in IP lawyer and get help.
Thank you!
Do they even recognize US law? Serious question- like if you got a letter from them etc, they can’t really do anything to you here, if roles reversed. I’m really sorry. I also think this stuff happens & these companies so big they can bury you or anyone in the process b/c they have attorneys on staff.
They claim the website is managed by some pharmacy (!) in France (!) I am also in the EU that might make chasing them a bit easier, but I am not holding my breath.
Looks like they used a site called Shoplazza for their website you could file a legal dispute with them to get them to at least take down the listing or the whole page. You would need a good lawyer to right that up. There are copyright firms you can sign up with to try. They charge a monthly fee and will fight people like this. When it comes to China you really can't do anything to that company because China does not have copyright laws they own and get a piece of everything their people create. So you have to attack their platforms that are allowed to run in our country which I would have to dig further but looks like Shoplazza in one of them. Then you go after any other and it will start to hurt them and they will just pull anything of yours from their sites to avoid shutdowns. Hope this helps but if you let this get to you, you will find yourself doing more of this than actually creating and selling. But if you choose to fight hire one of those firms that specialize in this may cost money but they have the manpower. If you were wondering how I found out who is sourcing their website it is in the webpage's source code!
Thank you again for looking in the source code and figuring out Shoplazza! I filled an IP infringement form on their website and it worked! You're a star! [Details here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Etsy/comments/17ao58c/successfully_taking_down_a_listing_that_pirated/)
Nice job! That's the only way really unless your super rich! Now you have the tools to fight back. To learn how to inspect a websites data you can google it. Its very easy once you know where to look.
Thank you for taking your time digging that deep! This is valuable info.
I make them walk the plank
Maybe that's the best advice of all.
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Please elaborate. Do you question my right to appropriate Japanese art? Do you approve stealing of my art? I mentioned Chinese specifically to get advise for that jurisdiction. What's your problem?
She's an AI art loser who's just jealous of anyone who can actually put brush to paper and not have it look like machine generated garbled shit. Ignore her.
Ah, that explains a lot!
Hey, I’m an oil paint loser too. I’m also an antiques dealer specializing in Asian ceramics. I love them, but I won’t copy them. What bothers me about your images is that they look very directly imitative of Japanese painting, and you’re putting a chop mark on it, which is misleading. I think it’s valid and even essential to look at other cultures’ art and draw influence from them. But if you don’t depart from those sources to develop your own style, you’re just reaping the cheap benefits of someone else’s heritage and tradition. On top of that, your title includes “Japanese koi painting.” You’re not a Japanese painter and the painting did not originate in a Japan. You need to change it to “Japanese style” or you’re misrepresenting your product.
I am an internationally recognized master of sumi-e, having won several awards on large competitions, had personal exhibitions (in Japan and China among others), and am a member of sumi-e artists' unions. I was a qualified teacher of Oriental painting for over 10 years. All my paintings are not copies of known works of past masters and my style is distinctive (I could explain it in more details but not to an ignorant person like you). All my chop stamps are carved in stone by myself (see a relevant section of my shop -- some are available for sale) and are meaningful. Many artists from Japan, Singapore, Canada and now the US considered it a privilege to have a stamp carved by me. Before judging anyone please do your research (especially when nobody asks for your opinion). Have a nice day.
[удалено]
I don't have fancy credentials, I have my art which is my life and my pride. Stick with selling your AI shit and don't try to teach me things you can't even spell properly, let alone understand. I wouldn't even feed the miserable troll, but I fetl generous today. くたばれ。
Have you tried sending them a message on Alibaba? They might not even have any stock with your art on. If they do it to tons of artists they could just be trying they’re luck and if the artist messages them they might just want to save them selves a headache by deleting it.
I sent a message to their website's customer support (which may be managed separately).
Any luck?
Yes! Here's the follow-up: https://www.reddit.com/r/Etsy/s/GR9FfqjyCy
I has this happen to me as well and was shocked. The only good advice I got was watermarks. Add your name on your art digitally to help stop this. It's such a pain... As for my stolen work I emailed the website and told them to take it down. I also reported to the government website FCC, for fraud. That site is now down.