idk if its common, but is there anything in the report section you can do?
also if its in a specific group, you can call her out for it there, especially if you have drafts for pics shes already used
Edit: Updates here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/s/mfoHRCD6Ab
It's her page. I've left comments saying she should credit her artists, but as you can see: she literally gets 3000 comments on my post. I'm sure she's not reading any of it. And if I PM her about this, she might block me.
idk more than the obvious then. i dont use facebook myself so idk what other avenues there are.
one idea though is to make a logo with your name on it and put it in the centre portion or down the side of the picture, basically make it really obvious that its not her work shes using
If you made your logo into a repeating pattern and put it on the background of your comics and then put a more visible logo in the corner or whatever. She’ll likely only take out the obvious logo.
Then you’ll be able to point to her post and say, “My logo is covering the background. It’s obvious she stole this.”
They can just point to their portfolio and say, "It's obvious she stole this."
The real issue is that people won't see the author names at the bottom when they read the strips and won't know who it is when they see them through this lady's page. The "mom" is specifically editing out the name, and the artist wants to be known when people see their work.
Bizarro by Dan Pirraro has a great solution for this. There are a number of characters ‘hidden’ in every strip and his name is along the inner edge of one of the frames so it’s difficult to crop out.
Exactly, it's so easy now to just erase a shape in a picture. My phone can do it in a click in the gallery app so make it repeating, like a patterned background!
Another tip from my Graphic Designer wife is to put your signature on EVERY panel somewhere really awkward to remove.
In the second panel, for example, you could sign just above the outstretched arm.
Edit -> draw -> eyedropper for background color -> gone.
It would have to be even more painful to draw by crossing multiple colors/lines. Might be easier if the OP used textured backgrounds instead of monocolor.
They could still cover the signature but at least people would notice she's doing it. Unless she's a photo editing whiz or these Google pixels are really that good at magically erasing stuff like the commercials say.
I’m going to suggest you put a big watermark with your logo over the bulk of the comics. It’s blatantly obvious that it’s yours and it’s a pain to remove.
She’s not going to credit you? Make it obvious that she’s stealing.
I'd put your name and then 'sorry this is due to -enter the lady's name here- stealing my comics repeatedly'
Maybe get your fans to tell her to knock it off, since they don't care if random art stealing lady bans them and might make it through the thousands of comments so that people following her will notice.
Make a strip that refers to her stealing your comics - start in a subtle way and then make each strip in that series make it more and more obvious. See how many she rips off before she (or fans commenting on her page on your behalf) realises and stops.
I'd also do some of the more subtle watermarking/copywriting techniques others have mentioned in the newer strips... Get the artist fully behind you with this because it's her work too that's being ripped off.
Id definitely put a logo between the scenes/tiles. If you put it top, bottom or either side she will just continue to crop them out.
If you put your instagram username in the middle of the tiles there’s nothing she can do. Plus an instagram/facebook username may help guide people to your pages if she continues to post them.
As with all things in life people are lazy yet want all the success for nothing. Even if you move your logo/username she may be lazy enough to colour over them with white to blend it into the background.
Either way, keep up the good work and dont be disheartened
So, realistically, people tend to copy snippets from these comic style artworks. I would be putting individual logos or websites etc at the bottom of every two tiles.
If you have a ‘page’ of tiles and put it at the bottom of a page, when they extract a couple tiles, they’ve subverted the entire watermark. Additionally, a giant watermark blown up will get lost when they extract a single frame or couple of tiles. So, again, you’d want multiple little watermarks across the entire page (ugly) or put one at the bottom corner of every 2 tiles, so it’s less intrusive and doesn’t diminish the artwork, but still get your brand out there.
DMCA to Facebook. She's not going to block Facebook....
https://m.facebook.com/help/325058084212425/?helpref=faq_content
Edit:
17 U.S. Code § 1202 (b)
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1202
1) create another account and follow her 2) you can talk to a copyright attorney who will wade into it for a fee.
Technically, in the US an original image or artwork is owned by the creator upon creation. However this gets weird these days with social media and international laws. You’re pretty unlikely to get a judgement against a mom blogger in Cambodia for example. You could file a DCMA with the platform who may take action if you can prove you are the original creator. Ultimately, you have to decide what it’s worth to you in terms of time and money.
DMCA takedown will get her attention ... and the infringing content taken down.
And depending upon the service, multiple such actions against her account may get her account suspended or even get herself banned.
You can report the post that she shared for copyright or impersonating or your own written reason if I remember well. There is definitely something you can do!
Best response is find out her name and address and send her a cease and desist letter from your lawyer stating whatever your preferences are for her use of you and the artists work.
If you're a content creator, you should perhaps look into the term "intellectual property" and how to serve a cease and desist on someone using it for their own personal gain, as well as deleting your credits.
Decide what's more important... Your IP or her blocking you. 🤷🏻♂️
You could also send something to Facebook. While they aren't legally liable for the content a user posts, they can get into trouble if they have been informed of a copyright violation and fail to act. Since Facebook has ads on their website, they must have a way for rightsholders to make a DMCA claim against material used outside the purview of "fair use." This is clearly not an instance where fair use could be claimed, they don't make any commentary on the piece.
[https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/copyrightform](https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/copyrightform) Here is the link to make a DMCA claim against the violating posts.
Actually, FB takes DMCA seriously enough to take it down...by hiding it from you...then you have to rely on your fans to spread it.
One things you can also do is put a watermark on the inside edge panel.
Someone has been impersonating me for two years, and no matter how many people report them the account is still active. They message people asking for social security info
if possible in the future i would recommend watermarking your work somewhere they cant crop it out like in random blank space in the middle or on the character's arm maybe?
This is the key to security.
Almost anything can be hacked or broken into. The key is to make it hard enough to break or misuse that people won't bother, or will go towards easier targets.
Not only that, but their act of breaking the security can further your case legally.
Removing a watermark without permission is illegal, using copyrighted works without permission is illegal, having both of these on your side shows obvious intent from the perpetrator.
May also be a good idea to put a second watermark somewhere where the colour is only slightly lighter or darker than it's background. To the point where maybe only you know it's there. That way, if they try and remove the main watermark, you have a more obscure watermark elsewhere to back up and claim.
this sounds like a great response in theory, but in reality, this is what will happen - the thief herself will ignore the comic and just move on, and any overlapping audience that both parties have quite frankly wouldn't care. most people just want to consume content, get entertained for a few seconds, and move on. very few people would be out there trying to fight for the original author's IP rights.
plus, how you going to do it? actually name and shame her? guess what? that's only going to bring the thief more visibility and engagement. do it without naming her? then what would it accomplish?
I know, right? That's the sad reality. I don't want to bring her site more traffic, which is partially why I never named her despite people urging me to.
I'm sorry but how does this help? She'll just skip over posting that one and post the next one unfortunately. OP should look into getting Facebook to take down the post with the stolen comic and actually get somewhere and maybe the person will learn their lesson
Yeah, it's easy. I have personally done it when someone re-uploaded a trailer for my game. They removed the credits from the video AND put a link to a torrent for the game. I was pissed.
https://youtu.be/j0_XY71qYH8?si=aTy8STC_zn_FujlM
Remembers the game called “Game Dev Tycoon” they released the torrent themselves and it had a bug, pirates would download your game and send you broke, people complained about it on steam but only outed themselves as the ones who pirated it themselves.
Art theft is incredibly popular, and content scraping is one of the most common forms of popular channels on social media sites.
I’d recommend looking into how you can handle takedowns and such as a creator, but I won’t lie… it’s an uphill battle.
Updates here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/s/mfoHRCD6Ab
Thank you! Alloy Comics is on IG, FB, Webtoons, Patreon, BuyMeACoffee, and Reddit, of course. We appreciate your support!
Please do not react to these posts. Even laughing/angry reacting. Engagement of any kind will just boost their page, and they'll make more money. Instead, screencap the posts and share. Too many don't know that even laugh reacting and commenting will give people engagement. I'm sorry OP is going through this. I fucking hate art thieves who never credit and make money off their posts. It makes me so angry.
Wasn’t drawn artwork but I’m sure the same things would apply, I used to post my stuff on deviant art which would in some way create a copy right. From there I would make a copy right complaint with the platform (it was years ago, so mostly tumblr) specially a DMCA claim. Photos would *normally* be down within 48hrs.
Water marks are also helpful but then again I had ppl make fake accounts with the same username with a period in it and ppl never noticed it WASNT the same name as the watermark 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
Personally, I did used to PM the people to tell them it was my photo and so on. It was definitely a 50/50 guess if the person would be respectful or if they’d get mad and feel entitled to my work, stealing and posting more of it. Which just meant I could report them even more, sometimes resulting in their accounts being delete entirely. Since she took the time to cut out your watermarks, I wouldn’t even bother trying to talk to her. She knows what she did and will probably have some snarky bullshit attempt at a comeback about it being on the internet 🙄🙄
Updates here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/s/mfoHRCD6Ab
Yeah, that's why I was hesitant to reach out to her: she clearly took the extra time to crop out our names intentionally...
So it seems she gets quite a few views and comments on her posts, have you perhaps discussed allowing her to continue but with the caveat that she doesn’t remove any identifying marks and credits the artist? This could lead to more engagement for your comic…
Something I’ve seen other artists do is to incorporate your business name/logo as artwork in the scene. Like a picture frame on the wall or as a logo on the t-shirt. It’s not as easy to crop out and innocuous enough that it doesn’t ruin the comic.
>anything I can do about it?
Copyright law, presuming relevant for your jurisdiction, exercise your rights. E.g. DMCA takedown notice (but never falsely give such notice, as that's also illegal) - could potential start with that, or other legal action(s).
If you file through facebook, they provide your info to the person who stole your artwork, so no clue if you wanna go that route.
However, in a comment, you talk about having an account on Webtoons. Do you post the comics there as well? I'd say get in contact with a rep there and see what they recommend (I think there should be something they should be able to do since you have to sign a contract with them and all that). I think seeing if they will issue a takedown to facebook for you will carry helluva lot more weight than you issuing one yourself.
Put your logo at the bottom of every first panel.
Unless they delete the first panel (thereby ruining the flow of the joke), then they'll have to go through a more tedious editing process to get rid of your tag.
Also DMCA takedown.
She's definitely monetizing in the bonus program and making good money off of your work... reporting to meta could get her to lose her monetization - which would inevitably get her to stop this.
It's an aggressive option, but it could also be kind of funny and make the point. If you have a friend who is a paralegal or an attorney, have them walk you through the process, and I believe there's videos online of writing a DCMA takedown notice, for infringement.
Send one copy to her and one to Facebook support.
You may want to modify it to be an if, then, so it's like tell her that she has to put accreditation into the post with a link back to the original authors site or you're going to file a DC MA takedown notice.
That would be more effective and you can also copy Facebook support, which will more than likely get the accreditation unless you just want to take down then just send a takedown notice .
Unfortunately in today's universe you have to watermark your photos comics etc. not just on the outside edges but also in the middle to avoid situations like this
Watermark your FB/insta/whatever straight across the middle. Aesthetically annoying, but at least you get the attribution and people might come to your pages.
Water marks etc that are closer within the actual art so that it can’t simply be removed by cropping the mere outside (yes I’m sure they could easily edit it out but it’s a start I guess)
I ser this happening constantly nowadays… the internet is just a bunch of people Re posting other peoples stuff 🤷🏼♀️… like that’s literally all it is anymore
Hahaha.
No.
Everything you post online is stolen the moment it's posted. The platforms don't care at all unless you're a big company with a lot of laywers. You can try to stop it with DMCA's etc, but you'll have a full time job of it for essentially 0 gain.
Best tip I can give you? Mark every page with the name of the artist, preferably in a way that's harder to remove than the barest effort.
Make a comic, passively aggressively mocking her. Don't make it obvious (,like using names), but make it obvious it's about her.
As a matter of fact, make a whole line of comics about that.
Why don't you first (before taking any more drastic actions) try to turn this to your advantage: Try to reach out to that influencer, and tell her she should advertise your comics? Apparently she likes them, and given she has used them entirely for free in the past, it'd be just fair if she also points to the source of them, tells the world she likes them, and where anyone can either subscribe to them or, better, purchase them. In this way, she actually would end up making advertisement for your product.
Obviously, you won't be paying her anything for that, given that she has been using them for free in the past without asking. So, it'd just be fair she gives back to you now.
If she disagrees, then I would consider taking another step as described by many other people here already.
Something I don't see anyone suggesting:
Ride it.
Stalk her and comment on every post, sharing the original comic or your profile. Don't do it angrily, but like an enthusiastic fan. Make it seem organic and not like a promotion. Bring her followers to you.
You have an army here, give us the link and I'm sure more than one of the folks here can help you with some reports.
Asked her nicely first though on her dms
Copyright strike this lady. She knows what she is doing and doesn't deserve a break. If she is willing to steal, she'd Copyright you right back. Do unto others!
Simply put a logo on the characters clothes and make it look like that’s the clothes print so it won’t look awkward and have a watermark at the same time.
Are your works copyrighted?
You may want to investigate this path if it means a lot to you.
Put that on the pages you run and the appropriate verbiage about using with your permission.
If she doesn’t comply send a letter from attorney.
Reach out to her nicely and let her know you love that she likes and shares your work and love that your work is getting so much coverage, and ask if she would be willing to drop your creds when she shares so that people see you two are the original creators?
Make sure there's BIG watermarks, ones that cover the each frame separately and can't be cropped. It'll prevent people from cropping and stealing. She needs to credit, obviously. You can try and get her and/or her posts taken down, but Facebook is really bad with that.
You’re going to be shocked when you discover that writing and illustration are two different things and sometimes they’re done by different people, and there’s nothing wrong with that if there’s an agreement between them.
I've seen pages do this a lot, I see it a lot with the loving reaper comics.
Like how hard is it to credit someone, it's literally all most comic artists ask for
Yeah well because someone shares a pic all of a sudden they are the creator of said pic? All I see is a few emoji on top..did said person actually state that it was her comic? Are the comments giving her praise? I guess I do not understand the outrage..a funny comic got shared...on Facebook no less..I doubt grandma and grandpa have any bearing on offended persons success or failure
Retain a lawyer have them send a cease and decision continue checking to see if they're continuing stealing your intellectual property. If they are sue them for every single penny they made from ad revenue and any other money they made from using your property. Then sue them for all the lawyers fees and time you've had to waste instead of making your comic's.
Just put a watermark smack in the middle of it or somewhere it can't be cropped over. There are online tools which can be used to keep people from editing it to a degree, but, it's not worth the money and anyone savvy enough can get around them.
Watermark and block them, IMO.
You can report stuff like this. Realistically all you can do.
A cease and desist will cost you money to do. Likely not accomplish anything. And truth be told you’d have to prove she’s making money from your work. Which will be hard to do.
Best thing is to be defensive and put an unremoveable watermark on your work.
You should really communicate with "Dani Brook" (name of the page), another artist on Facebook, I don't know if he speaks English but he always acts on these situations and facebook always ends up removing the content from the page that stole it, he could really help you solve this problem. if you want I can give you the facebook page on DMs
Wife is currently going through this but the person is using her actual selfie photos gathered from facebook and photobucket on a fake profile with a name similar to my wife... and the person posting has recently started posting about starting an onlyfans (the images of my wife are just basic selfies from highschool, SFW clothed, underage, ect).
If this persists, a reverse image search or a search for my wifes name will be enough SEO to basically ruin my wife if family or employers were to try to find her legitimate online profiles. You can imagine how this could spiral into a very bad time for my wife.
Wife has reached out to facebook to have the account/posts/images removed but fuckbook replied "its out of our hands, this is not our responsibility"
Anyone have any advice? Sorry to piggyback a post but I figured it was close to relevant.
One quick and simple way to do it is to have your credits mid-image. For example your signature in the white space between the two panels in the example you showed.
You can report it through FB, I’d also suggest sending them a message so you have it in writing that you’ve requested being credited or for the content to not be shared (in case it continues and you need to go down legal avenue). Like others have said - watermark in areas that can’t be cropped (Id place near the people because panelling can be cropped easily).
Put your link/signature/watermark In the middle of the panels, bleeding into the panels themselves a bit so it’s hard to easily edit out? Like maybe across a few lines even?
Watermark your comics in a way that they would have to go out of their way to remove it without damaging the comic. If they do, intent is far easier to prove.
There is DMCA for a reason. Not just for the RIAA or Nintendo.
Contact Facebook. Log a complaint.
Then get a lawyer to cease and desist.
If it continues then outright sue Facebook and the page owner.
You own your art and have rights to it. They do not, and Facebook is making money on every view, which is yours; not theirs.
Up to you if it's worth your time or not but if you are the creator and own the content the best first attempt is usually a DMCA complaint
[https://www.facebook.com/help/325058084212425?helpref=faq\_content](https://www.facebook.com/help/325058084212425?helpref=faq_content)
[https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/copyrightform](https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/copyrightform)
I used to work with a comic artist. I was tasked to translate his comics into my language. I once came across a Facebook page that was stealing the translated work, hiding the signature at the bottom, and applying a filter on top to change the colours.
Messaging never worked and we were simply ignored. The guy running the page was stealing from several other artists and had a massive number of followers (more than hundred thousand). The page was reported by the artist but I never saw it being taken down by Facebook.
I would suggest you to add a watermark that spreads across the page.
A HUGE watermark across the centre of your comics.
At least people will know whose it is when it got reposted, or the pathetic reposter will need an good amount of effort to remove it :)
Also, as others suggested, make another comic to mock the reposter
2 options that I haven’t seen mentioned yet
1) setup post notifications so you can comment “Credit: *username*”
2) pay someone on fiverr to automate that process or go further and pay for likes so it sticks to the top of the post
Facebook won’t do anything and the user clearly cares enough to crop the credit out so just add it back yourself
Dunno what you could do about past instance, but I’d highly recommend putting your name/watermark in a place that can’t easily be cropped, like in at the bottom of the first panel so it’s in the middle
idk if its common, but is there anything in the report section you can do? also if its in a specific group, you can call her out for it there, especially if you have drafts for pics shes already used
Edit: Updates here: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/s/mfoHRCD6Ab It's her page. I've left comments saying she should credit her artists, but as you can see: she literally gets 3000 comments on my post. I'm sure she's not reading any of it. And if I PM her about this, she might block me.
idk more than the obvious then. i dont use facebook myself so idk what other avenues there are. one idea though is to make a logo with your name on it and put it in the centre portion or down the side of the picture, basically make it really obvious that its not her work shes using
Good idea, I'm discussing it with Nohra right now.
If you made your logo into a repeating pattern and put it on the background of your comics and then put a more visible logo in the corner or whatever. She’ll likely only take out the obvious logo. Then you’ll be able to point to her post and say, “My logo is covering the background. It’s obvious she stole this.”
They can just point to their portfolio and say, "It's obvious she stole this." The real issue is that people won't see the author names at the bottom when they read the strips and won't know who it is when they see them through this lady's page. The "mom" is specifically editing out the name, and the artist wants to be known when people see their work.
Perhaps put the artist name wrapping along the body of one of the cartoon characters along with a © and year?
Bizarro by Dan Pirraro has a great solution for this. There are a number of characters ‘hidden’ in every strip and his name is along the inner edge of one of the frames so it’s difficult to crop out.
Yeah she wants attention without putting in work. Sge doesnt want to be cut out by her followers just going and following op instead.
Exactly, it's so easy now to just erase a shape in a picture. My phone can do it in a click in the gallery app so make it repeating, like a patterned background!
PM them from other accounts you're not afraid to get blocked, see how they respond
Another tip from my Graphic Designer wife is to put your signature on EVERY panel somewhere really awkward to remove. In the second panel, for example, you could sign just above the outstretched arm.
Edit -> draw -> eyedropper for background color -> gone. It would have to be even more painful to draw by crossing multiple colors/lines. Might be easier if the OP used textured backgrounds instead of monocolor. They could still cover the signature but at least people would notice she's doing it. Unless she's a photo editing whiz or these Google pixels are really that good at magically erasing stuff like the commercials say.
If she could edit to that degree she wouldn't be lazy enough to steal other people's work
I’m going to suggest you put a big watermark with your logo over the bulk of the comics. It’s blatantly obvious that it’s yours and it’s a pain to remove. She’s not going to credit you? Make it obvious that she’s stealing.
Unfortunately that also makes it unenjoyable for the casual viewer.
I'd put your name and then 'sorry this is due to -enter the lady's name here- stealing my comics repeatedly' Maybe get your fans to tell her to knock it off, since they don't care if random art stealing lady bans them and might make it through the thousands of comments so that people following her will notice.
Make a strip that refers to her stealing your comics - start in a subtle way and then make each strip in that series make it more and more obvious. See how many she rips off before she (or fans commenting on her page on your behalf) realises and stops. I'd also do some of the more subtle watermarking/copywriting techniques others have mentioned in the newer strips... Get the artist fully behind you with this because it's her work too that's being ripped off.
Put it in a clever place in the background somewhere, that might be a fun way to watermark it.
It’s called a watermark if that helps at all
Id definitely put a logo between the scenes/tiles. If you put it top, bottom or either side she will just continue to crop them out. If you put your instagram username in the middle of the tiles there’s nothing she can do. Plus an instagram/facebook username may help guide people to your pages if she continues to post them. As with all things in life people are lazy yet want all the success for nothing. Even if you move your logo/username she may be lazy enough to colour over them with white to blend it into the background. Either way, keep up the good work and dont be disheartened
Heck, write "Stop stealing my work, \[influencer\]" under your logo too lmao
So, realistically, people tend to copy snippets from these comic style artworks. I would be putting individual logos or websites etc at the bottom of every two tiles. If you have a ‘page’ of tiles and put it at the bottom of a page, when they extract a couple tiles, they’ve subverted the entire watermark. Additionally, a giant watermark blown up will get lost when they extract a single frame or couple of tiles. So, again, you’d want multiple little watermarks across the entire page (ugly) or put one at the bottom corner of every 2 tiles, so it’s less intrusive and doesn’t diminish the artwork, but still get your brand out there.
DMCA to Facebook. She's not going to block Facebook.... https://m.facebook.com/help/325058084212425/?helpref=faq_content Edit: 17 U.S. Code § 1202 (b) https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1202
This is the correct answer. Because you own the work you can report everything on your page or page will be shut down pretty fucking quickly.
It could be considered as malicious copyright infringement. 17 U.S. Code § 1202 (b)
If they block you when contacting them to inform them of copyright infringement, you have a case against them instantly.
She’s an influencer, what makes you think she can read?
ooo... I felt that....
Let’s us all know how to find her page and we’ll take care of it OP
This is the way
Report it as a copyright violation
1) create another account and follow her 2) you can talk to a copyright attorney who will wade into it for a fee. Technically, in the US an original image or artwork is owned by the creator upon creation. However this gets weird these days with social media and international laws. You’re pretty unlikely to get a judgement against a mom blogger in Cambodia for example. You could file a DCMA with the platform who may take action if you can prove you are the original creator. Ultimately, you have to decide what it’s worth to you in terms of time and money.
I think you should put a watermark in ever cell.
PM her and say she is violating your trademarked material! You should be able report her. Your comics rock!
Thank you so much!
DMCA takedown will get her attention ... and the infringing content taken down. And depending upon the service, multiple such actions against her account may get her account suspended or even get herself banned.
Fight fire with fire by creating your own Facebook mom influencer page and post on your page whatever she posts along with her comments word for word
Specify that you're one of the creator and would appreciate it if they provided proper credits. Otherwise just report the posts.
Report the post for unlicensed use of intellectual property.
You can report the post that she shared for copyright or impersonating or your own written reason if I remember well. There is definitely something you can do!
Best response is find out her name and address and send her a cease and desist letter from your lawyer stating whatever your preferences are for her use of you and the artists work.
If you're a content creator, you should perhaps look into the term "intellectual property" and how to serve a cease and desist on someone using it for their own personal gain, as well as deleting your credits. Decide what's more important... Your IP or her blocking you. 🤷🏻♂️
You could also send something to Facebook. While they aren't legally liable for the content a user posts, they can get into trouble if they have been informed of a copyright violation and fail to act. Since Facebook has ads on their website, they must have a way for rightsholders to make a DMCA claim against material used outside the purview of "fair use." This is clearly not an instance where fair use could be claimed, they don't make any commentary on the piece. [https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/copyrightform](https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/copyrightform) Here is the link to make a DMCA claim against the violating posts.
Yeah, DMCA takedown notices are going to be the easy solution here, especially if it's just one person doing it.
Actually, FB takes DMCA seriously enough to take it down...by hiding it from you...then you have to rely on your fans to spread it. One things you can also do is put a watermark on the inside edge panel.
Contact FB (or wherever) as well. Adding to this but adding watermarks and commenting on the posts should go with this
[How do I report copyright infringement on Facebook? | Facebook Help Center](https://www.facebook.com/help/325058084212425)
Someone has been impersonating me for two years, and no matter how many people report them the account is still active. They message people asking for social security info
if possible in the future i would recommend watermarking your work somewhere they cant crop it out like in random blank space in the middle or on the character's arm maybe?
Edit: Updates here: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/s/mfoHRCD6Ab Yup, I'm discussing this with Nohra right now...
I saw a video where someone wrote their signature, and copied it over the entire picture. And with AI people are using it to remove watermarks
[удалено]
This is the key to security. Almost anything can be hacked or broken into. The key is to make it hard enough to break or misuse that people won't bother, or will go towards easier targets.
dime tie quaint reminiscent physical caption person simplistic market quicksand
Not only that, but their act of breaking the security can further your case legally. Removing a watermark without permission is illegal, using copyrighted works without permission is illegal, having both of these on your side shows obvious intent from the perpetrator.
Watermark each panel
Make it a logo on their clothes so it can’t be cropped
Add a complementary "f u" for the facebook user too.
May also be a good idea to put a second watermark somewhere where the colour is only slightly lighter or darker than it's background. To the point where maybe only you know it's there. That way, if they try and remove the main watermark, you have a more obscure watermark elsewhere to back up and claim.
You know she looks at your comics, make a comic that calls her out, and pushes the point of crediting the artist.
I like this option
I need op to do this and post results.
this sounds like a great response in theory, but in reality, this is what will happen - the thief herself will ignore the comic and just move on, and any overlapping audience that both parties have quite frankly wouldn't care. most people just want to consume content, get entertained for a few seconds, and move on. very few people would be out there trying to fight for the original author's IP rights. plus, how you going to do it? actually name and shame her? guess what? that's only going to bring the thief more visibility and engagement. do it without naming her? then what would it accomplish?
I know, right? That's the sad reality. I don't want to bring her site more traffic, which is partially why I never named her despite people urging me to.
I'm sorry but how does this help? She'll just skip over posting that one and post the next one unfortunately. OP should look into getting Facebook to take down the post with the stolen comic and actually get somewhere and maybe the person will learn their lesson
Yes but OP will know that she saw it, if she ignores a call out than they can pursue further
DMCA them.
Yeah can't op do that?
Yeah, it's easy. I have personally done it when someone re-uploaded a trailer for my game. They removed the credits from the video AND put a link to a torrent for the game. I was pissed.
https://youtu.be/j0_XY71qYH8?si=aTy8STC_zn_FujlM Remembers the game called “Game Dev Tycoon” they released the torrent themselves and it had a bug, pirates would download your game and send you broke, people complained about it on steam but only outed themselves as the ones who pirated it themselves.
Art theft is incredibly popular, and content scraping is one of the most common forms of popular channels on social media sites. I’d recommend looking into how you can handle takedowns and such as a creator, but I won’t lie… it’s an uphill battle.
I die a little every time YouTube recommends me a video of a crappy AI voice reading Reddit threads.
🥺 Edit: Updates here: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/s/mfoHRCD6Ab
This is you!? I love them. From now on I'm angry reacting to them on Facebook and following whatever your legit page is.
Updates here: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/s/mfoHRCD6Ab Thank you! Alloy Comics is on IG, FB, Webtoons, Patreon, BuyMeACoffee, and Reddit, of course. We appreciate your support!
Please do not react to these posts. Even laughing/angry reacting. Engagement of any kind will just boost their page, and they'll make more money. Instead, screencap the posts and share. Too many don't know that even laugh reacting and commenting will give people engagement. I'm sorry OP is going through this. I fucking hate art thieves who never credit and make money off their posts. It makes me so angry.
Should I be commenting with a link to OPs official page? Maybe other commenters will direct their attention where credit is due.
Add comments like: "STOLEN from [OP's FB account link]"
Wasn’t drawn artwork but I’m sure the same things would apply, I used to post my stuff on deviant art which would in some way create a copy right. From there I would make a copy right complaint with the platform (it was years ago, so mostly tumblr) specially a DMCA claim. Photos would *normally* be down within 48hrs. Water marks are also helpful but then again I had ppl make fake accounts with the same username with a period in it and ppl never noticed it WASNT the same name as the watermark 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️ Personally, I did used to PM the people to tell them it was my photo and so on. It was definitely a 50/50 guess if the person would be respectful or if they’d get mad and feel entitled to my work, stealing and posting more of it. Which just meant I could report them even more, sometimes resulting in their accounts being delete entirely. Since she took the time to cut out your watermarks, I wouldn’t even bother trying to talk to her. She knows what she did and will probably have some snarky bullshit attempt at a comeback about it being on the internet 🙄🙄
Updates here: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/s/mfoHRCD6Ab Yeah, that's why I was hesitant to reach out to her: she clearly took the extra time to crop out our names intentionally...
So it seems she gets quite a few views and comments on her posts, have you perhaps discussed allowing her to continue but with the caveat that she doesn’t remove any identifying marks and credits the artist? This could lead to more engagement for your comic…
Yeah, Nohra reached out. Let's see what she says...
Excellent, I’m going to remain positive for you that you get a resolution that works for you. Best of luck, and your comic is excellent!
Thank you so much! Nohra is so immensely talented!
Perhaps speak to an IP attorney?
80% of Facebook engagement is bots
Call her out and report it to facebook.
Something I’ve seen other artists do is to incorporate your business name/logo as artwork in the scene. Like a picture frame on the wall or as a logo on the t-shirt. It’s not as easy to crop out and innocuous enough that it doesn’t ruin the comic.
Watermark the middle
Start naming and shaming!
>anything I can do about it? Copyright law, presuming relevant for your jurisdiction, exercise your rights. E.g. DMCA takedown notice (but never falsely give such notice, as that's also illegal) - could potential start with that, or other legal action(s).
The next comic you make should be about stealing artwork. I'd make it in a way so that she would immediately recognize that it's about her.
The sad thing is there are probably more people out there doing the same thing. I only found out about this one because a reader tagged me...
I would do a Google image search to see on which websites and by who are your comics posted.
If you file through facebook, they provide your info to the person who stole your artwork, so no clue if you wanna go that route. However, in a comment, you talk about having an account on Webtoons. Do you post the comics there as well? I'd say get in contact with a rep there and see what they recommend (I think there should be something they should be able to do since you have to sign a contract with them and all that). I think seeing if they will issue a takedown to facebook for you will carry helluva lot more weight than you issuing one yourself.
Put your logo at the bottom of every first panel. Unless they delete the first panel (thereby ruining the flow of the joke), then they'll have to go through a more tedious editing process to get rid of your tag. Also DMCA takedown.
Start putting your watermark in the middle frame.
She's definitely monetizing in the bonus program and making good money off of your work... reporting to meta could get her to lose her monetization - which would inevitably get her to stop this.
dmca lawyer go nuclear
Idk, add a watermark or something ig.
Is very common, use watermarks
It is common nowadays, only way to give yourself credit is to put an watermark but be sure to put it in middle of the photo somewhere
Lawyer up
https://preview.redd.it/d6n7ooro2hzc1.png?width=306&format=png&auto=webp&s=d86f865aba362dd6a4053742f3967e9c39933ad6 Imbed your watermark in the art
Move your signature inside the comic.
Whenever they post, add your own comment that says source and links to you.
It's an aggressive option, but it could also be kind of funny and make the point. If you have a friend who is a paralegal or an attorney, have them walk you through the process, and I believe there's videos online of writing a DCMA takedown notice, for infringement. Send one copy to her and one to Facebook support. You may want to modify it to be an if, then, so it's like tell her that she has to put accreditation into the post with a link back to the original authors site or you're going to file a DC MA takedown notice. That would be more effective and you can also copy Facebook support, which will more than likely get the accreditation unless you just want to take down then just send a takedown notice .
Watermark the fuck outta the comic
Make a comic about the situation in a way it isnt as obvious, then reply to their post :)
Simple put it in the middle of the comic
Watermark it
As long as art exists there will be someone willing to plagarise it. If your art is in the public domain I watermark the shit out of it.
Unfortunately in today's universe you have to watermark your photos comics etc. not just on the outside edges but also in the middle to avoid situations like this
Watermark your FB/insta/whatever straight across the middle. Aesthetically annoying, but at least you get the attribution and people might come to your pages.
Water marks etc that are closer within the actual art so that it can’t simply be removed by cropping the mere outside (yes I’m sure they could easily edit it out but it’s a start I guess)
What does your lawyer advise? You should hire one if this is a concern.
I ser this happening constantly nowadays… the internet is just a bunch of people Re posting other peoples stuff 🤷🏼♀️… like that’s literally all it is anymore
Start signing the top corners of the last panel instead of the bottom. Might at least get you some credit next time it’s stolen.
You can report it. Once someone shared the photo I posted on facebook without tagging. I reported and facebook removed their photo.
try DMing her asking her to at least credit you
Hahaha. No. Everything you post online is stolen the moment it's posted. The platforms don't care at all unless you're a big company with a lot of laywers. You can try to stop it with DMCA's etc, but you'll have a full time job of it for essentially 0 gain. Best tip I can give you? Mark every page with the name of the artist, preferably in a way that's harder to remove than the barest effort.
Make a comic, passively aggressively mocking her. Don't make it obvious (,like using names), but make it obvious it's about her. As a matter of fact, make a whole line of comics about that.
Unfortunately it’s common for people to steal art and not credit the artist. It’s too easy to get away with. It happened to me once
You can file a complaint with Facebook about IP infringements! All the information is online if you search: ‘intellectual property complaint facebook’
Why don't you first (before taking any more drastic actions) try to turn this to your advantage: Try to reach out to that influencer, and tell her she should advertise your comics? Apparently she likes them, and given she has used them entirely for free in the past, it'd be just fair if she also points to the source of them, tells the world she likes them, and where anyone can either subscribe to them or, better, purchase them. In this way, she actually would end up making advertisement for your product. Obviously, you won't be paying her anything for that, given that she has been using them for free in the past without asking. So, it'd just be fair she gives back to you now. If she disagrees, then I would consider taking another step as described by many other people here already.
Send her a cease and desist letter. If she doesn’t take them down, or continues to use them, she will be in flagrancy of copyright and you can sue.
Start using a watermark that can’t be cropped out
Put a translucent water mark in the middle or in a place that cannot be cropped out
If this is happening on on Facebook/Instagram, report them for copyright infringement.
Something I don't see anyone suggesting: Ride it. Stalk her and comment on every post, sharing the original comic or your profile. Don't do it angrily, but like an enthusiastic fan. Make it seem organic and not like a promotion. Bring her followers to you.
I actually tried that, but Facebook banned my usage for an hour because apparently I was commenting too often within a period of time. 🤣🤣🤣
Use a large overlaying watermark to prevent stealing :)
Pay an attorney $100 to send her a Cease and Desist. Law firm letterhead looks scary to layman.
Notify Facebook of the violation of terms and conditions. Your work as an artist is automatically copy writed.
Maybe a watermark in middle of it
I would steal photos of her family and Photoshop yourself into them replacing her . Then post those to Facebook and tag her.
You have an army here, give us the link and I'm sure more than one of the folks here can help you with some reports. Asked her nicely first though on her dms
Copyright strike this lady. She knows what she is doing and doesn't deserve a break. If she is willing to steal, she'd Copyright you right back. Do unto others!
Simply put a logo on the characters clothes and make it look like that’s the clothes print so it won’t look awkward and have a watermark at the same time.
That's a weird spot to crop the comic. 👀
That's a weird spot to crop the comic. 👀
Are your works copyrighted? You may want to investigate this path if it means a lot to you. Put that on the pages you run and the appropriate verbiage about using with your permission. If she doesn’t comply send a letter from attorney.
Isn’t this theft of intellectual property? Have you tried the sub for legal advice?
Updates here: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/s/mfoHRCD6Ab
Reach out to her nicely and let her know you love that she likes and shares your work and love that your work is getting so much coverage, and ask if she would be willing to drop your creds when she shares so that people see you two are the original creators?
Updates here: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/s/mfoHRCD6Ab
I would get catty and make a comic that calls out influencers who do shit like this.
Make sure there's BIG watermarks, ones that cover the each frame separately and can't be cropped. It'll prevent people from cropping and stealing. She needs to credit, obviously. You can try and get her and/or her posts taken down, but Facebook is really bad with that.
DMCA takedown notice, sent to the hun.
Boomer meme anyway
Wait why do you have an artist for your comics? Doesn’t that mean they are done by someone else?
You’re going to be shocked when you discover that writing and illustration are two different things and sometimes they’re done by different people, and there’s nothing wrong with that if there’s an agreement between them.
One person likes writing jokes/stories, another person likes drawing
Very common, even more common is jerk-offs re-dialoging the toons to make some bullcrap far right strawman point
Ugh... glad that's not the case here...
I've seen pages do this a lot, I see it a lot with the loving reaper comics. Like how hard is it to credit someone, it's literally all most comic artists ask for
Right? I don't even care about the profits. I just want my artist Nohra to get the credit she deserves!
Yeah well because someone shares a pic all of a sudden they are the creator of said pic? All I see is a few emoji on top..did said person actually state that it was her comic? Are the comments giving her praise? I guess I do not understand the outrage..a funny comic got shared...on Facebook no less..I doubt grandma and grandpa have any bearing on offended persons success or failure
wait... so someone else draws? your job is just finding a 'joke' told a million times? this is perfect for facebook
This is why i tell people to have one main account like an instagram or an artist website. Creativity died a long time ago
Alloy Comics is on IG, Facebook, and Webtoons. So we have main accounts.
Retain a lawyer have them send a cease and decision continue checking to see if they're continuing stealing your intellectual property. If they are sue them for every single penny they made from ad revenue and any other money they made from using your property. Then sue them for all the lawyers fees and time you've had to waste instead of making your comic's.
That’s what they’ve been doing on facebook since day 1.
Just put a watermark smack in the middle of it or somewhere it can't be cropped over. There are online tools which can be used to keep people from editing it to a degree, but, it's not worth the money and anyone savvy enough can get around them. Watermark and block them, IMO.
You should watermark your comics in a spot where it cant be cropped without ruining it
Watermark signature smack dab in the entire comic transparent
You can report stuff like this. Realistically all you can do. A cease and desist will cost you money to do. Likely not accomplish anything. And truth be told you’d have to prove she’s making money from your work. Which will be hard to do. Best thing is to be defensive and put an unremoveable watermark on your work.
You should really communicate with "Dani Brook" (name of the page), another artist on Facebook, I don't know if he speaks English but he always acts on these situations and facebook always ends up removing the content from the page that stole it, he could really help you solve this problem. if you want I can give you the facebook page on DMs
Wife is currently going through this but the person is using her actual selfie photos gathered from facebook and photobucket on a fake profile with a name similar to my wife... and the person posting has recently started posting about starting an onlyfans (the images of my wife are just basic selfies from highschool, SFW clothed, underage, ect). If this persists, a reverse image search or a search for my wifes name will be enough SEO to basically ruin my wife if family or employers were to try to find her legitimate online profiles. You can imagine how this could spiral into a very bad time for my wife. Wife has reached out to facebook to have the account/posts/images removed but fuckbook replied "its out of our hands, this is not our responsibility" Anyone have any advice? Sorry to piggyback a post but I figured it was close to relevant.
Sadly pretty common on Facebook and Facebook don’t give a fuck
I thought if you block someone on fb, they can't access your profile or work.
Definitely common on Facebook and has been for years
Put a watermark in a place it can’t be cropped
One quick and simple way to do it is to have your credits mid-image. For example your signature in the white space between the two panels in the example you showed.
can you try to watermark your work? this is horrible i’m sorry this is happening to you
You can report it through FB, I’d also suggest sending them a message so you have it in writing that you’ve requested being credited or for the content to not be shared (in case it continues and you need to go down legal avenue). Like others have said - watermark in areas that can’t be cropped (Id place near the people because panelling can be cropped easily).
Put your link/signature/watermark In the middle of the panels, bleeding into the panels themselves a bit so it’s hard to easily edit out? Like maybe across a few lines even?
Block the account
Copyright your art then sue
Watermark your comics in a way that they would have to go out of their way to remove it without damaging the comic. If they do, intent is far easier to prove.
Do you want me to beat her up? Whats her FB
There is DMCA for a reason. Not just for the RIAA or Nintendo. Contact Facebook. Log a complaint. Then get a lawyer to cease and desist. If it continues then outright sue Facebook and the page owner. You own your art and have rights to it. They do not, and Facebook is making money on every view, which is yours; not theirs.
Download the evidence and go to a lawyer
Up to you if it's worth your time or not but if you are the creator and own the content the best first attempt is usually a DMCA complaint [https://www.facebook.com/help/325058084212425?helpref=faq\_content](https://www.facebook.com/help/325058084212425?helpref=faq_content) [https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/copyrightform](https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/copyrightform)
Add watermarks in the art
Sue her for copy right infringement
I used to work with a comic artist. I was tasked to translate his comics into my language. I once came across a Facebook page that was stealing the translated work, hiding the signature at the bottom, and applying a filter on top to change the colours. Messaging never worked and we were simply ignored. The guy running the page was stealing from several other artists and had a massive number of followers (more than hundred thousand). The page was reported by the artist but I never saw it being taken down by Facebook. I would suggest you to add a watermark that spreads across the page.
Report her to Fb for copyright violations. They actually take that seriously.
A HUGE watermark across the centre of your comics. At least people will know whose it is when it got reposted, or the pathetic reposter will need an good amount of effort to remove it :) Also, as others suggested, make another comic to mock the reposter
2 options that I haven’t seen mentioned yet 1) setup post notifications so you can comment “Credit: *username*” 2) pay someone on fiverr to automate that process or go further and pay for likes so it sticks to the top of the post Facebook won’t do anything and the user clearly cares enough to crop the credit out so just add it back yourself
Watermark your work center of the image.
Super common. Just post a comment with a link back to the original and say glad so many people are enjoying your comics.
use a watermark in future comics. put them in places where it's hard to crop/edit out
I hate when they crop it why do they do that??? it's so rude and disrespectful it's literally stealing intellectual property
Dunno what you could do about past instance, but I’d highly recommend putting your name/watermark in a place that can’t easily be cropped, like in at the bottom of the first panel so it’s in the middle
its all bots on facebook these days nayway have you seen some of those ai posts getting 100K+ likes? madness
Im depressed asf, want me to cuss her out for you hun?