Live data from Hacker News

Disney have stolen my artwork

katiewoodger.tumblr.com

161–170 of 198 posts

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Disney have used it" is correct here, in British English. "It’s one of my favourite images I created at University" could use a [while] to my ear, but it's not so bad. The world is a big place.

> "Disney have used it" is correct here, in British English. Is it even a matter of US vs. British English? I thought collective nouns could be treated as either singular or plural when conjugating the verb.

In the US, a corporation is a person in matters both legal and grammatical.

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#162
post #149
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to the MPAA, $1000/use would sound well within the range of real damages for any license misuse.

$25k per copy, by my reckoning. I mean, seriously, if it flies in court for them, why not for her? She should/could push for ten figures of punitive damages.

I don't think the MPAA gets punitive damages except for willful infringement. It's going to be hard to prove that this case with Disney -- it may be that nobody in Disney's employ even knows that this image is someone else's, if the work was done on contract. And it's going to be hard to make the case of economic harm, since the artist was not selling her work in the market otherwise.

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#163

So far "the internet" seems to be on this artist's side, apparently because her work was stolen by a corporation. Recent history suggests, however, that if Andy Baio[0] or Shepard Fairey[1] had ripped her off, she would be excoriated for asserting her rights and lectured about the wonders of remix culture. [0] http://lee-phillips.org/music/whoIsTheDick/ [1] http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/08/entertainment/la-et-…

I could be wrong, but I strongly suspect the artist here would be thrilled to be getting a reasonable licensing fee from Disney for use of her work. Meanwhile, in Andy Baio's case, Jay Maisel was reportedly unwilling to license the photo for pixel art, period.

Presuming I'm correct, that's an important difference.

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#164
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't pretend to know anything about the relevant IP laws, but from a lay perspective I think there's a big difference between taking one piece of art and making a new derivative piece of art from it, and taking the same piece of art and making salable merchandise.

That might be true, but in both my examples, the copy-and-paste artists were making salable merchandise from the works that they appropriated.

Andy Baio didn't make that image [0], and it's not a copy-and-paste - look at the tie for example [1].

[0] http://waxy.org/2011/06/kind_of_screwed/

[1] http://waxy.org/random/images/weblog/kind_of_bloop_compariso...

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first thing that occurred to me is that the Disney artists (or contractors) probably came across the image on Tumblr or Pinterest or some similar social image-sharing network, stripped entirely of its original attribution. It's entirely plausible that someone would have thought it was a Disney-owned image originally, and in circulation in violation of copyright. If that's true, it's not an excuse for using someon…

Disney's consumer merchandise is sourced by third party suppliers (see below). It is most likely one of these suppliers claimed to have created or licensed the image. The artist will probably end up negotiating with the handbag maker. https://www.disneyconsumerproducts.com/Home/display.jsp?cont...

No, they won't. Whether or not it was provided by a third party supplier is irrelevant. It does not make disney any less infringing if they are the ones selling it.

It just means you can sue disney, and then disney can turn around and attempt to recover the damages you win from the next guy up the chain.

You absolutely, positively, do not need to sue the people all the way up the chain.

I am an IP lawyer (though this is not legal advice, just an explanation of general concepts :P)

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#166
post #144
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have had similar experiences with the Disney IP teams. They mean serious business in all directions, from protecting IP to ensuring they are not infringing. They make sure everyone in the company or affiliated is very aware of IP issues. If the painting is indeed the original work and it somehow found its way onto some merchandise, I'm sure Disney will be amicable.

Amicable like they were over simba the white lion ? Disney rip-off left, right and centre. Yes, they aggressively protect their IP, but that doesn't mean they won't trample all over everyone else's. they have a history of this behaviour.

I've heard the kimba/simba thing before, but don't see it myself. Simba is the swahili word for lion, the plots are not at all similar and they don't look anything alike:

http://theafictionado.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/lionking46...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bd/ReallyKimbaThe...

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#167
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The similarities are much more than "blue dress, white belt, and blonde hair with a black bow in it". In any case, Disney did not "very much create" that image. Here's Tenniels from 1866. http://www.goldmarkart.com/it-can-t-go-straight-you-know-if-... Blonde hair, white belt, black bow? Looks that way to me. Blue apron? Not very derivative.

Ha, good point (and same to the other post making the same remark below). I wasn't fully aware of Tenniels' drawings. One could argue it makes the situation a little more clear cut then.

[deleted]

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#169

So far "the internet" seems to be on this artist's side, apparently because her work was stolen by a corporation. Recent history suggests, however, that if Andy Baio[0] or Shepard Fairey[1] had ripped her off, she would be excoriated for asserting her rights and lectured about the wonders of remix culture. [0] http://lee-phillips.org/music/whoIsTheDick/ [1] http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/08/entertainment/la-et-…

Your second link doesn't indicate any internet-derived excoriation, but instead shows an artist being taken through the legal system by AP, along with the artist obstructing the judicial process. I don't think it supports the point you're making.
Post reply on HN