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Disney have stolen my artwork

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Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#51

Post by jerf »

SoftwareMaven wrote: post #40

Further proof that large media companies don't actually care about intellectual property. They care about their property. Whether it is Disney stealing lions[1] or Fox stealing songs[2], their concern for your property is non-existent, but they are willing to throw you in jail if you think about using theirs. 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimba_the_White_Lion 2. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jonathan-coulto…

Let's give Disney qua Disney (as opposed to one artist somewhere, which is all we know for sure at this point) some time to respond before we unleash the mob.

Past history certainly gives a non-zero probability that Disney will just try to throw their weight around, but let's give them the chance to do the right thing before we bury them. It makes the moral outrage that much more moral.

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#52

Post by muppetman »

yaddayadda wrote: post #24

"...I created at University and I was proud of it in many ways. Disney have used it..." If she passed any English classes or graduated from the mentioned university, then she deserves a tuition refund.

You're just showing how bad your grasp of the English language is!

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#53

Post by jahabrewer »

xsmasher wrote: post #35
yaddayadda wrote: post #24

"...I created at University and I was proud of it in many ways. Disney have used it..." If she passed any English classes or graduated from the mentioned university, then she deserves a tuition refund.

"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.

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#54

Post by robbyking »

austenallred wrote: post #17

I have worked with Disney's intellectual property teams in the past, and I'm blown away that this slipped under the radar. They are very up-tight about protecting their own IP and the brand of their princesses. If this were somebody selling a T-Shirt on eBay I would say, "Don't worry about it," but this is Disney. They know better. Their entire business model is based on intellectual property. Time to lawyer up.

I also think it's important for the artist to remember that Disney doesn't have a team of employees surfing the web looking for ideas to steal. The more likely scenario was a single designer was having trouble with a project and got desperate.

It's not excusable, but also isn't as conspiratorial.

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#55

Post by __david__ »

xsmasher wrote: post #4

The cosmetics bag looks like a straightforward copyright violation. The second example, where no artwork was copied but there may have been some influence, is more complicated. How do you prove the inspiration came from the "stolen" art, and not Disney's own film or the original story? http://www.cornel1801.com/disney/Alice-Wonderland-Painting-R...

I don't think the second one is more complicated at all. It's straight up non-infringement.

But I agree, the bag is straightforward copyright infringement.

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#56

Post by pekk »

bhb916 wrote: post #50
cjbprime wrote: post #6

> I’m so mad because I have no chance at getting Disney to do anything about it. For such a straightforward violation, I don't see why there's any call for pessimism. Send them an invoice for a worldwide license, follow it up with a lawyer letter (find someone willing to do no-win-no-fee if you want) once the invoice is overdue.

Actually, that line turned me off to the whole plight. She clearly has a case, why would her first though be complete hopelessness?

Because Disney is enormous and extremely well-lawyered

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#57

Post by warfangle »

xsmasher wrote: post #4

The cosmetics bag looks like a straightforward copyright violation. The second example, where no artwork was copied but there may have been some influence, is more complicated. How do you prove the inspiration came from the "stolen" art, and not Disney's own film or the original story? http://www.cornel1801.com/disney/Alice-Wonderland-Painting-R...

Cosmetic bag looks like someone re-sketched it and added characters.

It might actually fall under the "significantly modified" arena. Same with the tshirt - while it's the same pose, it's clearly a different drawing.

Besides which, she may have actually been the one infringing Disney's trademark.

These kinds of ambiguities outline how fucking important it is to reform our copyright system.

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#58

Post by stevewilhelm »

jamesaguilar wrote: post #29
cjbprime wrote: post #6

> I’m so mad because I have no chance at getting Disney to do anything about it. For such a straightforward violation, I don't see why there's any call for pessimism. Send them an invoice for a worldwide license, follow it up with a lawyer letter (find someone willing to do no-win-no-fee if you want) once the invoice is overdue.

I wonder how one prices out a worldwide license like this. Obviously if she put the prices at $1000/use, neither would Disney pay it nor would she recover that much from a court. But it's worth more than $0.01/use as well.

I would guess the fair price would be: 1) typical licence for image on a global website, and 2) some percentage of sales of that particular bag.

I concur with others that have suggested just contacting Disney's Consumer Products division directly. I am sure they would want to fairly compensate the artist for her work.

They will also want to reprimand the company from which they sourced the bag.

https://www.disneyconsumerproducts.com/Home/display.jsp?cont...

Re: Disney have stolen my artwork

#60

Post by laumars »

bhb916 wrote: post #50
cjbprime wrote: post #6

> I’m so mad because I have no chance at getting Disney to do anything about it. For such a straightforward violation, I don't see why there's any call for pessimism. Send them an invoice for a worldwide license, follow it up with a lawyer letter (find someone willing to do no-win-no-fee if you want) once the invoice is overdue.

Actually, that line turned me off to the whole plight. She clearly has a case, why would her first though be complete hopelessness?

Hopelessness is a common feeling when someone from the working class is faces a fight against a multi-national company who can invest millions in legal fees.
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