Say, That Looks Familiar…
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
The internet is a boon to freelancing creative types (anyone need a snarky copywriter?): you can post your portfolio, client recommendations, and crazy new stuff you’re working on for all to see. It allows your online presence to work for you 24/7 showing off your chops, luring in prospective clients, and generating future work for you. Unfortunately, it also allows any hack without a sense of morality to steal your stuff. Luckily the blog You Thought We Wouldn’t Notice attempts to keep them honest, or at least ease the sting of theft with a good public shaming.
You put work out there, it gets stolen. Often it gets stolen by some faceless internet “artist” hiding behind a user name or an avatar and you’re forced to beg, plead, cajole, or otherwise idly threaten a stranger who is likely to have no sense of justice or honor to make them care about your case anyway.
So artists who know they’ve been ripped off submit their work and images of the pilfered version as well. Often there is a funny, tragic, or infuriating story to accompany the images. This isn’t just smalltime stuff, either. People steal stuff and submit it to clients like Toyota, Volcom, and Hurley. And sure, visual media make up the majority, but there are plenty of people willing to steal your jewelry designs or the dress pattern you came up with too.
Take a look around and marvel at the lack of integrity. At the very least you’ll see some cool, innovative art (and some shockingly derivative stuff right next to it). Then let us know in the comments: have you ever been plagiarized? Did you bring the perpetrator(s) to justice?
Comments
Comments are closed.