Muppet Plagiarism of Fozzie and Me

[frogboy4]

Some person at RedBubble STOLE my original Fozzie pencil drawing seen here:
My Drawing.
He did this to it and is trying to make money off of it even though I asked nicely for him to take it down:
His Plagiarism.

My Fozzie drawing was part of an art school assignment many years ago that I shared with the fan community free of charge, but for some reason this turkey thinks he should be permitted to tacky it up and profit from it. Many of you guys have seen this pencil drawing and know it well. Feel free to comment about it and support me in trying to take it down.

 

[frogboy4]

Okay, well the dude kind of game me a non-apology apology. We'll see what happens with the site. I still don't see how, good or bad, this work can be printed and sold on shirts in the first place. Anyway, I was really mad in the first place because that art piece of Fozzie bear and one of Jim Henson were both mostly drawn with my left hand when somebody crushed my right wrist. The represented perseverance at a time when I was very low and that's what bothered me most. Literal blood, sweat and tears did go into them. Here they are so that this thread will be more of a positive experience than just a complaint-fest. You've seen these before. I almost submitted them as tee designs in the contest, but didn't want to rest on my old work.

 

[CensoredAlso]

If he doesn't take it down, I believe Google does have one possible way of reporting copyright infringement. I don't know how effective it is, but it's worth trying: http://www.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=ts.cs&ts=1114905

 

[KermieBaby47]

WTH?!? Why hasn't he or the site taken it down yet?!?!!! That's insane, friggin' maddening as all get out. UUUUUUUUUUUGH this kind of stuff makes me SO MAD!!!

What this idiot jerk-wad has done aside, your work is beautiful as always. Even more impressive that you did these with your left hand. I'm a little ambidextrious as well, but I haven't had (or tried) to draw anything with my lefty in forrrrrrrrrever. Though I guess I would learn real quick if my right hand was crushed, OUCH!

I really hope this guy gets schooled, and kicked off that site for stealing others' hard and original work.

Cheers Jamie! Don't let this guy get you down too much, k?

Anthony

 

[frogboy4]

Maybe. It's weird. These days so much is overlooked while so much other stuff is over-protected. The dude actually commented about how, like Warhol, he takes pieces of pop culture and messes with them. However, in Magritte's "Pipe" fashion, i will say that what he reconfigured was not a Fozzie. It was my drawing of a freeze-frame of some television footage of Fozzie. Maybe I should be flattered? It's just that he overlooked the simple humor already in the image. It's one of my favorite Muppet gags!

On another note, right while this was happening an amazing artist that I found on Facebook is having his work taken down off of YouTube for copyright infringement. It started with his cover of a Michael Jackson song and now a Katy Perry one as well. They have every legal right to take it down. All of this has been up for months and shown on national morning network programs. It's a shame that people like him have such a hard time securing the rights, but this dude is very talented!

And of course, anyone who's listened to Lady Gaga's new album can witness her blatantly ripping off Whitney Houston, Madonna, and Cher among countless others. It's a very bizarre world of copyright these days.​

 

[CensoredAlso]

Why hasn't he or the site taken it down yet?!?!!!

If you look at Google's Help forums, this happens quite often online, annoyingly.

 

[Slackbot]

Argh. I know how you feel. My Darkwing Duck art periodically shows up on bootleg merchandise on eBay, and as the sellers are all out of country there's nothing I can do about it. I E-mailed one about it, and he apologized and offered to sell me one of his watches at a discount, but sure didn't take them down. At least they don't crudely MSPaint it up to add insult to injury.

Makes you want to get the contact info for Disney's legal department, doesn't it?

 

[Drtooth]

Argh. I know how you feel. My Darkwing Duck art periodically shows up on bootleg merchandise on eBay, and as the sellers are all out of country there's nothing I can do about it. I E-mailed one about it, and he apologized and offered to sell me one of his watches at a discount, but sure didn't take them down. At least they don't crudely MSPaint it up to add insult to injury.

Makes you want to get the contact info for Disney's legal department, doesn't it?

Here's the thing I'm thinking about... would the main companies care if someone stole unsolicited fan art to put on bootleg merchandise? No one really pays to use their likenesses here... and I'm sure every company's legal department is gonna come up with some anti-Fair Use bill anyway.

Youtube and Deviant Art are 2 separate things. You can pretty much get away with murder (or rather, fat furry porn) on DA ("artists" steal from people who do the work all the time to make "Demotivationals"), but YT is putting your butt on the line if you want to put up so much as an obscure commercial or vlog with music in the background. I could get into a whole big thing, but fair use is kinda a lie over there.

Personally, I'd be really ticked if someone stole my stuff, but people would have to at least look at my stuff and validate it as worth stealing. Besides, this is a depressed little hobby for someone who wanted bigger and better things that's just financially and perpetually stuck in his step one. it's not even portfolio grade.

 

[Slackbot]

Disney might not care about someone's fan art getting stolen, but bootleg merchandise with unapproved art is another thing. Someone's making merchandise using their characters without their permission, and that directly involves money. Disney has, in the past, definitely taken notice under those circumstances.

 

[Drtooth]

Disney might not care about someone's fan art getting stolen, but bootleg merchandise with unapproved art is another thing. Someone's making merchandise using their characters without their permission, and that directly involves money. Disney has, in the past, definitely taken notice under those circumstances.

You actually have a point. You know, out of ALL the really bad Disney bootlegged merchandise I've seen, they never have used unofficial art. Stolen official art squashed, stretched, and ugly looking... but never unofficial. For every lead paint encrusted Super Buzz Spaceyear Batman YAY toy, they always have stolen movie screenshots skewed with Spider-Man or someone irrelevant super imposed somewhere. Bootleg Spongebob stuff has badly redrawn and badly illegal Adobe Illustrator rendering... same with almost everything else.

Still, you'd think a company that forced someone to take down a mural would step up against Carrrz 2 the mowvie Lightning McMann and Mater Spider-Man USA GO toys.