A lone bunny seeking advice

[thegayhare]

(warning this thread may include items that can lead to bouts of furry drama, while it is not the posters intention it has been known to happen.  Enter at your own risk)

Hello all

sorry to bother you all but something has come up thats got me a little upset and rather annoyed.

Recently I got an a Note from my sister
Appearently she was dubbing around on Yiffstar (no I don't want to know what my little sis was doing there) and she spotted a user who is using a piece of art I commission as an avi.

It's the image I'm planning to use as my cook book's cover actualy.

He colored it in his own schemes and then uploaded it to Yiffstar claiming it was a gift image of his own fursona by another artist.

Now if he'd wanted to use the image as his avi I wouldn't have minded so much, but he's claiming the peice is his and thats got my stomach all in knots.

The original piece was done for me about 5 years back by an artist who has since dropped out of the fandom.  I'm not sure I'll be able to get a hold of him now if I need too.

I commented on the yiffstar page the piece was posted on
What do you folks think I should do?
Should I complain to the sites admins?

[Zina]

Complain to the admins. It helps if you have the original picture handy to prove that it was drawn for you.

[Damaris]

When was the picture posted?  Because you also have at least one admin that is willing to produce a notarized statement that you've been using this particular piece since the DMFA forum move here (I would look up the exact date)

[thegayhare]

they posted the piece about 9 months ago.

*hugs*

thank you ma'am

Edit:
I've decided to give him one last chance to respond before I go to the admins.

Since he hasn't responded to the orriginal comment I sent him an E-mail, explaining the situation.  I also said that if he wanted to keep the piece as an avi I don't mind so long as he updates the info giving credit for the proper artist and stating that it was drawn for me. 

I'll give him about a week to respond if I still get nothing I'll talk to Tormal

[rabid_fox]

My sister's an artist and she never puts anything online, not in a private gallery, not watermarked, not anything that she's going to use for a business venture (she's sold art in galleries, done tattoo designs, mascot/company logo commissions, things like that).

Go to the administrators with clear evidence that it's yours (it would help if you asked the original artist to contact the administrators too so that you're backed up from the source, if you will).

Make sure you have evidence that can't be disputed, no matter what form that takes.

[Alondro]

Kill they guy, stick his head on a pike as a warning to others.

Worked for Vlad.   

We shoulda done that with Sibe... maybe it's not too late!   

[thegayhare]

wow
he actualy did what I asked and changed the info

Cool

[Zina]

I'm glad it had a happy ending after all.

[Kenji]

And then the epilogue:
A meteor hit.

[Omega]

See? words can solve conflicts, if you back them up with force that is.

[Alondro]

wow
he actualy did what I asked and changed the info.

He obviously read my post and knew I'm crazy enough to try it.   

[rabid_fox]

See? words can solve conflicts, if you back them up with force that is.

I remember once bearing witness to two (apparently) twins having a massive temper tantrum in a shop, presumably because their mother told them that no, they couldn't have the entire sweet counter to chow down on. They looked to be about two years old, but had the lungpower of an Olympic gold medal breathing champion. The situation worsened despite her best efforts and one of the twins hit the other one and it turned into a howling scream-fest of sibling hatred (that I imagine will continue long into the future).

The mother, and for this I applaud her, knelt down beside them, placed on hand on one of the children's shoulders and, turning them to face her said, in a totally deadpan voice - "Use your words".

I

[Brunhidden]

I am reminded of experiences i had writing, and a lesson well learned was the value of a copy write. i have no clue how to copy write a picture, but the closest i can think of is a 'poor mans copy write' where you merely place a copy in a large envelope with your name inside, mail it to yourself, and keep it on record. should anyone claim the works inside were theirs you can open it in court witnessed by a lawyer for indisputable proof you did it first. however this means bunk if they change it by a small percentage, in which case plagiarism laws get complex.

I have also learned that authors who feel screwed drink like an Irish/Russian shot contest, which does not seem to impair their verbal capacity.

WHO KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEART OF MEN? The Death of Rats looked up from the feast of potato. SQUEAK, he said. Death waved a hand dismissively. WELL, YES, OBVIOUSLY ME, he said. I JUST WONDERED IF THERE WAS ANYONE ELSE.

[Paul]

copy write

It's "copyright": the right to control how many copies get made.

i have no clue how to copy write a picture, but the closest i can think of is a 'poor mans copy write' where you merely place a copy in a large envelope with your name inside, mail it to yourself, and keep it on record. should anyone claim the works inside were theirs you can open it in court witnessed by a lawyer for indisputable proof you did it first.

Copyright is inherent in any published tangible creative work. The "mail envelope to yourself" procedure is pointless, since without publication, you have no copyright; and with publication, you can easily prove the work is yours.

Also, copyright law is about protecting the economic interests of the copyright holder. Unless a copyright violation results in a significant loss of income for you, the legal system doesn't care. There is no way you can get neither a lawyer nor a court involved over someone nicking a 72 dpi image of a cartoon fox or whatever.

[superluser]

Indeed.  What you just proved is that you sent an unopened letter to yourself.

If you want to have that hold up in court, you'll have to use registered (and I'm not even sure if that would work), and at that point, it's probably just as expensive to mail the whole thing off to the copyright office and get a proper registration.  The base rate for registered mail is $10.00, while a single copyright registration is $45.

If there are legal issues, you will have to do this anyway.  As the copyright office states, ``In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work.''

[Sofox]

I'd have to disagree with some people here.

From my knowledge, Copyright begins the moment you create something, from a song, to a piece of art, to a written work. It used to be "opt in" procedure where you had to do something to have a piece of work copyrighted, now it is "opt out" where anything you create is automatically copyrighted and as long as you can prove you made it before someone else, your rights are protected.
This is one reason people have come up with GPL and copyleft, so that people can remove their intrinsic copyright from any contributions they make to a project (in this case a code base). It is also one of the conditions in many software, animation and general design companies, that you give up your copyright over anything you create for the company and that they pay you to make. This agreement is usually in the contract.