This week I decided to paint this cupcake again so that I could get a better image of it for prints. It is now available in my Etsy Shop. This is painted on watercolor paper instead of a canvas so that I could scan it quickly for an order. It would be great framed and matted. I'm selling the painting only with no framing.
This week I found out by searching for the address of a few of my images on google that several people have been stealing my images especially the one from this post, Making a Reflection Image in Photoshop, and using them on their websites and blogs. Some have even gone so far to put them on free clipart websites. These websites have no contact information on them so that I can contact them and ask them to stop. Therefore, I'm asking if you see someone using my artwork out there would you please contact me? Some of it is legal because I do license my artwork, but most of it is not.
You can find out who is using your artwork if you click an image on your blog and copy the address into a google search and you can see where it's being used. This was not a pleasant surprise. I've been going back and making sure that my images have my copyright on the image even though it states on my blog that are my images are copyrighted. I'll stop my complaining and get back to painting.
Thanks for your help!
Oh my goodness. Some people just do not respect copyrights. They think because it's online that it is in the Public Domain and there for all to use. Others understand the laws, but steal the images anyway. One of my blogging friends has a friend who posted a photo of a celebrity, only to get a Cease and Desist order from the copyright holder along with a settle-out-of-court $500.00 fine. She was unaware that the image was copyrighted, and meant no harm, but got no mercy for pleading "ignorance", and still had to remove the image and pay the fine. The Google search for the owner of an image is a very helpful tool. My blogs have a no-right-click feature, but there are ways to get around that even. At least it makes it more difficult for them to steal the images and/or text with that feature. 'So sorry this is happening to you. You do have a right to complain. Your artwork is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry that you are running into this. Hope that you are able to get it resolved and I will certainly keep an eye out.
ReplyDeleteCute Cathie!
ReplyDeleteAs an artist this must be so frustrating for you. For awhile I had a European blog that was copying/pasting all my posts and images and claiming them as her own. I hope your artwork will get the respect it deserves.
ReplyDeleteHappy St. Patrick's Day weekend!