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Carlin Blahnik CarlinArtWatercolor

9 Years Ago

Stolen Artwork Image On Amazon

On the one hand I guess I should be flattered that my image is desirable for this product ...but, they did not get my permission.
http://www.amazon.com/Painting-Resistant-Shower-Curtains-Included/dp/B00M6S20FC/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1410924337&sr=8-17&keywords=rainbow+rose+shower+curtain
Here is my painting http://fineartamerica.com/featured/rainbow-rose-carlin-blahnik.html
I've written Amazon to please remove the items. I am hoping Amazon will step up and do the right thing and remove the items. I also posted a product review stating the image is stolen. As yet the review is on hold. There are a LOT of images to select from, no doubt some more were lifted from FAA. You might find your own image on a curtain.

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Janine Riley

9 Years Ago

Wow. Thanks for the heads up Carlin. File a DMCA notice with Amazon.

If you don't have one you use handy - check Abbie's Help links - she has one on file to use.
Will look into this tomorrow in the morn. I bet there's more.

 

Suzanne Donovan

9 Years Ago

Hey Carlin;

I have often wondered about this sort of issue. Good for you to pursue the issue with amazon!

Suzanne

 

Michele Avanti

9 Years Ago

This is so awful.. I know that people in China do not consider the issues of theft of art in any form because their own government looks the other way. I import items from China and have has some unreal conversations with people who sell all manner of things that are counterfeits. It is a challenge to get the truth from them. I almost purchased some software five years ago because they kept insisting it was authentic. But I just did not feel it was. After more than ten emails to three different people, I finally wrote a note explaining the law here in the US regarding import of counterfeits..it has a penalty of 100,000 dollar fine, 5 years in prison and of course confiscation of all the goods. Then one of the women admitted that the items were counterfeit and that all people in China use these, they work fine and it is the way they do business in China. Simply terrifying to me. But it is the government that encourages this. So I am certain that being so public as we are and as we need to be to make sales, FAA is like a big Christmas tree for Chinese designers.

I am glad you are taking action and I believe this is the way to go, by getting the American companies that are selling the items to remove them. I wonder what shows up on Ebay...

Please let us know what happens with Amazon.

Best to you, may this experience lead you to greater success.

 

Lonnie Christopher

9 Years Ago

I am wondering if someone sold them a batch of stolen files.I could see someone going around and stealing them, and selling them to unaware companies like this. So wrong!

 

Michele Avanti

9 Years Ago

Wow, LC, you are probably right... I had not thought of that. People who steal stuff just do not think like I think. But being a business person.. I do ask a lot of questions.. life is not just a word and a handshake anymore.. it is way way complicated...

 

Justin Green

9 Years Ago

If it was my image, I would have bought one of these shower curtains as proof, then sued the hell out of them.

 

Kathy K McClellan

9 Years Ago

OMG It even stills has your signature on it! Please, keep us updated and keep asking questions!

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

just make sure its not an affiliate or cafepress themselves. when we were on that site others did sell our work for a cut. of course though if your not on cafe, then that's an issue.

wish we sold those here, they sell well there.

---Mike Savad

 

Jimmie Bartlett

9 Years Ago

I noticed you don't have the FAA watermark on the image. Just wondering if the one they stole had the watermark? I know a thief can steal images even with watermarks on them, but it may keep some from not being compromised.

 

Georgia Fowler

9 Years Ago

I think they have removed your product review as when I looked there weren't any :(

So sorry you had this happen. It's such a waste of time to have to deal with people like this.

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

I noticed a few others from FAA artists. Although we don't know if they also license these images. Only the artist can fill out a take down notice.

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

They also sell backpacks, water bottles and other stuff. One features this image that is popular on FAA.

http://www.amazon.com/Amercian-Football-Children-Shoulder-Backpack/dp/B00MQWDG88/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=A1JADAOJQUKNVQ

Sell Art Online

Might be licensed. Only the artist would know.

 

Jeffrey Kolker

9 Years Ago

Just curious how you found yours there. There seem to be a million of them.

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

http://vustudents.ning.com/profiles/blogs/rainbow-art-paintings

Might have been stolen from this site. Google image search brought it up.

This site is posting the image but the image URL traces back to FAA. Watermarks people!

 

Deborah Berry

9 Years Ago

Looks like that shower curtain is sold by Fancylife Storefront. You should contact them too

 

Here is another image that was stolen, I think all of this guys images that he uses for the products have been stolen from the internet. I recognize the fish artwork from pinterest. This image is from the artist Megan Duncanson........
Photography Prints

 

Roy Erickson

9 Years Ago

Ed - that site - with a little looking has this caveat at the bottom of their home page: "We are user-generated contents site. All product, videos, pictures & others contents on vustudents.ning.com don't seem to be beneath our Copyrights & belong to their respected owners & freely available on public domains. We believe in Our Policy & do according to them. If Any content is offensive in your Copyrights then please email at m.tariqmalik@gmail.com or Contact us at contact Page with copyright detail & We will happy to remove it immediately."
Read more at http://vustudents.ning.com/#HEdM4Bg1swG3ksuQ.99
BTW - it's the University of Pakistan

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

RoyD - Its a students blog. I was just pointing out where the image might be taken from. When an image is posted on a site like that without any reference back to the source - it can appear to be free for the taking.

That's why I watermark my images in case they end up "free floating" round the net. At least the watermark indicates the source.

 

Lois Bryan

9 Years Ago

Carlin ... awfully sorry this happened, but good for you for finding your image!! There are 400 pages of these things!!

 

To Janine Riley, I don't have a DMCA since this is my first experience with this. Thank you for letting me know about Abbies files

To Jimmie Bartlett, none of my works have ever had watermarks on them. Thus far, I don't care for them, but if I see my paintings on more products without my knowledge then I might consider water marks.

To Georgia Fowler, my product reviews got rejected, perhaps because of the link to my painting. I will try again to review without the link and see if it sticks.

To Jeff Kolker, very out of the ordinary that I would find this. I was going to paint another Rainbow Rose for a friends upcoming birthday and did a Google image search for reference photos. My panting shows up on the first page and links to FAA... I think the stolen image was many pages back.

To Everyone, here is the cut paste response from Amazon, looks like I have some busy work to do:
Hello,

I understand that you wanted to remove the images from the unauthorized items on our website.

If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide Amazon.com's copyright agent the written information specified below. This procedure is exclusively for notifying Amazon.com and its affiliates that your copyrighted material has been infringed.

- An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;

- A description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed upon;

- A description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the site;

- Your address, telephone number, and e-mail address;

- A statement by you that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;

- A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.

Amazon.com's Copyright Agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement on its site can be reached as follows:

Copyright Agent
Amazon.com Legal Department
P.O. Box 81226
Seattle, WA 98108-1226
Fax: (206) 266-7010
E-mail: copyright@amazon.com

Thank you for taking the time to contact us about this matter.

Best regards,
May T.

 

Bradford Martin

9 Years Ago

Lucky you found this. I am sure their days on Amazon are numbered. There is no reason to blame this on the Chinese government. Copyright infringement of this type is not limited to Asia. China is changing. They have modern copyright laws. Their economy is more mainstream. I will be licensing images there through fotomore.com soon.

 

John Haldane

9 Years Ago

Thumbing through the curtains, I see NUMEROUS images I recognize from FAA. Better go see if any of yours are there. A class action lawsuit against Amazon could be done... - especially since they have Warner Brothers, Nintendo, Garfield, and other major corporation copyrighted works...

 

Peggy Collins

9 Years Ago

Don't feel too badly. I found hundreds of phone cases with one of my squirrel photos on them. Sent Amazon a DMCA notice and they expect me to send them links to every single one of the infringements. The sad fact is that as soon as one is taken down, another will appear, pretty much guaranteed. I haven't checked for other photographs...too disheartening.

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

http://local.amazon.com/terms

COPYRIGHT COMPLAINTS

Amazon respects the intellectual property of others. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please follow our Notice and Procedure for Making Claims of Copyright Infringement.

Notice and Procedure for Making Claims of Copyright Infringement

If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please submit your complaint using our online form. We respond quickly to the concerns of rights owners about any alleged infringement.

If you prefer to submit a report in writing, please provide us with this information:

A physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;
A description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed upon;
A description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the site;
Your address, telephone number, and e-mail address;
A statement by you that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.
Amazon's Copyright Agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement on its site can be reached as follows:

Copyright Agent
Amazon.com Legal Department
P.O. Box 81226
Seattle, WA 98108
phone: (206) 266-4064
fax: (206) 266-7010
e-mail: copyright@amazon.com
Courier address:
Copyright Agent
Amazon.com Legal Department
410 Terry Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109-5210
USA
Please note that this procedure is exclusively for notifying Amazon that your copyrighted material has been infringed.

Additional Amazon Software Terms


Use of the Amazon Software. You may use Amazon Software solely for purposes of enabling you to use and enjoy the Amazon Services as provided by Amazon, and as permitted by the Conditions of Use, these Software Terms and any Service Terms. You may not incorporate any portion of the Amazon Software into your own programs or compile any portion of it in combination with your own programs, transfer it for use with another service, or sell, rent, lease, lend, loan, distribute or sub-license the Amazon Software or otherwise assign any rights to the Amazon Software in whole or in part. You may not use the Amazon Software for any illegal purpose. We may cease providing any Amazon Software and we may terminate your right to use any Amazon Software at any time. Your rights to use the Amazon Software will automatically terminate without notice from us if you fail to comply with any of these Software Terms, the Conditions of Use or any other Service Terms. Additional third party terms contained within or distributed with certain Amazon Software that are specifically identified in related documentation may apply to that Amazon Software (or software incorporated with the Amazon Software) and will govern the use of such software in the event of a conflict with these Conditions of Use. All software used in any Amazon Service is the property of Amazon or its software suppliers and protected by United States and international copyright laws.
Use of Third Party Services. When you use the Amazon Software, you may also be using the services of one or more third parties, such as a wireless carrier or a mobile platform provider. Your use of these third party services may be subject to the separate policies, terms of use, and fees of these third parties.
No Reverse Engineering. You may not, and you will not encourage, assist or authorize any other person to copy, modify, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble, or otherwise tamper with, the Amazon Software, whether in whole or in part, or create any derivative works from or of the Amazon Software.
Updates. In order to keep the Amazon Software up-to-date, we may offer automatic or manual updates at any time and without notice to you.
Export Regulations; Government End Users. You must comply with all export and re-export restrictions and regulations of the Department of Commerce and other United States agencies and authorities that may apply to the Amazon Software. If you are a U.S. Government end user, we are licensing the Amazon Software to you as a "Commercial Item" as that term is defined in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (see 48 C.F.R. § 2.101), and the rights we grant you to the Amazon Software are the same as the rights we grant to all others under these Conditions of Use.

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Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

Also - Take screen shots and include it with your complaint.

 

Peggy Collins

9 Years Ago

Kathy, thanks for doing that. I never noticed that before. I'll give it a try for Carlin's rose. Oh, and thanks for the compliment about my squirrel photograph, Carlin!

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

My suggestion is to follow the procedure of reporting to Amazon as they outline (which I believe you have done) and then give them time to respond. Putting in negative reviews will only tip off the perpetrator and won't help the cause.

Also the people at Amazon who oversea the reviews probably have no say over copyright violations. Amazon employees thousands of people and they all have their own areas of responsibility.

I pointed out the Pakistan student site only to illustrate what happens to images when they free float around the web without any watermark.

 

Mary Armstrong

9 Years Ago

Is unfortunate that if you put your art out there on the web anywhere....it is open game for thieves. They seem to have ways to remove signatures & copyright and even spark up the resolution . And to find which of yours is stolen may take hours and hours of search. But good you found out and are taking the right action. However, likely Amazon and the company that is used will just remove your design and take another persons. Sad indeed that this is our world today. (by the way your rose design is gorgeous!!)

 

Louis Macovsky

9 Years Ago

You should ask FAA to help you. I would think FAA is not liable but should be worried about losing the confidence of their artists. If I was a competitor, I would then include in my marketing that I will assist artists defend their rights to their work if stolen like yours was.

 

Rennae Christman

9 Years Ago

You should have a bunch of folks from here go to Amazon and leave reviews telling them that the work is yours!! How on earth did you find it? That is just wrong all over the place!!

 

April Moen

9 Years Ago

Well, what do you know, my review was denied by Amazon. Shocker!

 

Rennae Christman

9 Years Ago

I posted a review on Amazon just a few minutes ago in your defense and it has already gone live..here is the link and I hope it helps!! http://www.amazon.com/review/R1TNI0N5B3XL1O

I use Amazon often and will be very upset if they don't make this right for you!

 

Louis Macovsky

9 Years Ago

I did the same: "The artwork was used and offered for sale without permission. This is an infringement of the artist's copyright. Selling it is illegal. See the original artwork at http://fineartamerica.com/featured/rainbow-rose-carlin-blahnik.htm " http://www.amazon.com/review/R1TNI0N5B3XL1O

 

Donna Proctor

9 Years Ago

I didn't read all of the replies but I didn't see the name of the seller in what I read.

From what I could find, this is the store front for Fancy Life... they have around 1,000 items for sale. Fancy Life is shipping your shower curtain, so it's their Amazon store:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/node/index.html?ie=UTF8&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&me=A1JADAOJQUKNVQ&merchant=A1JADAOJQUKNVQ&redirect=true

Their "Details" page showing their ranking, customer reviews, etc:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aag/details?ie=UTF8&asin=&isAmazonFulfilled=&isCBA=&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&orderID=&seller=A1JADAOJQUKNVQ&sshmPath=privacy-policy#aag_detailsAbout

At the bottom of the above link there is a link to Contact the Seller . . . but you must be signed into Amazon to do so.

Hope this helps,
Donna Proctor



 

Jeffrey Towers

9 Years Ago

there is software to capture high quality snapshots of your desktop, or constant video streams. It would be kind of easy to steal as many images as one wanted with that type of software, even with FAA's security measures, you would just have to not mouse over the image so as to not get the pop up square, capture screen, edit photo, crop down to the image, and viola.

 

Wow, I never intended to start a protest! Thank you everyone for taking the time and giving so much support!

 

Jeffrey Towers

9 Years Ago

maybe FAA can contract a specialist to program a counter measure against such a threat. Perhaps a software detection system on a per computer basis when said computer is browsing FAA's interface engine. There is alot of money is at stake concerning this issue. Copyright infringement really, we are uploading these images for "sell" so they have a definite value on the FAA site, when the images are simply "taken" we lose marketing opportunities. Perhaps we could set up some sort of system with FAA concerning alternate means of art distribution. Or perhaps FAA just needs to offer shower curtain prints!!! I think were onto something!

 

Cathy Peek

9 Years Ago

I know some of you prefer not to contact the seller, and I respect your decision in that............ I chose to contact the seller and in my email to them, I also told them I would be making a post on the art forums so other artists could see if their work was there also. I did get results quickly. But there is never a guarantee it won't happen again.

Hoping I am not making a double post here;) I don't post often, and just trying to help when I do. What works for me, may not work for others, and vice versa.

 

Donna Proctor

9 Years Ago

I too just left a review on Amazon/FancyLife:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A2RK6CY1J7R3RA/ref=cr_cm_rdp_pdp_see_all?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview

--Donna Proctor

My Review: "I hope customers will NOT BUY this product since the image on the shower curtain was stolen and belongs to an artist named Carlin Blahnik. You can view this beautiful painting here at FineArtAmerica:

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/rainbow-rose-carlin-blahnik.html

Note: FancyLife and Amazon do not have permission to use any images by Carlin Blahnik on any products!"

 

Chris Scroggins

9 Years Ago

Following

 

Janine Riley

9 Years Ago

I'd love to know what kind of software they use to clean up images to make a product that size - yeah, I know slightly off topic - but then wouldn't we all be doing it ?

 

Barb Yates

9 Years Ago

it is Now showing "currently unavailable" so apparently amazon is looking into this theft!
http://www.amazon.com/Painting-Resistant-Shower-Curtains-Included/dp/B00M6S20FC/ref=cm_rdp_product

 

IF YOU READ FAA information, you will find that MOST of your work listed in AMAZON is legitimate.
FAA lists some prints, canvas, etc there and if yours is listed it means generally you already are selling in FAA
IF SOLD through Amazon YOU get your regular rate.

There are also other sources which LEGITIMATELY are promoting our work ....

IT IS BEST to always check with FAA first, before accusing anyone of stealing your work.

Though doubt it is sold to appear on other work, UNLESS you joined the Licensing program, which would allow it to be used most anywhere.

 

Linda Troski

9 Years Ago

Just what do we do to protect our artwork. I am so sorry that happened to you.
Lin

 

Jeffery Johnson

9 Years Ago

FAA has no connection to Amazon any longer and also it wouldn't be on or shouldn't be on another sites shower curtain.

 


"Then one of the women admitted that the items were counterfeit and that all people in China use these,
they work fine and it is the way they do business in China. Simply terrifying to me. But it is the government that encourages this."

Actually she was either ignorant or lying about this, the Chinese Govt does not encourage this, they have confiscated Billions of dollars in counterfeit software, etc yearly. But with a population in the BILLIONS, its a huge job so many are involved and the economy is so poor. This is also true in Russia and quite a number of other countries, where software is counterfeited. So many are doing it, they can hardly keep up with the biggest operations so smaller ones are getting away with it, but U.S. companies and Customs are aware and doing what they can.

 

Barb Yates, yes, I checked all four of the shower curtain listings with my image on them and all four are "Currently Unavailable" :-)

Thank you to everyone for your information and support!!!

 

Barb Yates

9 Years Ago

let's hope that Amazon does the right thing here...time will tell.

 

Jeffrey, the way I read the licensing program info, it could be used on a lot of products, so if we license it, we also need to keep track of what is licensed.

"With a rights-managed license, you get to control how your image will be used and how you will be compensated for that use. When a buyer purchases a rights-managed license, the buyer will receive your full resolution image. You can learn more about each type of available license by clicking on the appropriate link, below. For licenses involving physical products, please enter a base price and a per-unit price. For licenses involving digital products, only a base price is required. The prices that you set are exactly how much you'll earn when you make a sale. Fine Art America does NOT subtract a commission. We add a 30% markup to your prices in order to arrive at the final prices paid by the buyers. If you do not want to offer a particular license for sale, simply leave the prices blank.

Merchandise (Large) Physical Two Years 10,000

Merchandise (Medium) Physical Two Years 10,000

Merchandise (Small) Physical Two Years 10,000"

 

Barb Yates

9 Years Ago

Bob and Nadine,

Carlin had already stated, earlier in this thread, that she hasn't allowed her images here on FAA to be licensed...in any manner(license).
I had originally thought that might be the answer, but it isn't.

 

Donna Proctor

9 Years Ago

Hi Carlin,

I'm signed into Amazon buying a few Kindle books and also just saw that the shower curtain is currently unavailable at this time ... Apparently, Amazon IS listening. Now, if all of the products (by FancyLife) with your images displayed on them would completely disappear ... ;)


--Donna Proctor

 

Thank you to everyone for your input, support, suggestions, etc. It seems this story has run it's course and Amazon has removed the product with my image on it. It is time to put this thread to bed now :-) Thank you :-)

 

This discussion is closed.