But to be ‘fair’, you can’t reprint too much and you have to give credit to the creators.

Reprinting too much is where the publishers appear to have stepped over the mark here.

Can they be sued? Absolutely.

Is it worth it? Probably not.

Not because they’re in Hong Kong (which actually has decent copyright laws). But for any litigation to be worthwhile you have to show that you have suffered in some way, esp financial loss, because that’s how compensation is calculated.

I can’t see how being published would cause great financial loss.

Unfortunately this is another example of copyright law being outdated. I’ve recently written about a situation involving fair dealing where tribute promo ads for Kath & Kim were removed from Youtube. Ironically, if the vids mocked Kath & Kim, there would be no right to stop them:
http://protectingbrands.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/kath-kim-should-be-mocked-not-supported

Publishing is a business, so you are actually already doing the right thing by getting people to boycott the book (although I know it would feel much more rewarding if you were actually suing them). If the publisher realises that negative publicity will impact on their sales and the book does not make a profit, they won’t do this again.

And it looks like the Jaquelyn portion of these comments have ended, but I was just as shocked when I read her ideas on the subject as when I read the article itself. For those of us who’s livelihood is our art, this is nothing but a slap in the face (all “flattery” aside).

Incidentally, a week or so ago an acquaintance of mine sent me an email that they had seen a piece of my work in a book called “The Book of Pure Inspiration” which immediately caught my attention because I do not recall granting permission for anyone to publish anything of mine in any book by that title. I even looked it up online and couldn’t find any matches for such a publication. Has anyone on here heard of that book? if so, I’d like to know some information on it. Please email me if you know.

thanks and best of luck,

Frank Stockton

Please feel free to email me or post back here. I’ll take commentary from any readers who are artists too. Thanks in advance!

Artists lives are based on ideas and the creations from their ideas… Hell even engineers are artists. they are just a bit more anal about guarding stuff.

I really am appalled that this may never be resolved for the people that have been compromised here.. Question: Do you know anyone at FOX or some other news/radio/tv affiliate that could get this story out? I say flood any market you can. Expose, punish and make an example of the behavior that may become the norm if it isn’t exposed.

go get em! Let me know what I can do besides repost on my blog.

http://gailmakiwilson.blogspot.com/2008/04/its-ten-oclock-do-you-know-where-your.html

This isn’t by me but by fellow blogger, Luc Latulippe.  It’s something I’m wondering about right now.   Please read and check him out.
 
So, here’s a super crappy way to start your day.
Yesterday, my pal D…

Be informed that we have removed this book from our website and we’re notgoing to sell it anymore.
Isabel Lorente
Export Manager
http://www.indexbook.com
Phone: 0034 934545547 Fax: 0034 934548438

You are being promoted!

http://www.vlany.org

They helped me with a serious problem years ago when a publisher attempted to claim copyright and trademark rights in my work, and I recommended the VLA to another artist who was also able to get their rights reverted when the same publisher ripped them off.

Please give the VLA a try.

Cheers!

Thanks for taking some action, but we have no desire to take down anyone’s website unless we know for a fact that they might be complicit in the sale of this book. Besides, we have no authority in other countries when it comes to shutting down sites.

There’s still a lot that’s unclear to us about who’s who in all of this. The actual publisher has used false contact information. Index Books is only ONE of the many stores selling this book. And Darren has written an update on his blog clarifying that Azur Corp is in fact neither the publisher nor the distributor. This was a mistake made on Index Books’ site. Index has not corrected this error yet, nor have they agreed to pull the book.

Here’s Darren’s update:
http://apefluff.com/colorful-illustrations-93c-update-1/

With a little help we may be able to get this site marked red by Mcafee and possibly even taken down by other security entities.

It appears that azurbook.co.jp is a relativly new site with Netcraft anti-phishing toolbar giving it an extremely high risk rating.

http://www.societyillustrators.org

best of luck!

http://apefluff.com/colorful-illustrations-93c-update-1/

I hope you guys get your justice in the end.

On the up side, I heard this was happening and checked it out and it led me to your site. I really like YOU’RE work and if you have any products like an “Art Of” book I would be proud to carry it.

Richard Vasseur
http://www.jazmaonline.com

The main thing you want is for a “cease and desist” letter to go out from a lawyer to the re-sellers. This is a formal letter telling them that they are selling plagiarized material, and that as a result they are likely to be liable themselves (especially after they get the letter, because after that they can’t plead ignorance), and demanding that they stop.

I know that the re-sellers are in other countries, but trust me, they don’t want to take a chance on (a) being sued (they don’t have to know that you can’t afford it) and/or (b) damaging their reputation with authors, publishers, buyers, etc. The second part is particularly important because even if the re-sellers surmise that you can’t afford to sue them overseas, the web makes it very easy for you to (perfectly legally) damage their reputation by making public the fact that they deal in plagiarized goods.

The other thing that the letter does is that it lends some authority to your claims (of authorship of the works of art, of the fact that they were not licensed to the publisher of the book) because now these claims are not coming from some artist that the re-seller has never heard of and who might be lying, crazy, or whatever, they are coming from a professional who is not likely to risk his or her reputation by making a false allegation. You gain a lot of credibility this way.

So how do you get the letter out? Your best option is to approach a lawyer or law firm (or several if needed), let them know the situation in a very brief nutshell, and ask if they would consider doing a letter on a *pro bono* basis (free). After all, you’re not asking them to go to court for you, or even draft legal pleadings, just to write a letter. Many large, reputable law firms do a certain amount of pro bono work each year, and if you’re lucky you might be able to snag a large firm with an international reputation who can put the fear into the re-sellers.

Just as an example, I notice that you are in Toronto, and I would suggest trying Heenan Blaikie (Pierre Trudeau’s old law firm). They have a Toronto office, they are a little artsy, and they do have an international rep. I have no idea if they would go for it, but it’s worth talking to them. I’m sure there are others who would be worth approaching as well.

If you can’t get the letter done pro bono, bear in mind that a cease and desist letter doesn’t cost all that much, even on a modest budget. A couple hundred bucks might be a small price to get some payback in this situation. And the great thing is that if other re-sellers turn up, the letter can be recycled at virtually no cost — you just change the name and address of the recipient.

After that, I would follow up by doing a search once in a while to see if the book is being re-sold by anyone else. If so, as I said, you recycle the letter. If you are vigilant enough you should be able to stop these schmucks from making any more money off the art they stole from you and they might even drop the book. Will they stop stealing from others? — Nah. But at least you can protect yourself.

Good luck. Hope this helps. Write if you have questions.

with that said. The funny thing about Art, Music, and Ideas and once their put out into the public… there no longer yours. I mean. they are yours because you created it…. but now there EVERYONES. there not everyone’s to profit off of. Thats B.S.

If nothin’ more. Be proud that your work is out there. And try to use this bad experience to further your career. Get a couple copies of this book to put in your resume. Steal them if possible because you really shouldn’t have to pay $100 for a book of your art.

- Ackshun
http://www.AsonofJack.com

You’ve got a good line-up of ideas going, like the Press Release to chain retailers, so they are familiar with the book, should they ever get approached about selling it.

You should also send those press releases to as many publishers as you can, particularly publishers that would print a book like that - this serves two functions. One is to just wave off mid to low level publishers that might find themselves in a position to publish the fake book in their territories. Two, and this is the good bit, correctly worded, the press release can act as a foot-in-the-door for you to actually get the book published.

The fake is demonstrative proof that someone thought it was good enough to print and others thought it good enough to sell.

Take that and add that you a) can provide better quality versions of the illustrations and b) make more content.

They’re making money off of your work, and while might not be able to fight it at this point, you’re, in a strange way, in a good position to get that work to make you a little money in the places they haven’t raided. Which in turn gives you more legal ground to go after them (a publisher ally that can fire off cease and desists on both party’s behalves, before going looking to sell the publishing rights in the fake’s old territories.)

But that’s getting ahead of the curve. First things first. Darren should see if he can get the book published himself.

Best of luck - I kept slipping in and out of the right pronoun (luc versus darren - I did mention it’s past my bedtime, right?), but you know what I mean.

Of course, they have lawyers. Still, if you can take action to seize these publications it saves you the cost of printing and you can sell them as collectibles. Just a thought.

And it seems to me that while HK thieves are effectively beyond the law, various look Western book retailers are not. Cease and desist letters are not terribly expensive to issue and lawsuits are potentially lucrative.