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Report of Net Art Theft Draws Lawyer Threats

Posted by kdawson on from the you-decide dept.

An anonymous reader sends in word of the well-known artist Todd Goldman, who has been accused of stealing images and ideas from an Internet comic artist/author and others, and profiting from them. Goldman has now threatened to sue the Web page that pointed out the apparent theft to the world.

11 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. Art Thieves by GearheadX · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Considering the most common example I've seen, Todd's gonna have a very hard time covering his butt in a court.

    1. Re:Art Thieves by Sorthum · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Same text, same perspective, same details, slightly crappier?

      Yeah, good luck suing your way out of this one, dude...

  2. It's not libel... by j0nb0y · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not libel if it's true.

    IANAL.

    --
    If you had super powers, would you use them for good, or for awesome?
    1. Re:It's not libel... by umStefa · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The purpose of this lawsuit may not be to actually recieve damages, it is probably simply to try and shut-up the source of the negative publicity.

      You do not need to win a court case for it to be advantage to you. If your goal is to stop a source of negative publicity, a lawsuit may casue the other party to simply shut-up instead of incurring large legal bills on a matter of principal. Of course, if the other party calls you on it and is willing to fight in court you end up getting MORE negative publicity.

      --
      Technology is most abused by the very people it was created to help
    2. Re:It's not libel... by j0nb0y · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I would agree with you, except that this instance of plagiarism is fairly well known at this point.

      A quick google search for his name brings up many pages repeating these allegations, and many of them back it up with image comparisons that are very damning.

      This man's reputation as an artist is already ruined.

      This legal threat is a desperate and foolish measure. The goal is to get rid of the allegations, but instead, the allegations will only be further spread.

      And worse, if the threat is followed through to a lawsuit, the website's author will have a chance to prove the allegations in court. A quick look at the evidence reveals that this would likely be a slam dunk for the defense.

      IANAL

      --
      If you had super powers, would you use them for good, or for awesome?
  3. Re:Oh, that's never happened before... by Divebus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Can bluster compensate for an indefensible position? Sometimes...

    --

    Most of the stuff on /. won't survive first contact with facts.
  4. Re:Oh, that's never happened before... by Carthag · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Liechtenstein never claimed to be the creator of the sources he appropriated. Goldman did.

  5. recontextualizing == duplication? by FatSean · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Please explain how the praying bunny example exhibits recontextualizing!

    --
    Blar.
  6. Re:Warhol he aint by L.+VeGas · · Score: 3, Insightful

    See, that's exactly what makes this interesting. If Goldman had only created a single work, instead of mass-producing t-shirts, people might say, "Hey, that's copied from this other place!" and let it go. Now suppose it was hanging in a museum, and the gift shop sold t-shirts or post cards of the copied work. Now, it's copyright infringement.

    Goldman tries to pass his violations off as "fine art", when it's pretty clear he's actually about the merchandising, and that crosses the line.

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    Best Windows Freeware
  7. Threatening to sue is actionable by Tweekster · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You can sue anyone for anything in the US, but you cant go around using lawsuits as a threat.

    For a lawsuit to be legit it has to be the last resort not the first threat you pull out of the bag. not to mention it can never be and idle threat but a step by step escalation where legal action is warranted.

    He just put himself in an actionable position

    --
    The phrase "more better" is acceptable English. suck it grammar Nazis
  8. Re:Goldman has money by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 3, Insightful

    SCO can afford really good lawyers too. It isn't doing them any good.


    That's because SCO made the stupid mistake of picking on somebody who can afford even *better* lawyers...

    Chris Mattern