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For most recent entry, click here. |
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Rip-Off Report.com - the Bad Business Bureau
The best place to check for the TRUE reputation of that eBay seller you were thinking of buying from. Also a good place to broadcast a warning about to others about cons.
Starving Artists Law
Has a complete list of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, as well as much other helpful information.
Nolo Press
Do-it-yourself Law Information
Enter "art" in the search feature on their home page, and you'll get 80 or more books and pamphlets about handling legal art issues.
"10 Big Myths About Copyright explained" by Brad Templeton
An attempt to answer common myths about copyright seen on the internet and cover issues related to copyright and USENET/Internet publication.
What is Copyright Protection?
Covers the basic definitions regarding copyrights, using the Berne Union for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Property.
In Depth: Internet Piracy and Copyright Infringement
by Daniel Grant
Article about appropriation of visual art. Covers the risks as well as benefits of internet exposure.
Artist's Rights Society
Founded in 1986, Artists Rights Society (ARS) is a copyright, licensing, and monitoring organization for visual artists in the United States.
Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) of the US Department of Justice.
Contains info on the laws and recently prosecuted Intellectual Property cases, plus a section on
electronic commerce legal issues.
Internet Fraud Complaint Center
of the FBI
and the
Art Theft and Fraud section of the FBI
File a report here, and get information on recent cases.
"Art Fraud and Fake Art on eBay"
by Alan Bamberger
"WARNING: Any seller can describe any work of art in any manner that he or she chooses, and as long as no one complains, that art sells to the highest bidder. As a result, eBay and similar online auction sites are among the more dangerous places for uninformed or inexperienced collectors to buy original art. "
'Original Oil Paintings'? Buyer Beware
by Doctor Robert Porter
"The works described by these glowing words are generally "hand painted" only in the sense that human beings actually handled them. They are not, however, the unique works of a gifted artist. Instead, they are produced in assembly line fashion by low-paid semiskilled workers who have been trained to simulate one element of a work of art..."
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"Removing Problem Sellers From eBay Is Not Easy" by Alan Bamberger
An incredible story about eBay's reluctance to do ANYTHING to stop a seller who moves the goods (fake art), and makes money for them, even when they have been informed over and over again about that seller's illegal activities.
"Art Auctions - Truth or Fraud?"
by M. Malveaux
"Online art auctions have become a popular place for bargain-hunters looking for art that has investment potential. But the honest emerging artists who offer their works for auction sometimes seem overwhelmed by assembly-line art knock-offs and unscrupulous, even fraudulent sellers who prowl online auctions looking for unsuspecting victims."
"The ebay dope - Selling art under an alias" by Michael Jerome Phillips
"On ebay many artists sell their work under aliases. Whether you consider this to be a good thing or a bad thing largely depends on which side of the transaction you're on. From the artist's perspective - well, I can't think of a valid reason for selling under an alias. I can, however, think of some sneaky, underhanded and deceptive reasons, and we'll talk about those in a minute."
"How to Make Big Money Selling Fake Art on eBay" by Alan Bamberger
"But nobody's that stupid, you're thinking. Well, guess again. In the old days, experts on stupidity used to believe that a sucker was born every minute. That was before eBay. Now researchers into imbecilic behavior can go onto eBay, watch real bozos get ripped off all day long, count them up, and easily verify that far more than one sucker is born every minute. So are you ready to ascend to the next tax bracket? Of course you are. Let's get started!"
Ebay Art Forgeries
Has eBay Become the Sotheby's for Hicks?
by John Seed
"Anyone with an eBay feedback rating can visit a thrift store, pick up a masterpiece, and make a few bucks. Some of the fraud may be more sinister, with actual forgeries being created by the seller or their cronies, but that may involve too much effort for most."
Tiffany's sues eBay
claiming violation of trademark
Sept '04 Update on Tiffany Lawsuit
January '06 Update on Tiffany Lawsuit
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Canadian artist Robert Genn has dealt with similar art copyright theft issues at his "Painter's Keys" web site. In this case, the thieves are in China. He says, "These folks have been simply 'lifting' images from dealer and public gallery websites, and other online pages. While the quality must be fairly poor, they are offering them as giclees or photocopies in several sizes." He's also found other pirated art sites, and lists them on his International Theft updates. |
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My Story -
Not long ago, on my birthday (June 2004) I came home after a pleasant day in the city to find a message from R---- on my telephone answering machine. He said that he was a fan of my paintings and he had just seen some of my paintings for sale on ebay, under another artist's name! I had never been on ebay before, but I wasted no time checking it out. What I found was that eBay Inc. seller "MikeK30" is selling work by "Outsider" artist Geraldine Klemmer, and it is labeled as "original art". But it is not original art, it is reproduced from copyrighted images belonging to many other artists, including me. (Ms. Klemmer's promotional materials mention that she is talented in "many styles.")
The work was advertised as original paintings, acrylic on canvas. The brushwork and colors are a messy and incompetent echo of the original paintings, but the underlying structure of the image is an exact duplicate, at 50% scale. My guess: she downloaded a copy of the image from the web, printed it on canvas, and did a quick paint-by-numbers kind of thing over the surface.
Some people have asked me why, since I have long since sold the originals, it matters if some yokel in Texas is copying my paintings.
I make my living as an artist, and my reputation as an honest businessperson is as important as my reputation for high quality work. When my clients see work that looks almost identical (at least to them) to paintings they have purchased from me, paintings they thought were one of a kind, and those copy-cat paintings are selling for a fraction of the price they paid me, those clients feel cheated. This impugns my reputation, lowers the value of my work, and makes it difficult for me to make future sales. Which adversely affects my already faint income.
And then there's the issue of stealing. It just burns me up to think of all the time and effort I took to come up with those images. I walked all over town, took lots of photos, revisited sites so that I could be there when the light was just right, collaged and edited multiple photos to compose the images in such a way that they were pleasing to the eye, as well as descriptive of my city. THEN I started the painting. All the con-artist did was steal that beautiful image and copy it. Not use it as inspiration, not interpret it - copy it, as exactly as her feeble skills could manage.
From what I could tell, based on the public records on eBay, this con-artist has sold at least 483 works, at $40 to $80 each, for approximately $19,000 to $38,000 worth of plagiarized art. Some of the buyers of this plagiarized art have purchased up to 55 pieces, and it's my guess that this work is being resold around the country in little boutique gift store galleries as "original art by Texas painter, Geraldine Klemmer."
I attempted to remedy this situation by contacting ebay, but so far I have not been successful at getting through to them. When I posted messages to their forums (Community Help boards, Member Violations, Fraudulent Activity, Customer Support) I received quick admonishments from the forum moderators that informed me that I was using the forum inappropriately. But no one from ebay has answered my requests for help in dealing the fact that one of their members is violating my (and other artists) copyrights as well as defrauding ebay customers who think they have purchased original art. They do not have a listed phone number, and calling 411 is no help. It has been three days now, and still they do not address this issue at all. Meanwhile, this person is free to sell more fake art.
Luckily, I do have other avenues for pursuing this problem, and I'm doing just that.
So far, we have identified the work of five artists (multiple works per artist) and are actively searching for the others who have been ripped off. This particular scammer tends to rip off realist art, particularly cityscapes, landscapes, and still life (almost no figurative work.) You can email me if you want me to check your site for work that matches the scammer's catalog.
July 1, 2004 - I found out about eBay's VeRO program (go to this page and follow the instructions for filing a report) and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (aka the DMCA) from a lawyer. I should have been able to easily access this information from eBay, but I guess they don't want to encourage people like me from doing anything that will slow their sales. This is what the lawyer had to say about it:
"In the VeRO program, you can report eBay auctions where you believe your IP is being infringed. I have done so many times (for my clients), and eBay has been very responsive in taking down these auctions. You can ask eBay to do the same for your copyrighted image which is being infringed.
Also, eBay has a DMCA Registered Agent. eBay is an online service provider, and is required to have an DMCA agent, who is required to take down infringing materials eBay is aware of.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (aka the DMCA) says that eBay needs to have this process in place in order to be immune from prosecution for copyright infringement when third party posters put infringing stuff on eBay. Through the VeRO program, which is eBay's DMCA compliance program, you send eBay a notice certifying that you're the copyright owner of works that are being infringed, and they take the material down and send a notice to the person posting the work."
I also got some new links to useful (copyright protection) websites for artists - I put them up at right.
July 3, 2004
I received some helpful tips for the people who keep wondering how to restrict access to copyrighted images (see box at right) from Miyoji Productions.
The investigation is still progressing, but I'm sorry I can't share any more news right now.
July 15, 2004
This has been an education, and here's what I've learned so far:
If you are an artist and you have been victimized by an eBay con-artist who has plagiarized your work, the first step is to file a report with eBay's VeRO program (see the July 1 entry on how to do that.) Filing this report officially notifies eBay of the specific items, and seller that you are accusing of fraud. This is the only way they will accept this information. eBay won't do a whole lot in response to your report. If you're lucky, they'll remove the item from sale (no guarantees, though.) This is not much help if the item has already sold. And they won't do anything about the seller, who is free to make more fraudulent sales. This means you have to keep an eye on this seller and file a new report every time they make a fraudulent sale.
eBay has been sued many times in the last 4 years over the issue of facilitating copyright infringement. Just try the words "eBay copyright infringement lawsuit" in a google search and see what you come up with... many articles that begin, "eBay wins copyright infringement lawsuit." The Digital Millennium Copyright Act actually offers protection to eBay (and by extension, to con-artists) but not much to creative folks. Someday maybe there will be a critical mass of artists who will be able to change that dynamic. We can hasten that time by making our voices heard on this issue. And we can pursue the con-artists directly, through criminal and civil means.
The first barrier to pursuing the con-artist is identifying them, and I think this is where eBay bears the greatest responsibilty. By using their "privacy policy" to protect the identity of eBay sellers, even when eBay has received repeated VeRO (Verified Rights Owner's Program) notices of claimed infringement against a particular seller, eBay is providing a Black Market area on the internet, that allows criminals and thieves the freedom to commit fraud and piracy without consequences.
But, assuming you can identify the real name and address of the seller (a private investigator can usually do it.) Your second step is to initiate civil and criminal measures against the seller. Organize all of the documentation (records of your copyrighted items, with dates, photos, etc. Records of your sales. Records of your contact with eBay and the seller.) Go to your local Volunteer Lawyers For the Arts to get legal counsel. If the seller is in a different state than you, notify the FBI. Notify the Better Business Bureau for the state/city where the seller is located. Notify the District Attorney for the state/county where the seller is located. File reports with the consumer fraud sites on the internet. Notify all of the gallery and craft outlets in the community where the seller is located, as well as any professional organizations the seller may belong to. Contact any consumer protection media in your area (many newspapers and television stations have a reporter assigned to this kind of story.)
July 24, 2004
The lawsuit is still in progress, but there's nothing I can say about it here, at least for now. I added many new links to the side bar at right, and here's a fascinating article about PayPal and eBay's attack on a non-profit organization, the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee.
September 24, 2004 (Friday)
A week or so ago, a reporter from MSNBC called to interview me about eBay and art fraud. We had an interesting talk and then I immediately forgot about it. A few days ago, there was a huge spike in traffic to my web site. At first I thought it was related to the Open Studios catalog listing, but the weird part was, most of the hits were from google searches of the phrase, "artist anna conti." Eventually it dawned on me that a news story somewhere must have used that phrase. I found the story (eBay fights its toughest legal battle - Tiffany lawsuit puts 'hands off' approach to the test) and reporter Bob Sullivan got it all right. I'm definitely rooting for Tiffany to succeed where so many others have tried and failed - to make eBay take more responsibility for the Black Market they promote and profit from. See Also: MSNBC's section on "Online Auctions - Fads, Scams, and Temptations."
February 2006:
Things seem to be heating up again around the protected black market called eBay. The Tiffany’s lawsuit that was started a few years ago is getting closer to going to trial. I’m getting a lot of mail these days from other artists and art buyers with ebay tales of woe.
Ms. Klemmer is back in business on eBay, but so far she hasn't copied any more of my paintings, as far as I know. My friends in Texas and elsewhere are keeping an eye on her.
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