One common thing I hear about from creators is that other people have stolen their work. It’s such a sad and frustrating thing for a creator to have to deal with. My favorite thing that people say is
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness”
Oh Oscar Wilde, why did you ever have to say that!
I don’t think that saying makes anyone feel better, especially after putting in so many hours of hard work to create something. It may be flattering if other artists are using your method to create, are taking tips from you, but flat out stealing your art line for line, pixel by pixel, word for word… that is NOT okay.
I have been guilty of it without even thinking about it when creating things, and sometimes a reminder is a good thing. Often people don’t realize what they are doing is wrong.
So what do we do? I’m afraid the answer isn’t that easy. Most of us are small creators, we are struggling artists, small businesses, a one-human show. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t have money to be paying a lawyer to fight these battles for me. The sad reality is there is often very little a small artist can do if they are unwilling to get lawyers involved, so I want to talk about doing your best to prevent it (the best you can) from the start.
- Watermark your photos – The frustrating part about a watermarking our visual art, is that you it can take away, or distract from our creation. If you are careful about creating enough opacity to still be able to see the image, but not enough that a program can remove it, people will still be able to enjoy your art without losing most of it to a watermark. You need to be sure that the watermark covers a big portion of your piece so people can’t just edit it out
- Meta-tag your photographs – Within photoshop you can go to FILE — FILE INFO and you can add all of your meta data in there. Many people don’t think of this before sharing your file.
- Share your photos on websites that disable right clicking. This doesn’t stop the theft all together, but it does make it more difficult. And if someone does bypass it by using a screen grab of the image, the resolution isn’t ideal for any type of replication. Be sure when posting on social media that enables right-clicking, like Facebook, to have your image watermarked clearly.
- Remind People – When you make a post sharing your art, come up with a general disclaimer, something that is worded well that reminds people that this is your artwork, and that it is not meant for distribution or replication of any kind. It is important to know that artwork is protected by copyright when the art is affixed in a tangible form. That means once you have created something it is already copywritten, what costs money is registering your copyright which is an additional layer of protection for the artist. The standard filing fee for copyrighting art is $55, but if you’re registering only one work as the sole author and claimant, it will cost only $35. You must file individual claims for each artwork you wish to copyright through the Copyright office.
- If someone does happen to post your artwork, send them a friendly reminder that it is your artwork and that it was not meant for distribution by anyone else. Stay calm and professional in any of your online conversations, you don’t want the dreaded screen shots to haunt you.
If you exhaust all options and people are still unwilling to comply, you may be at a point where you need to weight the pros and cons of hiring a lawyer to get the information removed. Please remember that many sites do allow you to report content for copyright infringement and you should absolutely report any images that you see. The most important thing to take away, is that if this does happen to you, you should never feel so discouraged that you stop making things. When all is said and done, nobody is going to create your art better than you do. Keep making time to make stuff.
