So it seems I have an impostor within my ranks. I received a call today, while working, informing me that my artwork was on display at the Starbucks in Plymouth. The only problem is that I never put my artwork on display at the Starbucks in Plymouth. It seems like somebody likes to pass my hard work off as their own. The plot thickens, though, because this person that seems to think that its okay to pass my art off as their own has known me for years. This makes me a bit irritated.
I don't have very much experience in the whole "somebody stole my effing photos" arena, so I'd like to call upon members of the blogosphere to inform me of what they've done in this sort of a situation, or what they would do if such an event occurred. I'd much appreciate any and all advice, because I don't want to go into this situation without having some sort of notion what I should do. Advice like, "you should break this little bastard's knee caps" will be disregarded, however.
What I know I will do, for sure, though, is go to the Starbucks in question and see if I recognize any other work created by myself or others. I'll keep you posted about that as well. In the meantime, I'll be grumping about the whole situation and cursing under my breath.
UPDATE: He is also using my photos on his website. Great. Oh, and on his flickr.
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1 comment:
There are lots of nice copyright and identity theft laws in the US for you to pursue. However, to make the theft particularly poignant, you must prove financial loss on your part or gain on his part, the result of the act. Hard to do in the coffee house and Flickr world. However, if he's posted it on Facebook, he's in deep dooky, because their copyright grabbing fine print could potentially cause you future harm. I'd file a police report myself, to establish the coffee shop thing on a record.
Check MVSwanson.com and the ASMP web site for more insights into this sort of identity theft.
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