Post #709095 by Tiki Shark Art on Sat, Feb 22, 2014 1:55 PM

Thanks Wendy, you are a wonderful support, when things feel like they are crumbling all around you, it's nice to go to TC and hear some kind words for the Tiki Tribe! Thank you! I'm still in shock over this thing, and our new I.P. Lawyer keeps finding more shocking things that Cafe Press is doing. So, if they are, as her research shows, going forward with printing artwork on canvas, getting it gallery wrapped , and then selling it on line, that not only damages the Artist, but also every gallery that sells art prints. What happens to the whole "Limited edition" idea? It's gone. If I was planning on only printing 10 to 50 giclee art prints on canvas of a painting, a limited edition, signed and numbered. What happens when Cafe Press sells the same print with no limit to how many they are going to print?

Once again, remember how this scam started: Cafe Press dot com stole my "Copy Righted" Art Work. It said a "user" up loaded it, and Cafe Press dose NOT check to see if the "user" has ANY RIGHTS, what so ever, to this art work. Cafe Press then manufactures hundreds (as in my case) of different items with the art work on them. Promotes them on their web site. Sells the items on their web site, keeps approx 90% of the sale. Ships the items in boxes marked in big bold text "CAFE PRESS "IT's HERE!" Then, sends 10% of the sale as a royalty to the "user" quarterly, or annually or however they worked it out. Cafe Press keeps on selling until someone, or the actual artist, tells them they don't have the rights to sell this art work. Proves to them THEY are the ones with the rights to the art! (sure NOW they ask for Proof!?). Then they take down the times, but keeps the 95% of the sales. They are getting away with this by hiding behind an out dated law that made it easy for small time artists to put stuff up on the web back in President Clinton's era, when the web was only used as a bulletin board. Now, this huge, publicly traded, corporation with a income in the hundreds of millions, because millions of "users" are up loading things globally, says it's not breaking any copy right laws.

Wow...this is totally insane.

If they decide to start cranking out Art Prints cheap, what why will happen to the Art Galley business?

Right now, we still don't know how to stop them. Cafe Ppess have hired the biggest law firm in LA to fight me, drag it out, and out spend me. They have nearly endless $ to do so.

Now the bad news:
Other business are starting to copy Cafe Press's Business plan of zig zagging around copy right law. It's a gold mine! . "Print on Demand" sites On-line- companies are cropping up on the net more and more.

As an artist, I don't have time to police every web site to see if they are selling my art work with out my knowledge or permission. I don't even know who these companies are, or what their names are. I only heard about Cafe Press from a client who canceled his order when I promised him a exclusive right to an image for a beach fowl. Then my client found it on over 200 items on Cafe Press.

So, I can't tell a client I have control over the use of my own copy-righted art work any more?

Jeepers Creepers! I keep telling everyone this is the copy right Apocalypse and they think I am over reacting... until they find their own art, or a family member, or a friend's art on line for sale, with out permission.

Scary times we are in.

Then, of course a concerned art patron found... this eh...this...

.....this ...thing on Cafe Press . com.... which, boy, it really did not make my day any better.

Here's the original painting.

Of course, my lawyer has asked me to tell you this is all my humble opinion, and has yet had the bright light of justice shown on it. But, it's not looking very good right now for the small time artist, or even well known artist, is all I can say. The law either works for all or it doesn't work for anyone? Right?

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2014-02-22 20:52 ]