Journal Entry:
Mon Aug 22, 2011, 3:13 PM
I'm sure many of you are aware of the Art4Love.com drama floating about. How this Chad Love fellow stole the works of many artists from here on deviantART, including myself, and was selling them for ridiculous amounts of money, claiming they were oil paintings, even shipping them with a certificate of authenticity.
Anyway, there seems to be some ridiculous responses going around to this. I'm not going to call anyone out by name, but a certain deviant has taken it upon himself to ask for donations in order to hire 'the best copyright lawyer' and pursue a 'class action lawsuit'. This in my opinion is a bullshit move, as any copyright lawyer worth his weight would probably take on something this big and blatant for a percentage with no upfront fees to begin with. It's pretty clear cut copyright infringement on a massive scale.
I personally think this deviant jumped the gun and instead of taking a moment to think about the situation, figured he'd get everyone riled up and paying for his lawyer. At the end of the day, even with a class action lawsuit, there's no guarantee that the people who were wronged will get anything, and if they do, you're probably only looking at a few Burger King value meals worth per artist.
That's not to say the deviant in question is some evil mastermind looking to steal your money, I just think it's a bad idea to give it to him, or anyone else for that matter. Any way you cut it, the word is out and Chad Love will get what's coming to him eventually, you don't need some hotshot artist to take up the reigns. And lets be honest, I sincerely doubt he sold much of anything off that site, and what are the chances your few pieces of work were among what was sold out of thousands of images?
That's not to say it isn't a big deal, it's a VERY big deal, and very serious. Just trying to put some perspective on it.
Anyway, take care guys, and hold on to your pocketbooks.
`anmari has been spreading her infectious positivity throughout our community for over 6 years. Throughout this time Ana has been at the core of all things devious, passionately developing an eclectic gallery, helping organise devmeets, participating in chat events and also recently completed dedicating her time as a Community Volunteer. We are absolutely delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for May 2013 to `anmari, congratulations! Read More
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There is one thing though Reid, what your strategy be? I mean it's a great show of initiative to try and band a community together against this guy like you agree, but how many more ways is there to deal with the situation? I'm not too great with lawyers and copyright infringement, but are there many other alternatives? I can't say it's a terrible plan but that's only because I don't know enough. Is it the fact that he's taking deviants money?
I also think it's hilarious how literally every time someone snatches his work for something, he acts like they murdered his parents. He posts about it EVERY SINGLE TIME, no matter how small, and in my opinion it's often not because he's pissed off anymore, it's like bragging rights. "Hey, look how often my stuff gets stolen and used for stuff, I've made it big eh?" I'm sick of seeing it, grow up. I've gotten my stuff stolen a ton of times, and I almost never bring it up. Why? Because it's a waste of everyone's time, including my own.
He's the king of drama here, he openly admitted one time that he creates drama just to see how people react. If that's not the definition of a troll, I don't know what is, so when I see him pulling shenanigans like this, it pisses me off.
I just keep reading about this with ever increasing incredulity, the douche has even written articles on dealing with copyright infringements!
I can understand an anger reaction, but the request has been up three days now, in my books that's long enough to do your homework on the matter.