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UNAUTHORIZED PRINTS BEING SOLD OF MY SPIDEY JAM PIECE - Fan Expo Holiday Market.
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43 posts in this topic

Hey everyone,

A couple days ago I was asked if I planned on selling prints of my Amazing Spider-Man 100 jam piece once it’s finished being inked (the pencil stage was completed in October). I told him the same thing I’ve said to everyone else who has asked for prints, no, as I’m not allowed to reproduce and sell another artist’s work (in this case, 20 different artists). He thought that was odd because last December, He purchased a print of my Amazing Spider-Man jam piece for $15 at the Fan Expo Holiday Market show in Toronto. Thought he was confused but then he sent me that photo with his print on his wall. So far I just know of the one print, but I’m concerned with how many prints they have made/sold so far.
 

The photo of my jam uploaded to CAF was watermarked, and posted after the event took place. HOWEVER the posts I made of my jam on the “this week in your original art collection” thread and a sketch group on FB was not watermarked and posted well before the show (both have been deleted). I thought I wouldn’t need to create a watermark when uploading it there but I regret not doing so. Whoever is selling prints of my jam either found it on here or my Facebook sketch group, and they’re probably located near Toronto. I hope that none of the contributing artists find out about the prints and think I’m reproducing them and making profit off it.
 

If anyone see’s prints of my jam being sold PLEASE DO NOT purchase it, and know it is NOT being sold by me. Please make sure to notify me asap if you find anymore prints, thanks in advance. Below is a photo of one of the prints and my convo with the guy who purchased it. Still unaware if they are being sold online too.  

A5EC706A-59AB-4594-8DF5-F9F4A1F31DA1.thumb.jpeg.4f130a542b7aad62e6272f01fc71ab2a.jpeg

3BE48D50-04F5-4383-993F-4718B338FE73.thumb.jpeg.43c48c2d68878e0dc255ab576dfb7233.jpeg

59F14DF6-1B3F-453D-A4B4-1AF0BE348EBE.thumb.jpeg.4e4ee6501a903c149a2834a6257c726b.jpeg
 

Edited by Canadiancomics
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1 hour ago, Canadiancomics said:

If anyone see’s prints of my jam being sold PLEASE DO NOT purchase it, as it is NOT being sold by me. 

It's a bootleg. But not sure how you could sell it either.

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4 hours ago, Lorne.T said:

As you put this together yourself, is there any way to register it as a unique piece with the copyright office?

MY (non-lawyer) understanding of things:

1. Unless the commissioner specifically negotiated with every single artist "for copyright"...he doesn't have it to register.

2. Each individual drawing was however registered automatically at the moment of creation.

3. Without that specific negotiation blahblah, "The whole" doesn't exist (for purposes of copyright, going back to "1" above), only the individually copyrighted (to the artists) contributions...of all those trademarked characters that nobody (commissioner or artists) has given even one thin dime to Disney/Marvel for...something to keep in the back of one's mind...

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4 hours ago, Lorne.T said:

As you put this together yourself, is there any way to register it as a unique piece with the copyright office?

 

If so, then you could really dig about and go after the culprit for statutory damages.

Its already copyrighted . Marvel/Disney own the copyrights. It sucks that your piece got out into the wild but you are in no danger of legal issues from anyone as you haven't done anything. If you go down any artist alley of any convention you will find 100's of copyright violations going on. If an artist is paid by Marvel to illustrate a cover for Spider-Man it does not give that artist rights to sell prints of it. The original art work is theirs but once you make prints that is a clear violation. It is rarely enforced if ever. I bought a ASM 129 cover print that Gerry Conway was selling with his sig. I don't usually go in for these things but I feel for these older artists/writers that were working for peanuts creating some of the most iconic characters while making the owners a lot of money today. 

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5 hours ago, WoWitHurts said:

Its already copyrighted . Marvel/Disney own the copyrights. It sucks that your piece got out into the wild but you are in no danger of legal issues from anyone as you haven't done anything. If you go down any artist alley of any convention you will find 100's of copyright violations going on. If an artist is paid by Marvel to illustrate a cover for Spider-Man it does not give that artist rights to sell prints of it. The original art work is theirs but once you make prints that is a clear violation. It is rarely enforced if ever. I bought a ASM 129 cover print that Gerry Conway was selling with his sig. I don't usually go in for these things but I feel for these older artists/writers that were working for peanuts creating some of the most iconic characters while making the owners a lot of money today. 

Well said. Whoever is selling them must not care about the potential consequences. Hate knowing that someone is not only profiting off of the the artist’s work, but also all of my time and money put into completing that jam.

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5 hours ago, Blastaar said:

What sucks is if the artists that contributed see the prints being sold. They may shy away from efforts like this in the future :(

I doubt they’ll ever know with the way the guy is handling it. I spent a lot of time searching for prints also being sold online and can’t find any, even after image searches and browsing on social media. So far I’ve only found one print, and as far as I know they’ve only been sold at a small holiday con in Toronto. If he starts to sell them online and at bigger shows, then they might find out about. I still have no idea how many copies he’s made and sold, only know the price he’s charging and a brief description of his booth which unfortunately doesn’t help much.

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42 minutes ago, Canadiancomics said:

Well said. Whoever is selling them must not care about the potential consequences. Hate knowing that someone is not only profiting off of the the artist’s work, but also all of my time and money put into completing that jam.

There is still only one original. 

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On 1/30/2020 at 5:40 PM, Canadiancomics said:

 

A couple days ago I was asked if I planned on selling prints of my Amazing Spider-Man 100 jam piece once it’s finished being inked (the pencil stage was completed in October). 
 

Who is going to ink it - single artist or multiples doing different sections?

Also do you have a list of pencil artists and the characters they did?  I can't make out all the sigs and would be interested in seeing who drew what.


 

 

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16 minutes ago, Blastaar said:

Just curious how is the page holding up with all the back and forth? Were most of these mail away contributions? 

It’s held up just fine. It was done on great quality bristol board and doesn’t bend or crease easily. 6 of them were mail away contributions, I tried to avoid mailing it out as much as possible but some artists rarely ever attend cons around me. I always keep it in a top loader, wether I’m sending it out, bringing it to a show, or displaying it. Only ever take it out when an artist is adding to it.

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On 1/31/2020 at 9:34 AM, WoWitHurts said:

Its already copyrighted . Marvel/Disney own the copyrights. It sucks that your piece got out into the wild but you are in no danger of legal issues from anyone as you haven't done anything. If you go down any artist alley of any convention you will find 100's of copyright violations going on. If an artist is paid by Marvel to illustrate a cover for Spider-Man it does not give that artist rights to sell prints of it. The original art work is theirs but once you make prints that is a clear violation. It is rarely enforced if ever. I bought a ASM 129 cover print that Gerry Conway was selling with his sig. I don't usually go in for these things but I feel for these older artists/writers that were working for peanuts creating some of the most iconic characters while making the owners a lot of money today. 

Well this is not entirely accurate-- I've often gotten permission from publishers to sell prints of my own work that I've done for them, there's never been an issue and most are surprised and happy I even ask.     If you're talking people like the guy at every show with the 30 foot wall of headshots he does of every character from every publisher, yes indeed he's violating the trademark of those characters.   I doubt he's gotten permission or licensed those images.

At a con last year (and I don't remember which show it was) there was a guy selling prints and they were really bad quality-- movie posters, comic pinups, etc-- I come to a Batman '66 image that I did and I tell the dealer I like the work, he tells me he's friends with the artist and he sells the print for him-- I ask him the artists name and he mumbles some name but when I point out the signature and tell him it's me he gets all sheepish and tells me I can have it, or any of his other bootleg prints.   I tell the promoter-- the guy is set up the next day but he's gone the day after.

Unfortunately, there's not much to do, but as fans just remember when you buy these things cheaper than what the artist is selling them for you are likely buying a bootleg.

 

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2 hours ago, Canadiancomics said:

It’s held up just fine. It was done on great quality bristol board and doesn’t bend or crease easily. 6 of them were mail away contributions, I tried to avoid mailing it out as much as possible but some artists rarely ever attend cons around me. I always keep it in a top loader, wether I’m sending it out, bringing it to a show, or displaying it. Only ever take it out when an artist is adding to it.

Will you have it inked over the pencils or lightboxed? I would go with lightbox.

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