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My dearest deviantwatchers, artists, friends, viewers and bronies alike,



Recently I have been informed, thanks to the valiant efforts of :iconatomicgreymon: and :iconironsocks: that a particular piece of artwork of mine, namely,

is being sold by various unlicensed Hong-Kong agents on websites such as eBay and the like. This is completely unauthorized and I have never been contacted by anyone (barring the TPM) for permission nor licensing of prints. This disturbing trend has prompted myself to write this journal entry (I'm sure everyone was tired of the last entry, that was about two years ago, right?)

While I have informed eBay of this, no action has really been taken, nor do said agents really give a flying feather on copyrights or anything.

The only party that I've given permission for prints is the Travelling Pony Museum project, [link] who has agreed to share the profits with charity as well as myself, for the prints they are selling at brony events such as Trotcon. Other than that, I have not authorized anything with anyone else (I'll update this journal if this changes)

I mean, I'm cool if you really like a picture and go to your local print store for your own personal print, but making a business out of it is pushing it, and it saddens me, as an artist, that people are making money out of your hard work and passion. As a fan artist, I cannot legally sell prints on deviantart of someone else's copyright (some artists do this, but it's rather unethical to me), and the copyright holders themselves cannot print said images without the explicit permission of myself and the other copyright holder (the image in question is a crossover picture, which can be a whole new headache altogether). What I'm getting at is that taking someone's art off the internet and mass printing it for sale is very unethical and wrong.

What I am asking is that you boycott, or rather, not buy from these merchants, in order to discourage further unauthorized printing and to prove that we do not condone this action.

When I started doing art for this fandom, I never really expected the overwhelming response that I've had. I do what I do is because I love what I'm doing, and that I love to share these pictures with the rest of the world. That's why there's a full resolution watermark-free download on most, if not all pictures in the gallery. As a fan artist, I believe the strive should be the art, the passion and the betterment of oneself as an artist and the fandom as a whole, not for the potential monetary gain. I don't have the time to chase down everyone trying to sell my stuff or use them without permission whatsoever either, since I'm juggling between university education and the art you see in this gallery.


____________
If there are any artists facing the same predicament, or can offer any help in dealing with the scenario, do share with both myself and everyone else interested. Also, please spread the word so that no one else is taken advantage of.

Thank you all for your time, and thank you for all the support you all have given me throughout my time on deviantart.

And special thanks to those looking out for me on other parts of the internet, digging this up and informing me.

__________
Your faithful artist,
Saunder
  • Mood: It's Hot
  • Playing: Mirror's Edge

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Submitted on
July 18, 2012
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:iconponymystic:
~PonyMystic Mar 7, 2013  Hobbyist General Artist
wat!? no!
Reply
:iconipsen42:
I was just browsing Ebay and came across this very art and thought: "Well that looks fishy." So I came here. Seems I was right. Turns out loads of art is being illegally sold by this seller: [link]
Just a heads up if you want to follow up on this. I'm tracking down all artists I know of this guy's scamming and letting them know.
Reply
:iconpak-faace1234:
Mood: Anger ~PAK-FAace1234 Dec 1, 2012  Hobbyist General Artist
Damn Chinese! First they copy TF2, then they steal Russia's best fighter jet, and now they try to steal art from one of my favorite Da artists?!?! COMMIES ARE GOING DOWN HARD.
Reply
:iconmuffyderp:
Do everything within legal capacity to put a stop to this mess of a situation. If that fails and/or results are unsatisfactory, then we'll have to employ more creative measures to counteract.
Reply
:iconraenboow:
Mood: Sadness ~RaenBoow Jul 21, 2012  Student Digital Artist
Disturbing and sad indeed :/ I hope this gets solved somehow :icongo-on-plz:
Reply
:iconstpinkie:
Mood: Sadness ~stpinkie Jul 21, 2012  Hobbyist Artist
Ebay doesn't usually mingle with intellectual property. It's technically not their job. You can, however, get a cease and desist letter done up if you want to be really particular about it. It isn't as expensive aas some lawyers put it out to be.

I feel bad for you. I never liked plagiarism :(
Reply
:iconbryfury:
damn, why do ppl have to do such things... its sad really...
Reply
:iconalternatepony:
Mood: Sickened ~alternatepony Jul 19, 2012  Hobbyist General Artist
I no way could fathom how crappy it must feel to find this out.
Reply
:iconbiasedeyes:
Yeah, I'm guessing that any company which doesn't care about the copyrights of Marvel & Hasbro is not going to care about the derivative work copyright of an artist. I'm glad to say that all of my acquisition of pony paraphernalia falls into the dark cracks in copyright law which cause lawyers to raven and lick their lips, as opposed to those areas which are clearly illegal.
Reply
:iconzaku1986:
~zaku1986 Jul 19, 2012  Hobbyist Traditional Artist
GAAAAAH!!! Words can not describe how anger rises in me when I see thing like this!
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