[littl3chocobo]

what is stealing?

this is easy, taking something that isn't yours


so why is it that people get so confused and dismissive/hostile when stealing is applied to art? it seems that by virtue of it being art the very plain and direct rules of what is and is not stealing become muddled and complicated

what is stealing?

it isn't stealing, because....


without any changes to the question or the action behind the question the answer has not only changed but it is now an argument or at the very least an excuse

if you steal a candybar you stole it

if you steal art you haven't stolen anything, at the very most you 'referenced' the original creator

it does not matter if it is an identical or near-identical work
it does not matter if the original work was copyrighted
it does not matter if the original creator explicitly said 'no you may not use this for any derivative works of any nature'
it does not matter if you put the original art right up to your blank paper/screen and copied it/traced it/eyeballed it/put your name on it over the creator's and uploaded it directly



this seems wrong and stupid to me and though there /are/ laws against the theft of art, intellectual property, and other concepts pertaining to actual existing work most people retaliate with the ever-worn 'well you can't own xxx' despite the designs and patents act which passed into affect in 1988 saying you very much can


so, having read this jumbled mess what do you guys think of theft and how it pertains to art? and before this becomes a poo-flinging contest though let me add this to clarify my point and reduce some of the replies;

no disney can't copyright cartoon mice, no it cannot copyright shorts, not it can't copyright somersaults, and not it can't copyright ugly cartoon shoes but /yes/ it can copyright a cartoon mouse named mickey in shorts and shoes doing somersaults and if you draw a cartoon mouse in shorts and shoes doing somersaults and it looks like that mickymouse image with the colors changed and the name changed to fred /even/ if you 'drew it yourself' you have in fact broken copyright law and taken something that is legally owned by disney

oh, /now/ what are your guys' thoughts?

[Fauxreal]

Here is my problem with 'stealing' ~ It's basically because of Disney that we have such strict laws on artistic property.

I feel if we don't share our knowledge, we will never grow. We will never learn from out mistakes.

Before Disney, helping to pass these laws, it was common and even flattering when someone would copy your ideas and art. Now it's highway robbery.

Now I want original works to get credit, even to get paid.

I don't want artists to keep being poor. I want patrons again! I want art and music and poetry to flourish.

How can you really own anything? When you die... you can't take it with you.

[littl3chocobo]

actually in japan people have been banned from working because of art theft, a woman who was, at the time, not too well known made a manga called wild rock and a much larger, well-known, artist stole several pages from her, same angles same frames same fight scene the difference is the latter had a seminaked woman in her version. they went to court and the much more well known artist won the case, the artist who had her art stolen was banned from selling any more manga in the genre and any at all under that name. it was later found out that the thief also stole from other artists and even directly traced an image from a kalvin klein ad but it was too late and the damage was done

for 50 years, despite being the creator writer and occasional artist bill finger received 0 credit for 'batman' and only started getting it after his death while bob kane made a fortune from it and even made it into the kirby hall of fame, injustices like that are common occurrence at virtually every level




and no it never was, the berne conference signed paperwork in 1886 to protect the rights of creators(mainly books) and though it is true the us did not accept copyright law under that until 1989 it has had it's own, the bueno aries, that it established in 1910 that protected properties with a copyright or patent (the (c) and tm) and while that basically only covered those who could pay for the copyright it still protected them from being directly ripped off by others

though, personally having had my art stolen i don't find it flattering and i get upset when i see people making money and getting the sole credit for things they did not make/do