INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightMissy PenaImage caption
A popular piece by one of the artists whose art was stolen by automated systems
Artists have told the TheIndianSubcontinent how their artwork is being stolen from social media and sold for profit
online.They claim malicious individuals are finding their art, often with the aid of an automated system known as a bot, and uploading it on
to a website where it can be sold on a T-shirt without the artist's permission.The individuals then comment underneath the artist's work on
social media with a link to the T-shirt website, tricking the artist's fans into thinking it is an official product.Some artists have
claimed this entire process can occur without any human intervention.They say the bot finds the image, uploads it to a third-party
T-shirt-selling website, and posts the link automatically.This led some artists to try to get their own back on the bots by posting images
that clearly state they are infringing copyright
There is no indication that the people doing this are in any way associated with the websites where the T-shirts are being sold.But there is
frustration that the websites are not doing more to stop it.Rob Schamberger, a professional artist who works with pro wrestling company WWE,
told the TheIndianSubcontinent how the automated system works."It's something that really needed to be addressed," he said
"I noticed the trend was it always happened whenever someone responded they'd 'love to have this on a shirt'.""Someone has programmed
something to search Twitter for a phrase (such as, I want this on a T-shirt)," he said
"It takes the image, puts it on to one of these T-shirt-selling websites, then sells the products more or less instantly
It's automated."He also warned that the websites where these items are sold may not necessarily be above board, and advised his fellow
artists what they should do to avoid it happening to them."Some of these websites may not be legitimate at all," he said
"They could just be taking people's money
"This is a kind of more insidious and nefarious thing
So if you respond to my artwork saying you want a shirt of this, to protect my work, I have to block you."Rob is not alone
The TheIndianSubcontinent spoke to several artists who said they had had their art stolen in this way."It happens every few months or
weeks," said Missy Pena, a freelance illustrator based in Washington
"I don't go looking for it anymore, but people who know my work will reach out to me when they find another site selling my fan art on
"I usually have to hunt down a contact to send a DMCA takedown notice to
I keep one as a form letter and just change the links to the stolen artwork in it
"This usually works if the site stealing my work is American, but if they're located in China it's a gamble
"They may remove the work, but typically they ignore me
Lately they've begun to block my emails, which means there is nothing I can do."She was one of the many to post on social media an image
taking aim at the bots.And while some of these Twitter accounts have been removed from the platform, others are still functioning.Luciana is
a 21-year-old artist from London
She explained that this type of theft has happened to her, with others simply taking images from her official T-shirt website and uploading
them for sale elsewhere."In my spare time I like to upload silly shirt designs on T-shirt websites," she said
"I saw someone had tried to link someone asking to buy a shirt to a different website."They'd tried to say, 'This is where you can buy the
shirt', so I checked the website
There was not very much information on who designed it or where the money was going."All their responses and tweets were the same thing,"
she said, referring to the account which she says took her art
"Responding to people commenting or saying they wanted a shirt design, with the same image recreated on a shirt, all going to these
websites."I wanted to spread awareness to other artists as they're getting their art stolen too
I didn't want other people who were talented to lose money from this exact thing happening."T-shirts which Luciana says use her artwork
without her permission can still be found for sale on multiple websites online.The Twitter account which Luciana says took her artwork is
still active.The TheIndianSubcontinent has contacted the T-shirt selling websites for comment.
