virize:

virize:

virize:

They steal artwork from artists without their permission and attempt to resell low quality crap of it, and trick people into buying it by stating “BEST SELLER, NOT AVAILABLE IN STORES, LIMITED TIME ONLY”

And hey, guess what? Someone messaged me earlier and I found out that this “company” is selling MY ART that I definitely did not give permission to use, sell, or distribute.

This “company” literally edited out my work from the original images, rotated a few, and slapped them all onto a poster.

Uh, NO. Not cool at all.

I have already filed a DMCA and hope to have it taken down within a day, but who knows if they’ll even do that seeing as their “DMCA form” is literally an email to “someone who takes care of these matters” 🙃

PLEASE don’t support shitty “companies” like TeeChip who steal the hard work of others! If you ever recognize artwork that you suspect is stolen on any site that sells artwork or merch, please let the original artist know if you’re able to! It’s always greatly appreciated when people let us know this kind of shit is happening and we can take actions to stop it

UPDATE

It’s been about two days since I sent a DMCA email to TeeChip and I still haven’t received a reply or any indication that they even looked at it. Guess that means the “campaign” is about to end and whoever was unfortunate enough to buy my stolen art is giving their money to the wrong person 😦

And because the campaign is going to end, that means I can no longer file claims, damages, or even compensation for illegal use of intellectual property, unless there’s some way to prove that the campaign existed. I’ll have to check and see if the page still exists tomorrow before I send another DMCA or figure out some other way to contact TeeChip.

It really makes me wonder if TeeChip purposely ignores intellectual property claims until each campaign ends, as DMCA forms are legally supposed to be responded to and sorted out within a maximum of 24 hours. Every DMCA I’ve ever filed has been appropriately dealt with in under a day (and sometimes within a few hours!) sooooo I’m kind of at a loss at this point. I don’t even know if this is worth pursuing but at least I was able to hopefully raise some awareness 😩

ANOTHER UPDATE OH BOY

SO. Remember when I said I was worried about the campaign no longer existing when it ends and I might not have proof to file another DMCA or for compensation? This morning I received another message from someone through Etsy about the exact same campaign! With the exact same URL! WITH A RENEWED COUNTDOWN TIMER

Here’s a screenshot I just took so you don’t think I’m going crazy or complaining about nothing. Like, this is this second message from two different people I’ve gotten in under a week about TeeChip 😦

This is getting ridiculous. There’s no way to guarantee that my work will be taken down permanently even if my DMCA form does eventually get through (does TeeChip even look at them???), because someone could just start another campaign with a different URL or some shit and I’m basically shit out of luck unless I open up a legal case, and honestly I don’t know if it’s worth my time or money. I don’t want to admit defeat and cut my losses but… it’s work that I put a lot of time into and I’m really happy with. So many people have told me they’ve appreciated this series, and I’m angry someone is just blatantly stealing and reselling it. But I’m not stupid – getting into legal action against a company who very likely has an insane amount of revenue just isn’t worth the headache and time and resources.

That said, I really appreciate the amount of support from everyone who has reblogged or responded, and I thank you. The best I might be able to do is warn people about what’s happening and to really be aware of who you’re purchasing art or merch from!

I’ll update again if something substantial happens (like a response!!) but otherwise assume I’m still working on getting this sorted out and taken down. I’m not sure how much more I can do at this point.