IT came like that
Two days ago on November 10, 2019, someone contacted me via my website to tell me he saw one of my poster design online. Ok! Well! I continue to watch my other email and I decided to read the strange mail a second because it was enough to awake my curiosity.
Firstly; I was doubtful about the message in my mailbox. Is it a spam or not? I finally came with the feeling that Its content is too unconventional to be spam.
Secondly, I never received that kind of mail before, so, I decided to answer back because, at that point, I was too curious — as well as my ego, I agree! — and that pushes me to answer him.
So, I asked the man if it is possible to provide some pieces of information about the plagiarism and all the stuff he knows about.
They plagiarized my poster print it and sell it
The man explained that he had seen a duplication of my artwork online. He found one of my posters printed on a t-shirt by a company based in the Maldives. He stumbled upon this while browsing Pinterest (my account) and noticed the unauthorized use of my design. Feeling a mix of anger and intrigue, I wanted to know more. How could this happen without me knowing?
Finding the Silver Lining
The plagiarized design featured additional text above Apollo’s face on a white rectangle. Surprisingly, it looked quite good on the T-shirt. This unexpected twist gave me a new idea: why not create my line of t-shirts, posters, and other apparel? Despite the initial frustration, I found a silver lining. The fact that someone liked my design enough to replicate it was, in a way, a compliment.
Discovering the Plagiarist’s Intentions
On November 11, 2019, I received another message, this time on Facebook. The sender revealed more about the plagiarist. He was a 17-year-old aspiring entrepreneur from the Maldives, running a company called Maldive Excalibr&Co. He apologized profusely, explaining that he didn’t understand copyright laws and wasn’t a designer himself.
He admitted that pressure from people on Instagram who noticed the infringement had led him to reach out to me. He had already discarded the t-shirts and offered to PayPal me the $96 he earned from them. Although skeptical of his intentions, I suggested that $50 would suffice. I considered that he had also put effort into his venture, even if misguided.
Dealing with the Plagiarist’s Paranoia
I explained to him the seriousness of copyright infringement and that he was lucky it was me. He shared that he felt immense pressure from the online community regarding legal issues. Realizing that I was the only one with the legal standing to pursue the matter, I reassured him and agreed to let him publicly share our conversation.
To conlude about that story
In the end, I empathized with his situation and devised a creative solution. I designed a new poster featuring his logo and a message about copyright, which I named “poster I made is named Under Copyright.” This poster, part of my Daily Design Poster Challenge Apollo 365°, aimed to resolve the issue and clear his name.
The moral of the story? Always educate yourself about copyright before using any images, artworks, or other content in a commercial project. This experience taught me that even negative situations can lead to new opportunities and ideas.
