Lucky Threadz vs. Scrappy Apparel, Rip-Off?
Lucky Threadz claims that Tom Burns designed this Butterface tee, and apparently, Scrappy Apparel gets a very similar one. Bad for Tom, in the past, he also feels cheated with people use his “Communist Party” idea and claim as theirs.
Perhaps not a good topic for holiday, but I leave it to you to judge
*Image on the right side by Tom Burns, another by Scrappy Apparel
ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
“Shouldn’t one of the companies take down their version? Shouldn’t that company be Scrappy? LuckyThreadz.com has been selling their version for over a year now.”
You have got to be kidding! We know Tom Burns used the image without permission. Regardless of what anyone else did, the fact that he used the image without permission means Luckythreadz shouldn’t be selling it.
As for Scrappy, we don’t know if the designer used it with permission or not. If he didn’t they should stop selling the shirt.
Your incredible argument seems to be that since Tom Burns stole it first he should have the rights to it! God forbid you ever end up on a jury, determining someone’s fate with that kind of logic! If someone steals my car it doesn’t matter if they keep it for “over a year now” – it’s still my car!
A better argument might be that this is the equivalent of a musician using sampling. The battle lines are pretty clear in that war. The creative people whose samples get stolen are against it, the “artists” who do the sampling think it is somehow ok to steal a part of another song and that by adding something else (including another sample!) somehow makes it their own. You could say that both shirt designers sampled Cherie Roberts’ image for their designs, and from what you’ve written you think this kind of thing is ok. Let’s pretend it is ok, just for the sake of argument. Even given that, your argument doesn’t hold up. If artist A can sample your work then artist B can, too. If ANYONE is allowed to swipe it then EVERYONE is. The rights belong to the creator, not to the creator and whoever steals it first.
It still comes back to the simple fact that Cherie Roberts created and owns the image and its copyright. She allows it to be used for commercial purposes only with her permission. PERIOD. You can ignore this fact all you want but it is still a fact. Either the designers followed the rules or they didn’t and we know without a doubt that one didn’t. So why would he have any right to use it? There are laws that govern copyrighted images, this isn’t finders-keepers, so drop that 3rd grade logic.
This has been an interesting thread but when I read an opinion like the one above it makes my head spin.
[Reply]
It was recommended by the owner of this site that we respond to the issue at hand. We are the owners of Scrappy Apparel Company and would like to explain the steps that were taken in the creation of our Pinup shirt. Yes, the design was inspired by Cherie Roberts, Our artist Nate Deas is a big fan. We took the appropriate actions and looked into the availability of the image. As far as the issue of us ripping off Lucky Threadz, I can assure you until this discussion, we have never heard of the site. We are still pretty new in the t-shirt world as we started as a music community and have been servicing musicians with their merchandise and designs. We have really appreciated everyone’s feedback on the issue and the very “nice” emails we have received from Lucky Threadz. Keep supporting independent music and art.
Peace,
Grant and Chris
http://www.scrappymusic.com
[Reply]
So, two guys trace a Bettie Page photo, and the guy who rips it first gets the right to be indignant about it?
Bullshit.
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Thanks to Grant and Chris for finally supplying the last piece of the puzzle. Scrappy is in the clear. Nate Deas got permission from Cherie Roberts to use her image in his design. No need for any more finger pointing at Scrappy.
Tom Burns did not get her permission so LuckyThreadz and Tom Burns are the thieves. I’m sure this will be unacceptable to the Tom Burns cultists out there despite all the evidence. Before any of you wail and moan for your beloved consider this design from Tom Burns that went up for sale at Woot on Dec. 31: http://shirt.woot.com/Friends.aspx?k=4525
In the Comments a user named Fifty9 wrote:
Is this guy an artist or a “clip-artist”? I am a graphic artist for a screen printing company and the drawing of the 80’s guy is part of a clip art graphics suit from Nova development. I don’t care if the guy uses clip art as part of a design, but at least be original about it. Page 775. Nova Development Art Explosion 600,000 – vector images > People > Faces – Images > Male 44.
Later, another user named jackola wrote:
Here it is, via yahoo image search:
http://www.keltawebconcepts.com.au/clipart/people/faces/small/Male%2044.gif
Take a look at Tom Burns’ design, then follow the link to the .gif he swiped it from. How many more times has this guy done this? How many more times will he?
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OMG! Listen to all of you cry about something so stupid!
I haven’t seen this many cyber lawyers in a long time!
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OMG! You wouldn’t think it was so stupid if your art was being ripped off. OMG! Nobody is crying. We’re trying to have an adult conversation. OMG! But since you are the same person who wrote “shouldn’t one of the companies concede?” we can just ignore your mindless babbling. OMG!
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I’m proud of you for unlocking that mystery, Shirlock.
Well.. It’s not much of an adult conversation. LT and Tom are being accused of ripping off Chery Roberts. Nowhere does Scrappy prove that they have permission to use the image at hand.
“We took the appropriate actions and looked into the availability of the image.” That sounds pretty vague to me. My interpretation ? As far as I can tell, they also noticed that Chery doesn’t mind if her photos are used, as long as she is notified. Can you guarantee that LT and Tom have not done the same?
Nope. Have they? Who cares! Is your life going to be any different tomorrow based on these findings?
Nope.
Where is this going? Nowhere.
Is this a pissing contents? Yup.
Is there a winner? Nope.
Does everyone in this thread still suck? Yup!
[Reply]
They’re both cool fucking shirts. Can’t we all just get along…I have a dream…
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