Discussion:
What is the name of your state?LOUISIANA
I am an artist / painter of abstract paintings on canvas. I have been selling my paintings localy and on eBay for past 3 years. I have had several eBay sellers copy my art, claim it their own and selling on eBay. Most are close and somewhat similar in composition / color etc. In these situations I have contacted the seller and they simply removed the listed painting before they were sold. In one instance I had to report the seller to eBay for repeated copies and eBay responded by removing the sellers listing.
Recently I was informed by one of my customers of another eBay seller copying my paintings. This time the paintings are an exact copy, in every way, side by side they are the same. In the listings the artist is claiming the paintings are originals of theirs and signed by them. One has just recently sold, another auction will end in the next several days.
Both of these painting are copies of my paintings which have sold in the past on eBay.
My first reaction was to contact the seller, but the seller appears to be a gallery which is listing several different works by various artist. Questions are..
1. What should my first actions be? Contact the gallery? artist? eBay?
2. What compensation can I claim from the seller (gallery) or artist for the sale of the copied art? And how do I go about doing so?
I have all my documentation of the sale on my originals, pictures, eBay auction #s, invoices etc. and contact info of the buyers.
Answer:
What is the name of your state?LOUISIANA
I am an artist / painter of abstract paintings on canvas. I have been selling my paintings localy and on eBay for past 3 years. I have had several eBay sellers copy my art, claim it their own and selling on eBay. Most are close and somewhat similar in composition / color etc. In these situations I have contacted the seller and they simply removed the listed painting before they were sold. In one instance I had to report the seller to eBay for repeated copies and eBay responded by removing the sellers listing.
Recently I was informed by one of my customers of another eBay seller copying my paintings. This time the paintings are an exact copy, in every way, side by side they are the same. In the listings the artist is claiming the paintings are originals of theirs and signed by them. One has just recently sold, another auction will end in the next several days.
Both of these painting are copies of my paintings which have sold in the past on eBay.
My first reaction was to contact the seller, but the seller appears to be a gallery which is listing several different works by various artist. Questions are..
1. What should my first actions be? Contact the gallery? artist? eBay?
2. What compensation can I claim from the seller (gallery) or artist for the sale of the copied art? And how do I go about doing so?
I have all my documentation of the sale on my originals, pictures, eBay auction #s, invoices etc. and contact info of the buyers. What you should do depends on what you want to do, and what you expect to have happen. If you are having success with eBay's VERO program, maybe you continue with that. You could contact the gallery itself, maybe they don't realize they are selling counterfeit or knockoff artworks. A letter from an attorney might get more notice than a letter from you. As far as compensation, you can ask, but they cannot be compelled to pay you unless you sue for copyright infringement -- if you plan on going that route, you will definitely want to talk with an attorney. A copyright infringement suit is also a way to obtain injunctive relief, such as a court order for them to stop selling copies of your work.