The Looking Spoon, a great spot for Photoshopped humor and commentary, is getting ripped off. He did a post:
The Looking Spoon Being Plagiarized on this guy stealing his graphics and slapping his own name on someone else's work (think: Joe Biden). So I cruised over there to see what else might be found. (This guy is probably getting the most traffic he's ever gotten with just people checking out what a lying weasel he is.) I saw a lot of graphics that I'd swear I'd seen some where else before, (just with someone else's name on it). I think the clincher was a Michael Ramirez cartoon he published with his own name on it. He cropped off Ramirez's name (and copyright notice), changed the font of the caption, and stuck a border on it with his URL. Really creative! /sarc
Compare
this*:
with
this:
I've got no problem in sharing the good stuff. My own policy is stated up on the sidebar.
Any graphics I cobble together that have my blog address on them are fair game, so feel free to use whatever you like. A simple link in return is all we ask. (Credit or blame where due.)
Taking the credit for someone else's work is intellectually dishonest and lazy. Plus, it deprives the real creator of the work of the traffic and recognition that they deserve. Maybe Lee Vanden Brink is happy to be the Joe Biden of blogging. But if he's not clever or talented enough to come up with this stuff on his own, he should give credit to those who are.
I dropped MR a note just in case he wants to take notice of the little plagiarist.
* Don't be surprised if he's pulled the material.
Update : I checked back to see if he'd pulled the plagiarized Ramirez cartoon, and mirabile dictu, he had! But, as I said, I have a screen shot of the dirty deed if Mr. Ramirez's lawyers need some red meat.
Posts
A photo of mine was ripped off by a photographer on Flickr a few years ago. It's unfortunate that the internet is similar to the Wild West, there are no regulations when it comes to this kind of thing. We're still operating under the "don't do anything that you wouldn't want done to you" rule. There's not much you can do about it but expose these guys, so their credibility and likeability goes right out the window.
ReplyDeleteMichael Ramirez's style is so distinct - I can't believe this bonehead thought that he was going to get away with a crop job! * shakes head *
Well, I consider myself, (along with Emma Peel), to be a "talented amateur". Mike Ramirez, on the other hand, does this for a living. He and his syndicate (Ooh! That sounds ominous!) might take a dimmer view of people poaching their intellectual property.
DeleteI mean, it takes either great balls or greater stupidity to crop the © off someone's work and stick your own name on it.
I'm going with douchebag. I was looking at some of his pages and it seems as though he's been using the web as a one stop shop for endless material to ripoff for quite some time. You have a style - there's a certain way you approach and execute what you do - it's recognizable. His graphics are just too varied to be done by one person.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Mike and the boys with have a "sit-down" with this guy!
I agree with you on the question of "style". Even though one may borrow certain elements in the course of producing satire, there is a similar approach or style (or even maybe a preferred typeface) that unifies your work. No two pieces this guy posts (except the ones he stole from the same guy) have any of that unifying style.
DeleteIf Mr. Ramirez wants, I'll hold him down while the rest of the boys break his kneecaps...figurative speaking, of course!
So you're an enforcer?
DeleteMore of a...wait for it...avenger.
DeletePlease tell me that you own a black patent leather ensemble, that would send me in a state of girlish knee-knocking glee!
ReplyDeleteIf I could find someone like Emma to fill it, I'd buy one in a New York minute!
DeleteThanks for the support Proof! I agree with Crankipants that the internet is like the wild west (thank God, that means there is still freedom). That means we are all on the honor system...and anyone who doesn't want to honor that should be squashed like a bug.
ReplyDeleteWell, at the very least, this guy's name is mud...at least for the present. (Glenn Greenwald seems to have weathered most of his shame for his sock puppeting a handful of years back.)
DeleteThey're going after Vanden Brink over at I Own the World, too, only they're talking about monetary damages, as well. The link there is http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=130825