50 Artists Who Caught Companies And Fake Artists Shamelessly Copying Their Work And Selling It
It’s become nearly impossible not to stumble upon cheap knockoffs while shopping for almost anything. And it’s not only the small unknown companies that do it. Giants like Forever21, New Look, and even Disney have been caught doing the same as well.
The guys over at Bored Panda have compiled a list of people who ended up on the receiving end of these copycats, who decided to make some money out of somebody else’s hard work.
Do you have a story of your own to add to the list? Let’s talk in the comments.
#1 Art By Katie Woodger Stolen By Disney
Image source: Katie-Woodger
#2 Woman Steals Artwork From Artist Ryan Conners, Paints Flowers On Top Of It And Sells Products With It As Her Own
Image source: kilkennycat
#3 Zara Steals Tuesday Bassen’s Artwork
Image source: tuesdaybassen
#4 First Official Art Thief
Image source: dkaism
#5 Lili Chin’s Illustrations “Doggie Language” On Kohl’s T-Shirts
Image source: Lili Chin
#6 This “Artist”
Image source: EgotisticalKarp
#7 Company Stealing Artwork From Artist
Image source: gemmacorrell
#8 Forever21 Gone Wild
Image source: samlarson
#9 Ford Steals Firewatch Artwork For A Promotional Ad
Image source: Panic Inc
#10 Fashion Label Brandy Melville Knocked Off The Artist Brain Foetus By Placing Her Embroidered Piece On Their Top
Image source: brainfoetus.tumblr.com
#11 Etsy Shop Owner Using Belandkal Artwork Without Permission On Their Laser Etched Products. The Art Itself Is Pretty Ironic In This Case
Image source: youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com
#12 Original Work By J.Scott Campbell (Left) And Benjamin Spark’s Work (Right)
Image source: youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com
#13 Art Thief Whose Been Stealing And Selling Prints On Deviantart Finally Gets Spotted Out On Facebook And Called Out
Image source: alishainreallife
#14 Art Thief Posting Work All Over The Internet As His Own Is Caught Red-Handed By The Artist And Called Out
Image source: briannacherrygarcia
#15 Artist Finds Out That Her Artwork Is Used By Another Artist And Even Sold As Pillows
Image source: jean-baptistesilk.com
#16 The Underwear Club Using Artist’s Created Pattern For Bras Without Her Permission
Image source: youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com
#17 Creative Agency Is Not So Creative Apparently
Image source: isayx3
#18 Urban Outfitters Steals Artist’s Spires Work And Puts In On A Skirt
Image source: spires1776
#19 Thomas Pullin’s Original Work (Left) And Neda Rabiei’s Nockoff (Right)
Image source: Thomas Pullin
#20 Snapchat Accused Of Stealing Make-Up Artist’s Work For Selfie Filters. They Later Admitted To This Being An Issue After 3 Other Artists Were Copied
Image source: mykie_
#21 Originals Vs Rip-Offs
Image source: shoparttheft
#22 Taylor Swift Posted A Fan Art Which Later Turned Out To Be Art Thievery From Artist Ally Burguieres
Image source: Ally Burguieres
#23 Mark Conlan’s Original Work (Left) And Neda Rabiei’s Nockoff (Right)
Image source: markconlan.com
#24 Original Beekeepers Album Artwork And Apt. 13 Copy
Image source: youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com
#25 Frenchman Romain Sarkal Eloy Submits A Photoshopped Picture (Bottom) To A Contest And Wins A New Macbook Pro Laptop All Without A Permission Of Photographer Kevin Collins Who Took The Original Picture (Top)
Image source: petapixel.com
#26 Stolen Art
Image source: FelizaEstrada
#27 Artwork Stolen By Asos
Image source: Vasare
#28 Print By Hidden Eloise On A Paperchase Bag Bearing A Similar Design
Image source: hidenseek.typepad.com
#29 Samantha Beeston Had Stolen Artist’s Lauren Nassef’s Drawings (Left) And Used Them In Her Own Pattern Designs (Right)
Image source: book-by-its-cover.com
#30 Stolen Fan Art
Image source: the_mechanikal_art
#31 Art Stolen From Deviantart User Nerkin
Image source: DiGi_Valentine
#32 Company Stealing Art From Independent Artist
Image source: LaraVakarian
#33 Modern Dog, A Small Seattle Design Shop, Accused Disney And Some Of Their Partners, Including Target, Of Ripping Off One Of Its Dog-Oriented Designs To Create A T-Shirt. They Even Started A Social Media Campaign To Attract More Attention To The Issue
Image source: Moderne Dauge
#34 Forever 21 Accused Of Blatantly Stealing Valfre Designs
Image source: pastemagazine
#35 Original And The Copy
Image source: shoparttheft
#36 Original Illustration And Knock-off Version
Image source: shoparttheft
#37 Stolen Artwork
Image source: xuhxyn
#38 Band Rapper Sadat X Released An Album With Artist’s Jay Roeder Artwork On It Without His Permission
Image source: JayRoeder
#39 Viralstyle Stealing From Artists
Image source: alisdair_wood
#40 Controversial Artist Richard Prince Exhibits And Sells Screenshots Of Other Photographers’ Instagram Photos Without Permission
Image source: donaldgrahamphotography
#41 Paintings Plagiarised By Wendy Marani (Right) As Painted By Nancy Farmer (Left)
Image source: nancyfarmer.wordpress.com
#42 Artist’s Design Used On A T-Shirt
Image source: justwharton
#43 Rashidi Barrett’s Version (Right) Of Matheus Lopez Castro Work (Left). Barrett Admitted What He’d Done And Apologised On His Website
Image source: hoaxes.org
#44 The Original Of Polish Artist Adrian Knopik (Top) And Rashidi Barrett’s Version (Bottom)
Image source: hoaxes.org
#45 Chas Truslow “Killa Bart” Art On Ruvilla T-Shirts That It Marketed And Sold To Its Customers
Image source: thecatfishchronicles
#46 Northern Ireland Painter Martin Bradley Produced Almost “Exact Replicas” (Right) Of Works By American Painter Tim Rogerson (Left)
Image source: belfasttelegraph.co.uk
#47 Company Copying Artist’s Design
Image source: BHCreatives
#48 Claire’s Ripped Off This Clare Louise Owen Design
Image source: berthodgson
#49 Another Stolen Artwork
Image source: PewdsAlert
#50 Stolen Fanart
Image source: bts_ucu
Got wisdom to pour?
I am a artist & designer and I have had hundreds of retailers stealing my art designs & color schemes and attempting to pass my works off as theirs. I guess be ause I am a unknown Black female designer. I empathize with original artists who have their works stolen.
Just browsing through facebook one day I saw shirts for sale with my work on them. I hounded them to no avail, they likely blocked me, I even deleted various things from my deviant art account since that is where they stole it from. It was a step before completing the whole work, basic shapes, and the whole work was just a vector version of a sketch by another artists whom I name and note for the original sketch. I am sure they just blocked me and continued to make money off of it