Comments on The Official Blog of Polyvore.com: An Important Note About Copyright

To the people who claim that they are giving free ...

2009-04-11T18:32:00.000-07:00

To the people who claim that they are giving free exposure to artists:

Some artists may not mind having their artwork published in different places, but any artists do not want their artwork redistributed or displayed in different contexts.

Please, at least ask the artist's permission or don't use the work at all.

Hello misskittenly and anonymous,It made me feel s...

2009-04-08T00:45:00.000-07:00

Hello misskittenly and anonymous,

It made me feel so much better hearing your kind comments. It seems that for the first time on this blog that there is true dialogue with people considering one another's points of view. It really cheered me up.

I understand your point about the nasty comments to Polyvore members. I think some of the artists/photographers don't realize that many of the members innocently drag & drop images from Polyvore's Library, thinking that the images are free for them to use. There is nothing posted to notify them that the images do not belong to Polyvore and that most of them are copyrighted.

I have mentioned many times to Polyvore that this problem could be resoloved immediately if they would install a pop up javascript app. on the Drag & Drop page notifying members that most images are copyrighted and that permission must be obtained from image owners. It is such a simple solution ... but Polyvore doesn't do this because there's money to be made (or saved) by offering other people's copyrighted restricted images instead of purchasing its own stock image library to provide to members.

Polyvore is also completely aware that its members are the one taking the blame, which makes Polyvore feel secure deflecting the blame onto its members.

misskittenly ... you mention other artists who don't mind having their art used on Polyvore, but I doubt if there art is taken as frequently as mine. On Feb 10th I wrote to Polyvore to have 50 !!! instances of my images removed, then again on March 29th another 19 !! then again a few days ago on April 4th, another 5. It was when people began emailing me about the images, and when several asked who the actual artist is ... that is what made me really upset.

Although you say that no member claims the art is theirs, Polyvore automatically stamps the set "Created By" so-and-so, which makes it appear as though the Polyvore member "created" it. On many of my art pieces, the Polyvore member just puts a little stick 'em on top and then claims to have 'created' it. This causes a LOT of confusion.

I have been following this discussion closely for ...

2009-04-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

I have been following this discussion closely for about a year and a half and have seriously struggle with whether I should support or use Polyvore at all. I am an artisan who makes one of a kind, wearable items. From a marketing point of view Polyvore has helped me to promote my site and my creations because of the exposure and increased traffic/sales. That being said, I sympathize and agree with the concerns of photographers, painters and other artists who depend on the authenticity and integrity of their work in order to make a living.

As a responsible member of Polyvore I DO NOT:

-Make sets with photographers work
-Make sets with paintings
-I try not to favorite or comment positively on any sets that are using other artists work if I'm not sure they have permission to use it. All you have to do is scroll down and see where the backgrounds or embellishments came from in the list of individual components of the set.

They are many ways of making creative sets on polyvore without infringing copyright and we must take responsibility for our actions.

I am quite horrified that the Polyvore creators and staff have let this get so out of hand. You are obviously brilliant programmers and creative people as well. Find a technical and fair solution to the problem. Many have been suggested on this blog and other sites. Simply stating that artists should get in touch with you after they have been infringed upon shows a huge lack of responsibility and concern for the reputation of your site and a lack of respect to artists. I know Polyvore is essentially a fashion site, but if your recall that little incident with the yellow and black Diane Von Furstenberg dress that was copied, sold and promptly pulled out of the market by a certain large chain store, you will understand that even fashion designers are loathe to see their work copied and disseminated without their permission.

I think you are right, Gale, in a way. I am sorry ...

2009-04-03T21:04:00.000-07:00

I think you are right, Gale, in a way.

I am sorry that my comments have been a bit too agressive. I'm annoyed at myself for getting so worked up about it.

The only thing that I think you are wrong about in your latest comments above is that no Polyvore member EVER takes credit for another person's work, they simply use it to create a set.

But the reason I started to get really angry is that some of my Polyvore friends have been harrassed really cruelly by artists, accusing them of all sorts of stuff.

Most of the people who have been harassed have also been very hurt about it, like your depressed artist friends. And the worst thing is that they often used the images directly from the Polyvore library, not understanding that they had no permission to do so.

I am very sad that the Polyvore that i used to use to create sets about my feelings when I was incredibly miserable and depressed, the Polyvore that was a haven for me and people like me, has turned out to have such ugliness attached to it.

I don't know how I feel about using it anymore. But the thing that really sucks is that neither side is wholly wrong or wholly right.

I do feel strongly that the kind of hysterical, intense reaction that you are talking about - where artists take their work off line and get upset or depressed about it - is not very widely spread.

I have plenty fo artist friends and have discussed this issue with them and their feelings range from not being too happy about the idea to thinking that it would be totally fine. But none of them seemed to have the kind of revulsed, angry, stressed out reaction that you have discussed.

In fact, some of them are quite successful and yet, despite being protective about their work, none of them seemed to be totally angry and furious about the idea of being on a site such as Polyvore.

Likewise, on Etsy, (I buy from Etsy) the discussion about Polyvore seems mostly to be in the middle - artists are either ok about it or cautious/annoyed about it, but only a tiny percentage of the comments are really anti -Polyvore.

It is this small, vocal minority that have made Etsy ban Polyvore's clipper.

However it seems absolutely true that Polyvore users sometimes upload work from sites that have work by people who do not wish their images to be used.

Then the artist unfairly has to put in too much effort to get their image removed.

Other artists are happy to have their images on Polyvore. But it seems like there is little being done to help artists feel that they have a right to choose wether their work is put onto Polyvore or not. And that is of course, the crux of the issue.

Also, there are plenty of sites that actually take/ copy etc work and many of them have received far less negative publicity than Polyvore!

For me personally the only solution is to decide that from now on I will endeavour to ask permission from any artist before I use their work in a set.

I will NOT be using any image that I know to be by an artist, rather than from an online shop selling homewares or fashion etc.

i am now taking an oath that I will not knowingly cause an artist distress by using their image without permission.

misskittenly ... In my regular life, I am not the ...

2009-04-02T23:35:00.000-07:00

misskittenly ... In my regular life, I am not the least bit aggressive. It is only this particular situation that makes me so upset. Even when this image theft is brought to the attention Polyvore staff and CEO and the Polyvore member community, and in light of each person having agreed to adhere to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act , they still continue to freely help themselves to copyrighted images.

When people join Polyvore, they are required to click on a Member Agreement Policy, which states that they agree not to contravene any copyright laws .... and yet, both Polyvore and its members openly and brazenly ignore this law because they think that the victims are from outside their country so it would be difficult for an ordinary person l to launch a lawsuit. They therefore ignore the Law.

Communication on the internet is not face to face so people sometimes forget that others are REAL human beings. They develop a kind of callous anonymity (as can be seen by so many of the anonymous comments in this thread) ... they hide behind this faceless facade and behave towards other people in ways that they would NEVER dream of if they were face to face.

I am quite certain that if I were standing face to face with many of the people who have taken my images, or who have condoned it on Polyvore or on this Blog, they would probably behave a lot differently towards me and my images. I doubt if they'd steal my copyrighted images and chop them up and say they’d “created them” if they were standing in the same room.

This lack of caring and this “I am the lord of all I can get my hands on” kind of attitude makes me upset and also makes me very sad. I know of many others on Flickr and deviantart who have sunk into a depression about it, many have locked up their images and galleries and no longer share them online, which means that a lot of brilliant talent and inspiration has been lost, directly due to this kind of theft. This makes me more determined to continue to try to inform people about copyright and image theft, and I will continue until this issue is resolved.

gale - i have not vigorously tried to discredit yo...

2009-03-31T00:05:00.000-07:00

gale -

i have not vigorously tried to discredit you. i have vigorously debated your comments.

to put me in with bernie madoff, is hilarious.

because it seems more to me that you could easily be put in with that brand of person who is agressive over their rights to the point where their rights override any kind of practical, decent human behaviour.

i think you should definitely go to the lawyers. because if your story is true it is really important that you have your livelihood back.

but i am not some ruthless, cruel person out to discredit you, i am simply exercising my right to free speech. i simply don't totally believe you. that is all. i do welcome the chance to be affected by the evidence but i don't agree with baseless badmouthing.

misskittenly ... I'm not sure what to make of your...

2009-03-29T15:44:00.000-07:00

misskittenly ... I'm not sure what to make of your words because since January on this thread you have made vigorous efforts to discredit my comments, and also the comments of all copyright owners whose images have been stolen and came to this blog seeking some justice.

I have kept all the emails from people who made enquiries about purchasing prints of my art, but who then see my images in Polyvore and email back to ask who actually made the art. I will give each of those letters to any Lawyer who takes on this Legal Case. I will share all screenshots, images, emails.

I will even give a Lawyer copes of correspondence I've had with Pasha Sadri, Polyvore's own CEO, who has ignored my emails since February 10, 2009, giving me the excuse "i am on a trip with limited access to the internet." (those are his exact words, verbatim). It's now been well over a month and he has still not replied. This goes against the Laws set out in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which says that a company is required to respond with 48 hours.

But, misskittenly, why would I hand over this evidence to a person like you, who has tried to rip apart everything I say?

In your comment you make it sound as though other people whose images have been stolen, if they don't have a good reason for protesting this theft, then they somehow don't deserve their images, that others should have the right to steal them. Are you forgetting that there is a Law that says this is illegal? Or are you like so many people in today's society thinking that because you think the Law can't reach you, then it's OK to break it? That's what I call "Bernie Madoff syndrome". People who openly, brazenly, blatantly thumb their noses at the Law because they think no one can catch them.

As I've stated before and will say again, my ability to make a living is being directly impacted negatively by Polyvore allowing its members to help itself to my images. I am requesting publicly, and have requested privately in my emails to copyright@polyvore.com that they cease and desist connecting to ANY OF MY COPYRIGHTED IMAGES online, and that they ensure my images are NOT being offered up from Polyvore's Image Library.

To Gale Franey-It is clear you are grossly exagger...

2009-03-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

To Gale Franey-

It is clear you are grossly exaggerating or perhaps fabricating Polyvore's negative impact on your art sales. One of your primary complaints against Polyvore is that its members use your images without giving you ANY credit. So then, how are these 'prospective customers' able to find and identify your 'mutilated' artwork (on PV) and thus send an you email query? I mean, never mind the complete inanity of suggesting potential clients browse Polyvore for your work- HOW are these people identifying your work, without your name attached to it? And if they can recognize your images on sight alone, then there should be no question that YOU are the original artist, not the 'Polyvore hack'.

I agree that it is wrong and unfair that your images are continually added to Polyvore against your wishes. But is it honestly worth obsessing over? I seriously think you are giving Polyvore too much credit- I don't believe it has as much influence as you are suggesting. Bottom line, your work is absolutely AMAZING, and nothing (certainly not Polyvore!) should distract you from your talent.

In response to Gale Franey,If polyvore's set up is...

2009-03-25T22:50:00.000-07:00

In response to Gale Franey,

If polyvore's set up is actually taking money from out of your pockets:

If as an artist you are indeed losing money from polyvore's illegal use of your images (your products), I 100% support the fact that you should take polyvore and other sites who are guilty of this type of action to court.

If you are losing money, losing income, this is really unfair and i unequivocally support your right to protect your livelihood.

I would love to see the excerpts from your customers' emails stating that they are confused etc about your work being displayed in an ugly/unsightly way, and evidence that this is actually directly or indirectly losing you sales.

Do you have sales figures? Do you have direct evidence?

Brad Templeton is considered an expert in online copyright issues and is probably stating the same thing that a lawyer would say.
Please Google him.

What he is saying, Gale, is that someone like you may actally have a case against polyvore if you are indeed losing money and a livelihood because of polyvore's misuse/breach of copyright.

I believe strongly in honest dabate and in transparency.

I would really love to see your evidence that you have lost money from polyovore's actions, as i am certain other polyvore users would.

This would help sway people's opinions in your favour and help create a culture in polyvore of self policing against copyright infringements.

If you can actually furinsh proof that this is the case i will be happy to post that information on my sets, with links etc, and help spread the word that this is happening to you.

IF that is the case, everyone should support you to protect your living.

The funny thing is, there aren't many artists who actually have been or felt directly, negatively affected by polyvore so i am suprised by the direct and negative
affect on the sales of your art. Some people, in fact, feel that they have benefitted from polyvore's use of their works, with sales increasing.

There is a lot of talk about negative effects, but the uproar is strangely empty of direct evidence to support people's fear that they may lose sales.

because of my natural sceptisism, I am unsure as to the truth of your claims of loss of income. But I am totally open to my opinion being changed! Maybe it needs to be!

There are too few artists who can make a living from art as it is, and as someone who wants to protect an artist's right to protect their livelihood, I
would be really really happy to use your proof of loss of income to change opinions that are like mine. I don't want to hold onto ideas that are false, that hurt you.

But the problem i have is that a lot of artists' hatred of polyvore seems to be idealogical only.

They dont want to share their images because, well, they don't want to. And yes, they do have the right to feel this way, and polyovore respects that by deleting images that have been illegally copied. But I am just uncomfortable with that idealogical standpoint putting an end to something that is so beneficial to so many users, who use polyvore to share, communicate, and feel close to other people.

So Gale, please, I really want to see the proof that i am wrong (I will feel silly for my sceptisism, and I absolutely promise to endeavor to make sure all of my polyvore friends are able to understand the problems you are having, fully.)

Please don't think i am being sarcastic. it's just that i believe strongly that both sides of the debate should be given all the relevant information in order to be able to view the truth, fairly.

anonymous ... you say that the people viewing the ...

2009-03-24T19:24:00.000-07:00

anonymous ... you say that the people viewing the "Most Popular Art" section are Polyvore members. If that is so, then why do I receive emails each week from prospective customers who are interested in purchasing my art, but who are confused and send me a link to my images that have been mutilated on Polyvore, asking whether I'm the original artist or this 'polyvore hack' is. Potential customers sometimes turn away because when they see my work all over the place, cut to pieces, made to look cheap with tacky stick 'ems pasted on top. This completely lowers the value of my art.

misskittenly ... you are quoting some Brad Templeton person, who is merely stating his own opinion. He makes no mention of any specific court cases. Anyone's opinion or speculation regarding copyright would hold just as much weight.

My sole income is made by working as a digital artist / illustrator. This is how I pay my rent and my bills. When people steal my art, especially when they mutilate it, they cheapen the value of my art, which has a direct adverse impact on my ability to survive. Seems like Polyvore and its members don’t care, likely because they realize I’m a living, breathing human being trying to make a living, trying to survive. Instead they just see my words on a page, and think that all these words I’m writing is just some game. Trying to communicate here in this forum takes a lot of my valuable time that should be spent creating art. It saps my creative energy, it makes me depressed.

Regarding the subject of money mentioned by several anonymous comments, POLYVORE DOES MAKE MONEY !!!!! directly by offering up copyrighted images freely from its Image Library. It provides this 'cool stuff' to keep its members interested in using this website. Without this copyrighted content, there would be very little cool stuff for members to put in their collages and they'd quickly become bored with Polyvore's offerings.

This is why Polyvore doesn't speak up about copyright infringement and theft, and instead encourages its members to help themselves to copyrighted content that it connects to directly from its Library. Afterwards, when people like myself become frustrated and irate because my images are stolen over and over and over ... Polyvore stands back in the shadows and lets the members suffer the brunt of this. Polyvore deflects blame from its own shoulders and hides behind its members.

This can clearly be seen in this forum. Nadia earlier stated that both she, Pasha and Jess are all moderators of this Blog, yet they have not once left a comment to clarify copyright, as per the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that by Law they are required to follow ... they allow all this confusion to continue, because all the while it does, their pockets are filling with more and more money.

But because the majority of Polyvore members who are teenagers don't really read or understand the actual crux of this thread, they continue to be used as pawns.

tessa c, i am the same anonymous that you just att...

2009-03-21T06:19:00.000-07:00

tessa c, i am the same anonymous that you just attacked, saying ,
'maybe i am giving you too much credit'.

actually i am 29. how old are you?

your rudeness makes no difference as the point still stands: polyvore users are unlikely to make money from this site. if a f**king advertising agency DID find the user's work to be attractive enough to wish to use in an advertising campaign, the polyvore user and the agency would then have to seek PERMISSION to use the artist's or 'item' owner's work in the advertisement, or otherwise this would be a CLEAR BREACH of copyright because both the advertiser and the polyvore artist would be making money off the collage used in the advertisement.

dont use some far fetched hypothetical situation to try and criticise polyvore.

have you tried printing the sets out? the quality of the images is actually so low that nobody would ever take that image and use it in a serious advertising campaign; it would have to be re done in another design application! the resolution is only good enough quality FOR RECREATIONAL USE.

please don't change your tune now and change your debate just because someone had the audacity to challenge your comments.

i hope you grumpy artists all stop victimising the 13-17 year olds that, tessa c, you just stated that you know full well are a large part of the polyvore user community.

"the original polyvore user, will be getting all t...

2009-03-19T15:34:00.000-07:00

"the original polyvore user, will be getting all the money and not the artist whose image she/he "borrowed" from."

"but the original polyvore user cannot get any money from making a set on polyvore."

wow i can't believe i have to break it down for you. no polyvore.com can't give money to it's users collages. but an OUTSIDE SOURCE like an INDEPENDENT ADVERTISING AGENCY representing a fashion designer or a magazine might see a collage through a google search and like it and may contact the polyvore user to draw up a contract to sell it. or if they're more internet savvy go directly to this site and do the same process.

THERE ARE TONS OF ADVERTISING AGENCIES IN THE WORLD TODAY competing for our attention. the advertising industry, as you well know is highly competitive, you can't go 5 feet without running into an ad on the bus, your tv, subway tunnels, sidewalks, people walking around wearing costumes, people attacking you with fliers, radio jingles etc.

maybe anonymous i am giving you too much credit. a large amount of polyvore users are between the ages of 10-17. how old are you? if i need to explain myself better i'd be happy to. but then if you're more towards age 16 or higher you know how to use google. look up words you don't know!

also gayle, you have de-contextualised what is goi...

2009-03-18T18:43:00.000-07:00

also gayle, you have de-contextualised what is going on in the polyvore community in order to accuse members of plagiarism.

the people who most often see the artwork that is 'most popular in art' are other polyvore members, who understand that the art sets appearing on polyvore are amalgamations of other work/textures/items and objects found on the net. this is a given.

so at no time is any polyvore user attempting to plagarise your work.
polyvore members take credit for the look of the set. yes some people do very little except stick a few 'pasties' on the picture, but this site still allows people to see the 'ingredients' of the set to see the original artwork. so everyone is able to see that the polyvore member has done very little. it is akin to a kid at school taking a magazine picture and sticking glitter on it and handing it up for art homework. it might look great! but it is totally obvious to everyonethat it is not their work; it is just a magazine pic.
if your pic is used in this way, it might not not have a link on the ingredients list, but it is a given that it comes from another source and isn't actually made by the polyvore person.

to tessa c: you have said
"the original polyvore user, will be getting all the money and not the artist whose image she/he "borrowed" from."
but the original polyvore user cannot get any money from making a set on polyvore.

I HAVE BEEN READING ALL THIS WITH INTEEST. THIS IS...

2009-03-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

I HAVE BEEN READING ALL THIS WITH INTEEST. THIS IS SOME INFORMATION I HAVE READ ON THE ARTICLE: 10 BIG MYTHS ABOUT COPYRIGHT EXPLAINED" BY THE ASTUTE AND ELOQUENT BRAD TEMPLETON

http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

"While copyright law makes it technically illegal to reproduce almost any new creative work (other than under fair use) without permission, if the work is unregistered and has no real commercial value, it gets very little protection. The author in this case can sue for an injunction against the publication, actual damages from a violation, and possibly court costs. Actual damages means actual money potentially lost by the author due to publication, plus any money gained by the defendant. But if a work has no commercial value, such as a typical E-mail message or conversational USENET posting, the actual damages will be zero. Only the most vindictive (and rich) author would sue when no damages are possible, and the courts don't look kindly on vindictive plaintiffs, unless the defendants are even more vindictive."

THAT IS ALL I WANT TO SAY.

I agree with the 2 comments above. Gayle Franey sa...

2009-03-13T19:58:00.000-07:00

I agree with the 2 comments above.

Gayle Franey said that the sets that are poular in art are giving credit to the polyvore member as if that member made the art themselves.

But we know that the art in the set was not made by the poly artist. The art was clipped or used from the library.

Nobody on polyv. takes credit for the image itself.
It is how you layer the images together that people are commenting on.

So Gayle, it IS true that the layout is the thing.

The very fact that you can see a list of what 'items' went into a set, means that nobody could EVER think that the artwork created on polyvore is made from pictures that were originally drawn or created by a poly artist. It is a given that the sets are made exclusively by layering images together in the polyvore editor thing.

Anonymous, your head is buried in the sand. If y...

2009-03-13T18:14:00.000-07:00

Anonymous, your head is buried in the sand. If you haven't noticed, the collages that are created using my copyrighted art, owned by me, without my permission, on each Polyvore web page, clearly says "Created by Polyvore Member" ... it DOES NOT say, art created by Gale Franey.

My images have been used on Polyvore more than 70 times !! Not even once did a Polyvore member mention "Art created by Gale Franey with a link back to my website". The person who creates the collage, by merely pasting a few stick-ems' on top of my art, then takes full credit for the work, saying thank to people who leave comments saying how beautiful the art is. Not once did any of the 70 Polyvore members who stole my art clarify that the art wasn't created by them. Each and every time they happily accept all the accolades being heaped on the 'art'. This is not only deceptive, fraudulent, but most importantly it’s ILLEGAL according to the very copyright policy (Millennium Copyright Act) that Polyvore purports to follow. This is against the Law. For some reason, if a person were to plagarize a writer’s composition or book, everyone understands that this is not only tacky, tasteless, shameful, idiotic, but also illegal. But for some reason the members of Polyvore do not make a similar connection to taking credit for art created by someone else. Time to take your heads out of the sand people. Pretending not to see or not to understand doesn’t make the theft less illegal.

ok the last poster towards me obviously doesn't ge...

2009-03-13T17:48:00.000-07:00

ok the last poster towards me obviously doesn't get the points we are trying to make. i read all of your words now read mine.

yes i understand that this is a collage site. the issue is not about the collages themselves. the issue is if and when a marketer will see the potential for this web site (hello, it's FASHION) to pick up someone's "artwork" and sell it to a fashion designer who in turn will most likely put it in a magazine as an ad. or the marketer wants to see this work in an art gallery. now the original photographer who has spent years learning technique in photoshop, weeks setting up the idea, and hours working in the studio or in the field shooting the photograph deserves credit and the money that will go to this ad or art piece in a gallery.

the original polyvore user, will be getting all the money and not the artist whose image she/he "borrowed" from. the only way this can work is if the polyvote user links back to the site she/he pasted from. but polyvore.com doesn't always do so. it knowingly steals and doesn't educate its users about it. it happened with that obama image and it will happen here too because some of the stuff on here are more dynamic collages than others based on a white background. get it now? this is wrong!

when the polyvore community sees that someone has ...

2009-03-13T06:55:00.000-07:00

when the polyvore community sees that someone has done something 'popular in art', they are looking at the way the polyvore member has embellished and pasted things atop another artwork. they may not know who the artist of the original work is but they certainly know it was not the polyvore user unless the polyvore user stated this explicitly or if the link to the artwork website where it was clipped on has their name in it. even if the list of items contained on the right hand side of the set page doesn't provide a link to the bl**dy owner's site, nobody assumes that the picture was imported by the person who made the art. this site has been called a scrap booking site and this is correct; pictures are always assumed to be imported from a third party not uploaded by the artist.

why do peopel keep insisting that polyvore artists are taking credit for the images they use or uplod?
that is not true. everyone knows we dont make the images,w e just import them.

gale, polyvore members ARE NOT PEOPLE WHO ARE BREA...

2009-03-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

gale,

polyvore members ARE NOT PEOPLE WHO ARE BREAKING INTO YOUR HOME AND STEALING YOUR BELONGINGS. SO THEY DO IN FACT HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE TREATED WITH RESPECT.

IF YOU WANT TO LABEL THE ARTIST IN THIS SITUATION A VICTIM, YOU ALSO NEED TO REMEMBER THAT A POLYVORE USER WHO USES YOUR IMAGE WITHOUT REALISING THAT THE LIBRARY THEY PULLED IT FROM IS FULL OF COPYWRITED IMAGES, IS ALSO A VICTIM WHEN THEY ARE SENT RUDE AND HATEFUL LETTERS.

you do need to retain the user's respect if you want them to sympathise. are you a human being?

i am begginning to wonder where your compassion is when i see your relentless condemnation and demonising of ingnorant users who become, like you, victims of polyovre's policies.

gale you seem to have a lot of time to go onto blogs of all kinds to spread misinformation about polyvore, and worse. (i have seen your name & comments on people's blogs - in some cases you have actually tried to start hate campains against individual polyvore users, attempting to demonise them for your images being used, and blaming them even if they were unaware that there was a copywrite on the image in polyvore's library, by providing links to individual offenders polyvore accounts. one such blog moderator actually deleted this link because he thought it was unfair of you to name names.)

i think it is ridiculous and cruel that a (rightfully) upset artist would name individual polyvore users and attack them in public. you need to contain your anger and direct it to the people who run the site - after all, you have actually stated that you are aware that it is polyvore's fault for not educating their users and for inviting them to clip stuff to polyvore, as if they have special permission to do so.

seriously, grow up and toughen up and fight a fair fight for the things you believe in.

Anonymous ... you are right in that most Polyvore ...

2009-03-12T13:22:00.000-07:00

Anonymous ... you are right in that most Polyvore members are unaware that they are stealing the images. This is because Polyvore conceals the fact by offering up copyrighted images from its own Image Library, which it invites members to freely drag & drop these "Items" into their sets, with no warning message regarding copyright. Polyvore IS MAKING A PROFIT from commissions from its merchant sites, and it is our “Items” that keep Polyvore’s Image Library looking relevant, esthetically pleasing, full of cool things for members to play with. Without our “Items”, Polyvore’s offerings would be scant and boring. Polyvore is directly profiting from the continued use of our stolen art and photographs.

It is not correct when you say that Polyvore is only about "layouts". On Polyvore's own Explore webpage http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/explore there is an entire section devoted to "Popular in Art" where copyrighted art such as the ones created by me, owned by me, is freely stolen, a few stick-ems pasted on top, then the Polyvore member takes full credit for "creating" the art, the art's original title and meaning is entirely changed. They DO NOT mention the artist's name, nor do they link back to the artist's website. They fraudulently accept compliments on the art and take complete credit for having "created it". The set clearly says "created by Polyvore member's name".

Polyvore, the company and its staff, make no efforts to enlighten members because they feel confident that they can hide behind the members and allow the members to take the blame and the brunt of victims’ anger, instead of themselves (Polyvore – the company) taking responsibility for this blatant continued image theft, created and encouraged by their own website’s design and interface.

You say you've lost sypathy for the victims because we display so much 'hysterical response' and you would like the victims to be more polite. Tell me, if someone broke into your apartment again and again and stole your belongings over and over, would you be entirely polite, and say to them, "please, dear sir, could you kindly refrain from walking away with my valued possession" ... or would you speak more emphatically?

Besides, the victims of Polyvore's continued theft, are not looking for "sympathy". We are looking for this matter to be corrected and resolved once and for all. If the issue had been fixed, by Polyvore discontinuing to connect to copyrighted image data bases and by posting clear warnings on the Drag & Drop web page, then our responses would have never escalated to this level, and all would be peaceful and cheery on Polyvore.

napster disappeared but limewire and the like have...

2009-03-06T23:46:00.000-08:00

napster disappeared but limewire and the like have popped up in its place.

napster dealt almost exclusively in 'electronic shoplifting'.

a song is either bought or illegally downloaded. so its totally clear it's shoplifting to illegally download it.

but is it the same thing for an image?
i guess so. but the problem is that people are totally aware that they are stealing when they download a song, but they are not aware that they are stealing when they 'borrow' an image.

so we need to push the internet community to become more aware of what the real issues are concerning image copyrite.

therefore we need to stop victimising people for not understanding the law and start educating them.

hey tessa, i understand that artists need to prote...

2009-03-06T22:17:00.000-08:00

hey tessa,

i understand that artists need to protect their own work from unfair use that takes money and credit fromt he artist...

but about the case you spoke of above; a well known artist reproduced, without permission, a respected photographer's image of obama in an artwork and then made tons of money from it.... this is so differnt from what is going on in polyvore.

in polyvore the image is not reproduced as art owned by the polyvore user, but rather the image is'scrapbooked'... the layout is the thing...

in no way is the polyvore user ever taking credit for the image they have laid out / scrapbooked..

polyvore sets are not done for money but are rather a hobby, which nets no profit for the polyvore user. so polyvore users are not plagiarising work to be sold as their own. that is not happening. they are simply creating scrapbooking layouts for fun... which is a totally different thing than the story that tessa just told about the artist and the photographer.

i dont know what the rules are for the polyvore team, wether they are breaking any copyright laws or not, by allowing polyvore users to clip and paste images in their sets....

but i suspect that if they really were, they would be shut down by now, judging by the fury of certain artists.

i have to say, the cruel hysterical responses of some artists to some very very small, petty infringements, have drained the sympathy i used to feel for them.

polyvore users have been abused and insulted, called thieves and all manner of ugly things, and often they were not even aware that they were doing anything wrong initially. often when informed of the situation polyvore users are happy to remove pictures from their sets.

it might be the case that polyvore hasn't given enough information to their users that they are not allowed to 'clip' images indiscriminately....

so if you are an artist who is not happy to have your work on polyvore sets, at least keep your conversations with users friendly and cordial, remembering that these users are simply engaging in a hobby, not seeking to plagiarise your work or take money or credit from you... we are not taking an image and reproducing it and calling it our own.

Tessa ... Thank you so much for information about ...

2009-03-05T22:55:00.000-08:00

Tessa ... Thank you so much for information about that case and about this issue. I will check out the article.

And today, once again I find my art being used 9 MORE TIMES on Polyvore:

http://www.polyvore.com/gallop_on_horse_woman_energy/thing?id=674014

http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=6471200

http://www.polyvore.com/into_wild/set?id=1017445

http://www.polyvore.com/white_horse_rae/set?id=6743589

http://www.polyvore.com/for_you_your_white_horse/set?id=6817411

http://www.polyvore.com/smart_snow_white/set?id=1804961

http://www.polyvore.com/princess_rider/set?id=616021

http://www.polyvore.com/untitled/set?id=801327

http://www.polyvore.com/indian_pic/set?id=983154

These are different ones from the 9 that I listed yesterday, so a TOTAL OF 18 MORE OF MY IMAGES STOLEN BY POLYVORE !!!! And this is after they've already removed more than 50 uses of my images !!!

The links above show many Polyvore members take my art, then stamp a ready-made brush stroke in the corner, then post it AS THEIR OWN !! Then they sit their like complete frauds and take credit and accept all the praise for the art, as though they were the artist !! This particular one I made of my daughter. It has very specific meaning. It took more than 100 hours in Photoshop to create ... that is a few weeks of work, people! (and that doesn't include the time it took to set up the photo shoot, take the photograph, and the years it took to learn and master Photoshop.

Polyvore is making no effort whatsoever to stem this enormous theft, in fact the company is complicit in that it offers up MY Copyrighted Art from it's own image library and it continues to invite its members to freely drag and drop my images into their sets. People, take off the blinders. This is blatant theft. Plain and simple.

gale if you haven't seen my comment before here it...

2009-03-05T11:43:00.000-08:00

gale if you haven't seen my comment before here it is:
http://blog.polyvore.com/2008/01/important-note-about-copyright.html?showComment=1235670360000#c2657662218257890897

i was listening to chicago npr and they were interviewing a white house photographer who took the famous image of obama. this other artist, who is well known made tons of money by making an illustration based off this photograph, i'm sure you've seen it:
http://tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:xidthAOz-zFSIM:http://www.hanway.co.uk/images/obama-yes-we-can_04-NOV-08.jpg

anyway, the white house photographer sued the artist and now is getting credit for his image. if he can do it so can you: sue these [expletive deleted]!

more info on the case from npr here: wbez.org

anonymous, if what you are saying about mijori is ...

2009-03-04T13:44:00.000-08:00

anonymous, if what you are saying about mijori is true, then that gives some ease of mind, because mijori's statements on copyright were completely incorrect, and totally taunted people whose art continues to be stolen by Polyvore.

Even my email to Pasha Sadri, Polyvore's CEO (and cc'ed to copyright@polyvore.com) has been not been answered, it has now been 22 days !! And by Law, as per the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, and as per Polyvore's own company policy, emails and complaints regarding image theft are to be responded to within 48 hours !! Why has 22 days passed with no reply to my very specific questions regarding contined theft of my images?

I believe that Polyvore is afraid to state anything publicly, because it knows that it faces a very precarious legal situation.

Despite me emailing Polyvore regarding 50 !! of my stolen images, which took numerous emails to Polyvore before they were finally taken down ... and just days later, my images are again BACK ON THE WEBSITE !

http://www.polyvore.com/world_fairies/set?id=5738375

http://www.polyvore.com/recogedor_mayo_2008/thing?id=2718304

http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/thing?id=5790715

http://www.polyvore.com/we_heart_it_visual_bookmark/thing?id=3939994

http://www.polyvore.com/in_forest/set?id=4659895

http://www.polyvore.com/the_enchanted_forest/set?id=4215186

http://www.polyvore.com/the_enchanted_forest/set?id=4215186

http://www.polyvore.com/thorns/set?id=3797395

http://www.polyvore.com/it_can_not_wait/set?id=5023706

This is beyond upsetting to find my stolen art being offered freely on this website, over and over, never ending.