This Should Never Happen

I just read a news post from Tim at CAD-Comic: Apparently, he searched the web for outfit ideas when creating a new character, and inadvertently based one off of some other artist’s painting. Since then it sounds like somebody came after him for “infringement,” and he’s gone back and changed every comic containing the artwork. I might not be Tim’s biggest fan, but this is the kind of situation that should never, ever happen. It’s yet another frustrating example of how anachronistic monopoly privileges allow creators (actually, “rights-holders”) to run roughshod over others’ liberty.

From Tim’s post:

I looked at a lot of pictures from the punk scene looking for clothes that matched my idea for the character. I found one I liked in a blog article about punk concerts. I used this outfit for Abby.

Tim Buckley

This is entirely normal artist behavior. Note when he says he “used” this outfit, he means that he drew it, himself, on his own character.

However, the picture I used was not a photograph, it was a painting. A digital pinup of a punk girl. The artist was not credited in the article and I regret to say that I did not exercise due diligence. I did not think to seek out the artist or ask him permission…It may not have been a character in a story, it may not have invented the style of dress, but as artwork it still deserves respect and consideration. Respect and consideration that I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t offer.

Tim Buckley

This excerpt describes a situation that should never, ever need to happen. An artist does not need to ask anybody permission to create art of his own. He is drawing his own art based on what somebody else did, which suggests that he’d have a pretty strong Fair Use claim were somebody to actually claim infringement. And although the law is much less clear in these areas, I believe that it should never be “infringement” even if he had copied the image and used it in a collage, or put it in a gallery of inspirational works on his site.

When you release your work to others, it “belongs” to everybody who experiences it, and they can do whatever they want with it. There will be some who try and pass another’s work off as their own, but that ultimately destroys their own credibility when people find out the truth (and they will find out). In my experience, however, most of the people “copying” or “infringing” are like Tim, and they’re doing their own work.

As I’ve said before, sponsoring the continued expansion of permission culture is extraordinarily damaging to the creative community. If indeed this artist encouraged another ill-conceived rush to stifle the expression of others, he’s made himself an embarrassment. None of those infringing activities diminish his ability to make money from what he does, and if he can’t figure that out, he’s not only doing it wrong, he is unworthy of being called an artist.