The claim that using a tiny thumbnail in a news article is akin to using an entire work is completely unreasonable and incorrect in the eyes of the law. Sean’s use of the thumbnail was completely legal as Fair Use under Section 107 of the Copyright Act. In addition, many of your claims are flatly incorrect and inconsistent with well-decided laws within the United States.

Sean attributed you when you identified the work as your own. It was more than he had to do, but he wanted to give you credit as soon as he was able. We are not benefiting from your work in the same way that you benefit from it. We used it to illustrate a point, rather than benefit from the aesthetic value of the artwork itself. No one is reading the article due to your work that wouldn’t have read it if your image were not there. I suggest that you read up on Section 107, because you should recognize that by creating anything, anyone has the right to reproduce it without your permission so long as the use is consistent with Section 107 of the Copyright Act. We have used it in such a way, and therefore did not and do not require your permission.

In the end, your correspondence with respect to this issue has resulted in us removing the thumbnail and therefore the attribution on which you rely so heavily. I wish you a long and successful career . . . but no, you will not get an apology.

I’m not going to argue with you. I will say that I agree absolutely that the image should have been attributed to you from the beginning. I apologize for that and I did so as soon as you brought it to my attention. Then I voluntarily took it down because you seemed offended and I have no desire to go against the wishes of the artist of a work.

Thanks for your comments.

i can draw whatever and who ever i want, that is the freedom of art. it’s just if the copyright belongs to some ones eles i can’t sell prints or draw a comic about it. what i did is ok because i’m not making money. it was a fan pic. but i still own the rights to the illustration itself. not even J.D. Salinger could have used that image without asking if he was alive.

your work! is different, this is or at least i seems to me. more like a news article then some random rambling on a blog or forum. therefor the rules change. and like i said before its your job to state where you got all you info and sources. and that includes stating somewhere where you got you images.

you can take my pic down you can leave it up, i don’t care. you still don’t get it cuase you still out a few other illustration up there without permission. if your gonna use it use it right, it’s the whole point. learn to admit what you did instead of make cheap excuses.

later…

As a creator, I absolutely respect your right to control your creation. That is why I was willing to attribute you as soon as you commented and told me who you were, and I would have been more than happy to add a link to your site, which I do here. (It’s good stuff). I would have added a link to your site if I had found it, but the problem was that I did not find the image on your deviant art page, but another that had used, who likely got it from another source. The way I found the image made it next to impossible to track down the image source.

Which is a problem, I’ll admit. That is the nature of the digital sphere I was writing about earlier.

I have taken the image down, as that seems to be your desire. However, I would point out that the fact that Holden Caulfield is not in the public domain. Your illustration of the character would likely qualify as a derivative work, and as the text of the article demonstrates J.D. Salinger still owns the valid copyright in the character. While a creative interpretation, I think it is problematic to use it as an example.

Also, I’m wondering what your experience is trying to police your image. I gather that you are having this problem with more than one outlet. What are other sites saying?

put yourself in my shoes… how would you feel if someone used or took and excerpt from one of your articles or something you written. quoted you without mentioning your name or hell took an entire peace and published it online somewhere. would you argue it’s ok since it another non profit site and they aren’t making any money off you. how would you feel if someone read any of the above examples and said to themselves man this guy sounds like the perfect guy to this job i need done. but they wouldn’t know how to contact you or worse they hire the guy running the other site.

yes its the nature of the digital sphere as you put it. if i have a site i get people to come to it by having links on as many other pages as possible. and i give back by linking back and link to other sites to be it going. having a pic on your site and not linking or adding even a name is selfish!

i might understand fan sites or blogs. but if this is a news article or whatever… you need to name sources. if this get picked by a mag or something they gonna wanna know this type of info. and guess what, if your gonna get something out of it then so do i. taking my pic and adding it to your article is like taking a peace out someone else’s and plagiarizing.

taking a pic to post on your page to make it look nice! is called web design. and people get paid for that. when mags want a illustration they pay for that. when people want to use anything that doesn’t belong to them… they pay for that. i know i freelance. i been paid for all these things and more. one guy offered 200 bucks for the use of this here pic. and you think you can just take it! and theres nothing wrong with that?

westwolf270@yahoo.com

later…

That being said, I would argue that using the image in our article falls under the fair use provision, as mentioned in the text. The legal geek in me would argue that including the image is not “considered stealing.”

I applaud your willingness to share use of your work. As an artist, have you ever checked out the Creative Commons? It is a nonprofit that helps artists like yourselves provide licenses and navigate the choppy waters of copyright law.

Thanks for posting.

you don’t need to take it down. but i ask that you at least post my name or where you got it.

i don’t mean to be mean but i’ve found this pic used in a number of places with out my asking. i’ve had to couple of places ask for the use of it, one guy even offered money. and i let them all have it. i don’t mind sharing.

later…