A common front against copyright infringement

The image that is going on the site now, I noticed one of my decks. I will be reporting this to eBay!!!!

DraagonStorm

copyright infringement.

Hi, Hexi Here, I painted the Pearls of Wisdom Tarot images, and would appreciate knowing if anyone comes across a site such as you have mentioned with my images on them.

I have had requests to put up all the cards on a site, and this is one reason that i am somewhat reluctant to do, I guess I can water mark them, or only show part of them??? Also I feel, that there should be some kind of exchange, it took a long time and a lot of work to realize these images...

It took me 7 years to realize all these paintings, and I am saddened that others feel that they can just use them, as I read in another thread, where someone put them in a shuffling program and sold them that way.

I am new to all of this, and would appreciate any feedback on this, as we are considering creating an "official" web site with images and links to sellers and possibly for other merchandise..

Anyway keep up the good work...

A good way is to put the images with something like a signature across, light enough so that people can enjoy them, but heavy enough to make the cards not useable once printed.

But scans are some times the only way to enjoy out of print decks...

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Debra said:

It's someone who is on AT and reading these boards.

Within 20 minutes of cirom posting the new link, the auction was stopped by the seller. The slide show of cards has been removed. Also, the wording of the item has been changed and now there's nothing about printing out the cards or selling them.

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A similar thought occurred to me and this adds credibility to it. So that being the case and also assuming that the person in question will also be reading this. So allow me to address it them... or "YOU".

I'm still not clear wether you are simply a seller of material prepared by others or you are actually producing the CDs as well. If you are simply the seller and you were unclear, naive or unaware of the copyright issue involved, then I trust that you are now absolutely clear that you do not have the legal right to sell the content of this product. If on the other hand you were aware of both the legalities and morality involved and simply disregarded it, then I appeal to you to refrain from continuing.

In addition to the support I believe we will receive from the tarot community that is increasingly aware of this scenario, future transgressions will be found sooner and promptly reported to ebay. (and not just in the US).

Even at personal expense several members have indicated they will be random customers of similar products in the future. This will provide hard evidence of any continued illegalities and an opportunity to providing "appropriate" feedback to ebay.

A cat and mouse game that may not end the practice completely, but at least will make it more inconvenient and less financially viable for you.

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angelegg said:

cirom-- when you contacted this person before to tell them to stop, did you mention anything about your website and did you email them from [email address removed by moderator]? because i think it's too soon to assume it's someone on this board selling the CD's. i just went to your website, googled your email addy, and found that you post at AT. the person may have checked your posting history and is *now* watching you.

just a thought.

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I accept your thought, but in this particular case no, I didn't contact them from my web site or e-mail. So unless it was a coincidence that they changed the wording of their ad within a very short period of time following my earlier post, then it's certainly "a possibility" that they became aware of it from this thread. Also as Baba mentioned earlier, there are a number of other decks on the Cd that are not particularly well know outside of this community. Either way its not the real issue, merely an opportunity I took on the off chance. If my assumption was wrong then by default they won't have read my comments anyway.

As for watching me now, that is hardly surprising or difficult I don't even use an alias. Furthermore in isolation I'm not their problem. If my decks are removed, then legally its no longer my business. But I assume other parties may feel equally aggreived, not to mention Llewellyn and US Games who have the reputation of being more assertive in these matters.

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Any buyer can pull the sellers contact info if they are in a legitimate transaction (and vice a versa).
If you purchase something from that seller, at that point you can get their name, address and telephone number. If that turned out to be fake or out of date, Ebay will suspend their account. If they are the real McCoy, you have the information you need to begin shutting them down.

Good luck and best wishes to all our artists here, we wouldn't have nearly the fun we do without your hard work churning out decks for us to ooh and argue over.

Thanks for pointing out these option of actions available. Yes there are legal repercussions. While I have sufficient material to support it, I for one really don't want to go that far. I just want to try and put the genie back in the bottle.
Illegal reproduction of one work creative efforts, in whatever medium is obviously wrong, but unfortunately easy to do. It will be impossible to stop in its entirety, but that doesn't mean just shrugging our shoulders and accepting it. Knowing that there are now some watchful eyes, may at least make them think twice.

Unfortunately, I will also have to also think twice about how much reference I provide about my work (as I'm sure will others) especially before a deck is actually released. Which is unfortunate, especially within the context of forums such as this.