Art Theft

I woke one day this week to several messages saying they saw my Harry Potter design being sold through TeeChip with no credit to me as the designer. As I checked out the campaign saying it was a best seller, I was heart broken to see that whoever this "seller" was who posted my work to this site didn't even bother to try changing my art that they stole. Every brushstroke was still the same as the original. I was so angry!

After sending a quick email politely asking TeeChip to take down my stolen artwork, they auto responded with a page of things I needed to do in legal jargon that made no sense. I'm a small fry who makes art when I have time, so I don't have a lawyer to take care of these types of things for me. So I did what any other sensible person would, I googled "how to get my stolen art taken off TeeChip".

Turns out this is a pretty regular thing for TeeChip, but being a professional and following their rules is the only way to get them to listen. I found this amazing article by Effing Decaf on Tumblr that said everything I could possibly say here and give you the what's the what on getting that DMCA ( Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notice written and guess what? It worked. Next morning I woke up to the campaign taken down and a very professional reply from a member of TeeChip's Copyright team.

Obviously this isn't the end of my struggles. I don't know who this "seller" is as TeeChip is the only one I could deal with in this situation. I'm sure whoever thought it was okay to steal my artwork in the first place won't mind trying to sell it again on another platform.

I'm grateful for this community I have and that you guys are looking out for me. I appreciate the support more than I could ever put into words. As an artist you get sensitive about your work and it was nice to not feel alone while going through this. So thank you all so much! xo