Seller has stolen my art and eBay isn't taking the listing down despite filing VeRO report

[itsashowtime]

A seller has taken my art without permission and has used AI to edit out my watermark and make the image fit a playmat dimension.

comparison 

Seller:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/156171703631?mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l1120&ch=osgood&euid=73d86477a29e4425...

Link to original art:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C3-6LLpBaF_/

I am tired, I just want my art to not be used like this

[gone.c-33]

Unfortunately, China has a spotty record when it comes to enforcing intellectual property rights.

I would suggest you become a VERO member to have eBay enforce it.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

Well it IS a whole lot cheaper to steal others' artwork than have to actually pay for it.

[onefootflippers]

You also stole the IP in the first place.

You can't make your own Yugioh artwork and sell it. 

You stole the ip and then someone else stole your implementation of it.

It also looks like they never sold any of them. They also never actually made any of them since they just swap the artwork from photo to photo in their listings and not a single pixel of the background moves.

[albertabrightalberta]

@itsashowtime 

Did that seller purchase your artwork from you? 

I saw your IG picture but the background in the alleged image theft listing appears to be the seller's own. So it looks like he has possession of something with your picture. 

If you submitted a VeRO takedown request and used your IG page showing the source of the artwork, they're more likely to remove the listing than if you claim it was found on ebay. (Although ebay allows others the right to use images on ebay, it's supposed to be only items from the catalog. If a seller opted out of the catalog, the images should be protected but ebay doesn't abide by that.) 

Here's the NOCI report form. Where it says "Registration information and jurisdiction of applicable intellectual property right," show the link to the original source.

https://ir.ebaystatic.com/pictures/aw/pics/pdf/us/help/community/EN-NOCI.pdf

ETA: I assumed this was your OWN artwork. After reading @onefootflippers 's post, I take back my suggestion! @itsashowtime , you may find yourself on the receiving end of a DMCA takedown if your work isn't your own! 

[itsashowtime]

The seller did not purchase artwork. I did not make a single dollar off of my art. 

The artwork was drawn by me and posted originally to my Instagram. I was alerted by my followers that they had found someone using my art and was surprised to see that it was being sold as a playmat.

I filled out the NOCI report form before posting here and got an email back saying it was ''illegible'' so I followed the instructions in said email and sent it back. I also sent another email for DMCA for good measure and am currently awaiting a response.

Thank you for your reply!

[itsashowtime]

That's the thing-- I was not selling anything. I simply drew fanart depicting Homura Takeru (Yu-gi-oh! VRAINS) with my own original character who I think the seller deemed real? Then posted the fanart on Instagram for free.

It's quite bizarre. I've had this same thing happen on amazon and the process was much easier.

[onefootflippers]

It doesn't matter if you actually sell it or not, you can't make any sort of legal claim to your yugioh fanart because you have no legal right to the Homura character. 

However since nothing in your artwork actually says Yugioh and Homura is not exactly a super recognized iconic character like Mickey Mouse that normal people would recognize you might easily be able to slide with it. In fact he is not very distinctive at all for the art style yugioh uses? Does he always wear the same outfit?

[itsashowtime]

I actually drew his hair wrong (one detail is off) and drew him in a completely different outfit to his usual school uniform. I'm not sure if that will help wih this case.

I managed to grab eBay on twitter for help, so hopefully they'll do something.

[lonebuck-books]

---

@itsashowtime wrote:

That's the thing-- I was not selling anything. I simply drew fanart depicting Homura Takeru (Yu-gi-oh! VRAINS) with my own original character who I think the seller deemed real? Then posted the fanart on Instagram for free.

It's quite bizarre. I've had this same thing happen on amazon and the process was much easier.

---

It doesn't matter whether you sold it or not.  You are not the original IP holder of one of the characters so you have absolutely no legal right to any IP claim.  You can make fan art all you want and that is fine (usually, some IP holders are nasty about it) but that doesn't transfer IP rights to you.  As for Amazon being easier, that is because Amazon takes a "kill a mosquito with a sledgehammer" approach to this kind of thing.  They have for many years now.   They really don't care who makes a claim, once a claim is filed they take it down regardless of legitimacy.  It is then up to the lister to prove that they have rights to it before they will allow it back on.   eBay is a little tougher with IP claims although they are getting more like Amazon in this regard.  

The bottom line is you have no claim.  If you take the original Yu-gi-oh character out of the artwork, then you  might have a claim but with that character in it, you aren't the IP rights holder.

[lonebuck-books]

---

@itsashowtime wrote:

I actually drew his hair wrong (one detail is off) and drew him in a completely different outfit to his usual school uniform. I'm not sure if that will help wih this case.

---

Try drawing any Disney character in a different outfit or with a slight change in their hair and see how far that gets you with a Disney IP lawyer.  If the character is still recognizable as a Yu-gi-oh character, it is just fan art that you don't have IP rights over.  

[luckythewinner]

If your fan art is for personal use, you are not exploiting it for personal gain, and it is not damaging the market for the original work, your fan art is probably covered by Fair Use. 

But if someone else starts using your fan art for commercial gain, eBay might be taking the position that you do not have the standing to make a VERO claim, because the IP rights are owned by Yu-gi-oh! and not by you.