reproducing copyright protected artwork

[north_of_sunset]

back in the the late 1990's I purchased a piece of artwork printed on paper from the artist. After receiving the piece I had it transferred to canvas (A.K.A.)  canvas transfer. I then framed the piece and listed the item on ebay. With in 2 days from the time of listing this item I was hammered not not only by people involved with this artist, but by his wife , his publisher, and of course by the artist himself. All telling me that I had to remove this item at once or suffer copyright infringement protection repercussions. Now I did not reproduce this item in any way I just changed the media on which it was presented on. And that's it, but still not wanting to keep arguing via email, and phone about how I purchased the piece therefore I could change the way it looked any way I wanted to. It did not seem worth the trouble so I removed the item from ebay, and actually I'm glad I did because some 20 years later I still own the piece and have it hanging on my wall which looks pretty good. 

Now fast forward to the present day (like right now) I 'm finding blatant reproductions of pieces from the same artist that I know are still under copyright protection being sold as "canvas wall art" hell the seller even shows a photo of his digital printer ,scanner, and work space he/she use's to make these seemingly illegal reproductions. On top of that they seem to be doing quite a bit of business as well. To make matters worse there knocking of "Marvel studios" characters, Star wars characters, and a **bleep** load more of popular media subject matter. 

Has ebay changed its rules on stealing intellectual property, or am I just trippin. Someone out there please advise. Because if ebay doesn't care anymore about copyright protected property I'm all set up right now to start printing up some artwork that I own that is very popular, very hard to find, and would sell like mad if this is the case.

[*eponymous*]

It is up to the owner of the intellectual property rights to report suspected violations to eBay under the VeRO program.  eBay is obligated under the Safe Harbor provision of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act to remove any listing so reported.  If they fail to do so, they will lose their status as "just a venue" and would then be accountable (including monetarily) for violations committed by users of eBay.

Rules are for everyone.  Some rulebreakers get caught, and others do not.  Live by your moral compass.

[luckythewinner]

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Has ebay changed its rules on stealing intellectual property

No, they haven't. But Congress has changed the law regarding what eBay is liable for.

And just to be clear - from what you posted, it does not sound like it was eBay who detected your artwork 20 years ago anyway. It was the artist, and you chose to remove the listing yourself. eBay was apparently not involved even back then.

if ebay doesn't care anymore about copyright protected property

eBay does care. But congress passed a law about a decade ago that puts the onus on the intellectual property owner to report violations, because Congress realized - quite correctly, I might add - that eBay cannot possibly become an expert on the authenticity of every one of the 1.1 billion listings on their site. They also should not rely solely on third party reports, because the potential for abuse would be too great.

20 years ago, the artist apparently paid attention to eBay. Today, the artist apparently is not paying attention to eBay. But that does not make theft of his property legal or proper or moral.

[gracieallen01]

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@nitemairmusic-6 wrote:

back in the the late 1990's I purchased a piece of artwork printed on paper from the artist. After receiving the piece I had it transferred to canvas (A.K.A.)  canvas transfer. I then framed the piece and listed the item on ebay. With in 2 days from the time of listing this item I was hammered not not only by people involved with this artist, but by his wife , his publisher, and of course by the artist himself. All telling me that I had to remove this item at once or suffer copyright infringement protection repercussions. Now I did not reproduce this item in any way I just changed the media on which it was presented on. And that's it, but still not wanting to keep arguing via email, and phone about how I purchased the piece therefore I could change the way it looked any way I wanted to. It did not seem worth the trouble so I removed the item from ebay, and actually I'm glad I did because some 20 years later I still own the piece and have it hanging on my wall which looks pretty good. 

Now fast forward to the present day (like right now) I 'm finding blatant reproductions of pieces from the same artist that I know are still under copyright protection being sold as "canvas wall art" hell the seller even shows a photo of his digital printer ,scanner, and work space he/she use's to make these seemingly illegal reproductions. On top of that they seem to be doing quite a bit of business as well. To make matters worse there knocking of "Marvel studios" characters, Star wars characters, and a **bleep** load more of popular media subject matter. 

Has ebay changed its rules on stealing intellectual property, or am I just trippin. Someone out there please advise. Because if ebay doesn't care anymore about copyright protected property I'm all set up right now to start printing up some artwork that I own that is very popular, very hard to find, and would sell like mad if this is the case.

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Not sure if ebay cares or not - doubt it.

However, you DID reproduce it, or caused it to be reproduced, be it in another media or form, other than the original.  The artist can do that, not you.

[luckythewinner]

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@gracieallen01 wrote:
However, you DID reproduce it, or caused it to be reproduced, be it in another media or form, other than the original.  The artist can do that, not you.

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Not true. A canvas transfer of artwork actually removes the backing paper of a poster or photograph and glues the top layer of it onto a canvas.

It is really no different than buying a poster and trimming the edges of a poster, or buying a photograph and gluing it to a piece of foam backing board.

It is still the same poster or photo; nothing has been reproduced. 

[gracieallen01]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@gracieallen01 wrote:
However, you DID reproduce it, or caused it to be reproduced, be it in another media or form, other than the original.  The artist can do that, not you.

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Not true. A canvas transfer of artwork actually removes the backing paper of a poster or photograph and glues the top layer of it onto a canvas.

It is really no different than buying a poster and trimming the edges of a poster, or buying a photograph and gluing it to a piece of foam backing board.

It is still the same poster or photo; nothing has been reproduced. 

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I suppose, if the original was 'destroyed' in the process.  OP didn't state how he had it 'transferred'.

If he still has the original, though .....  I would stand by my statement.

[mistwomandancing]

He does still have the original, but it is now affixed to stretched canvas on a frame.  When this process is done, he doesn't get the *original* painting back in it's beginning form AND the same image printed onto canvas.  His original IS now processed and affixed to canvas, and that's the form he gets it handed back to him as.

[a_c_green]

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gracieallen01 wrote: 
I suppose, if the original was 'destroyed' in the process.  OP didn't state how he had it 'transferred'.

If he still has the original, though .....  I would stand by my statement.

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It sounds similar to buying a photographer's print and having it dry-mounted for framing. You're not republishing the work at all. (I don't totally follow what the artist's objection was 20 years ago, for that matter. The process sounds like an alternative to framing.)

[moondogblues]

I wasn't clear at first about the transfer process and thought that there were 2 images. If there was only one then the artist was in the wrong. The image itself could not be copied/reproduced and sold but the artwork itself could.

I collect art and have quite a number of pieces that the artists hold the copyright to reproduce, but I can still sell the actual work itself.

[luckythewinner]

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@a_c_green wrote:

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gracieallen01 wrote: 
I suppose, if the original was 'destroyed' in the process.  OP didn't state how he had it 'transferred'.

If he still has the original, though .....  I would stand by my statement.

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It sounds similar to buying a photographer's print and having it dry-mounted for framing. You're not republishing the work at all. (I don't totally follow what the artist's objection was 20 years ago, for that matter. The process sounds like an alternative to framing.)

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It sounds like the artist 20 years ago did not understand what a canvas transfer was either.