infringement The Oxford Pocket Thesaurus of Current English ... infringement • noun 1. an infringement of the rules synonyms : breaking, violation, contravention, breach, transgression, infraction, nonobservance, noncompliance. 2. an infringement on his property synonyms : encroachment, impingement, intrusion, trespass. (http://www.encyclopedia.com/SearchResults.aspx?Q=infrigment)
copyright World Encyclopedia ... copyright Legal authority protecting works of art, literature, music and computer programs from reproduction or publication without the consent of the owner of the copyright. Since the Universal Copyright Convention (1952), works must carry the copyright symbol ((c)) followed by the owner's name
Those are a couple of meanings some art theives and curious people need to/should know.
Why am I bringing this up? I have seen so much uncited, stolen, etc. work that I too, am sick of it. YES I have been on the fault end of it before, and I do not deny my mistake. I made a mistake; I was wrong. It isn't that hard.
Back to the point. Some really great artists (I am included, though I am not a 'great artist') are falling victim to
Copyright Infringment. At least every artist has experienced some sort of theft. My most recent was name theft. Someone made a character named "Kirala" and just changed the "d" to and "l".
Someone brought up to me that my name sounds like "Kirara" from "Inu-Yasha". Uhm, NO. I took my 'pen name' Kira and stuck a "-da" on the end of it, and it stuck.
Kirada's name was not always Kirada; it was Vivica, Wildfire, Stormy, Dingo (a wolf named Dingo? She was half wolf, half dingo then), Alexia, Magic Wolf, Foxeh Fox (I know oh my God right?). I later came to find that
"Kirada" is actually a type of Poodle (I hate poodles but the name stays).
I have had my art stolen before, from someone (Amanda Jean) I went to school with, and she was the cousin to a good friend of mine (thus, how we met). She traced my art, stole my characters, and "infringed" my copyrights (©).
So, if any of you see the following symbols with a picture/piece of literature, it is copyrighted: (c), ((c)), [c], {c},©, etc.
Theft is different, yet goes hand in hand, with other
serious crimes, and
should be reported to a moderator, Steet, and the original artist(s). That's what the mods are for, to keep everything in line!
Of course, when the artist(s) put their work on the internet, they can expect someone to steal their art, right? Well guess what, it is expected, which is why/how moderators came along.
Personally, I feel that this is a topic that everyone on the site should see, but how important it really is depends on how the Site Officials feel it is.
Now, back to the topic (again >_>). Some of the best, most awesome artists are/have/will leave because of Copyright Infringment. There are things we can do; report those who are infringing the art/character(s)/Literature.
