Who to notify-copyright infringement?

[LaVonne W.]

I read some of the earlier posts on copyright infringement, but didn't come across any info on a question I have.

I was visiting a resort area this weekend and a couple of miles from the gallery/boutique part of town was a store advertising Bronzes. I stopped and went inside. I recognized a number of life size bronzes from ads in Southwestern Art Magazine, but on closer inspection realized they were not well finished and far to cheap ($2,000 - 4,000) for multifigure life size bronzes! I asked the store owner where they were from and he said all the pieces in his store were from China. I had heard about Chinese copies of artwork, but had never seen it on this scale.

So my question is- should I try to e-mail or write the artists whose work I recognized to tell them where I saw copies of their work? Is there someone, or some organization I should notify? Since the copies were made in China would there be any way to enforce copy write? Is the store owner liable?

Any thoughts? I hate to see good artists getting ripped off!

[madster]

Possibly, just possibly the artist is allowing the knock offs. Doubtful, though...

You should contact the artist, of course. They are the one who own the copyright, and the only one who can bring any type of legal action.

If you saw the works in Southwestern Art, then the name of the artist was published with the picture. To contact them, try going through the gallery publishing the pictures, as they were representing the artist. You might want to drop a line to Southwestern Artist relating your experiences, as they may wish to turn your discovery into a full length article on import rip-offs at resort gift stores...
Good Luck!

[dee478]

Do contact the galleries that handle the artists work....or the artist themselves. They will THANK YOU!

I HATE that when it is forged, but at least the store owner was up front and told the truth.

Good luck!

[arlene]

definitely notify the artist...

a while back we came across an ebay artist who was copying other's watercolors almost exactly (i say almost because his copies weren't half as good as the original artists)

One person was a wc member...but another wasn't...I contacted this other artist and made sure she was aware of what was going on...last i heard she had handed it over to her lawyer to handle...

i think we as artists (whether we're wknd artists or get paid for it, or anything inbetween) owe it to one another to help one another out in a situation like that.