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| JaguarJulieFlowers and JaguarJulieDesigns - Zazzle Shops Copyright Art of JaguarJulie Ann Brady Some of the stolen art from Zazzle appearing on Amazon's marketplace |
And, what is my reward? Chinese content thieves plow through our product portfolios on Zazzle to unceremoniously take our copyright art for use in stores on Amazon! Why hasn't Zazzle protected our images with watermarks?
I have now spent three consecutive days filing my infringement complaints with Amazon and also writing one star reviews on the products with my copyrighted art. It is a thankless job. Why is Amazon enabling all these content thieves? Greed??
Infringement Complaints Filed with Amazon
I find that spending hours searching products on the Amazon marketplace, matching then up with our copyright images being offered on Zazzle, and then populating the information into a copyright infringement form on Amazon, is the most thankless way to spend my time. It is a buzzkill in that it zaps all creative juices and makes me kind of testy. Is all this reporting going to do anything to nip this thievery in the bud?
Roll Call of Amazon Sellers - Content Thieves
Of the various infringement complaints I filed on Amazon, a good majority of the products with my copyrighted art were being offered by multiple Amazon sellers. And, many of those sellers were just launched! I compiled an initial list of Amazon sellers who are offering products with stolen copyrighted art of mine that I uncovered in the past couple of days. There are many, many more who launch probably daily. When you review the Amazon sellers information, most of them state China, while a few are now showing locations in the U.S.A.
A list of those Amazon sellers with stolen copyright images from Zazzle: 0RMD0y, 1Croninoutlet, BCUASBCOBNIAnic, BsdeRd, Cireurus, classic pillowcase, CONINIENEN, Cool Martha, creative pillowcase, Cuban energy, deardeer, Douubt, DreamStage, Dream-VX, E3jOiY, Endoune, Fashion pillow DIY, Fashion Tee, fashionluckypillowcase, gk3Ugvg, happy pillowcase, haweh1, HDUOV8R, HEATO, heiheipillowcase, Honey Pillowcase, JamieSaleStore, JeremyArtStore, jiajiahuishop, PILLOWLIEPUAACOCO, Plankey, Poppy-Love, qhT7fI8, Qos, Rainy man325, reyrhr3, UjjoUc0, vvI0D2, XBSHEBC, Xilinx, YAOYAO, Ywo25ue, ZFSaleStore
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| Amazon Seller: DreamStage selling my copyrighted art "Bright Sunflowers" |
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| DreamStage posting of my copyrighted art My Zazzle original art of Pretty Yellow Orange Sunflower of 2014 |
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| Pretty Yellow Orange Sunflower Of 2014 Throw Pillow Case 18x18 by Apexshell My Zazzle original art of Pretty Yellow Orange Sunflower of 2014 |
My initial reporting of copyright infringement complaints focused on my Zazzle throw pillows art being used to sell pillow cases / pillowcases in the Amazon stores. Searching on Amazon this morning revealed over a million products; specifically 1,103,879 results for Pillow Cover Pillowcase! Oh my, can you imagine how many of those are stolen copyright art? I started with pillowcases and will be looking at other products!
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| Amazon products: 1,103,879 results for "Pillow Cover Pillowcase" |
Over the past couple of days, I have also penned dozens of one star reviews of those products being offered on Amazon using my copyrighted art without my permission. In the three screen captures below, you see a thumbnail of the Amazon product with my copyrighted art. Each caption shares my original Zazzle art. I did not provide a link to the bootleg products on Amazon though!
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| My original Zazzle art of Two Amazing Autumn Beauty Sunflower Blossoms |
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| My original Zazzle art of Boldly Sunny Sunflowers |
Will this ever end? I don't think it will unless Zazzle and Amazon actually get aggressive and do something now to stop this thievery.
Sign the Change.org Petition to Jeff Bezos -- There is a online Petition that you can sign. "Petitioning Jeff Bezos, CEO Amazon.com. Tell Amazon to stop its third-party sellers from stealing intellectual property and selling it in the Amazon Marketplace. --Cindy Bendel Centreville, VA"
2 comments:
Sorry to hear this. Thanks for the information.I'll check out the petition.
There is an online marketer who interviews people about their online selling experiences. You might want to contact him to discuss the issue on a podcast. He has a lot of insight on Amazon's policies. Here is a link to his site:( and also a blog post relative to theft online)
http://mywifequitherjob.com/how-to-prevent-your-amazon-listings-from-getting-hijacked-stolen-or-piggybacked/
That all said, your designs are beautiful. If I were in your shoes, I would sell one of a kind designs on a site like Etsy. Because of theft, it's becoming more difficult to do anything in mass online. ( print and products included).
Also, there's theft on all the creative platforms. I've heard of artists designing things only to find a knockoff on a remote site.
Theft is so violating. What's interesting to me is that there isn't a mass campaign site using social media to address this issue. Perhaps some day a legal team will work with a social marketer and bring awareness of the issue to broadcast media as well.
It's so time consuming for creative artists like yourself to spend time trouble shooting issues like this.
Good luck with your project.
Sandy, thanks for your insightful reply. You have made valid points about the creative thievery of artists' original designs. I've taken a step back and not added any more of my unique designs to Zazzle until the huge problem of image theft on Amazon can be eradicated.
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