4 Likes
I’m guessing the original illustrator won’t have a hard time finding a trademark/infringement lawyer to take this on. Design clients are consistently under the impression that there is some magic quantifiable way to measure “different” that makes you safe in courts. A “30% Rule” or some bs like that. In reality, courts ask, does this thing sort of look like this other thing - and if so who made the first one? That’s it.
In many cases, if say a small-town paper or tiny website rips off your work, the court costs would dwarf any compensation. But with such a clear-cut case and a shit-bag offender with deep pockets, this could be a delicious gold-mine.
3 Likes
That doesn’t mean they’d be likely to collect enough damages to make it worth the time and expense it would cost the illustrator to take this to court.
Just because the infringement is clear and the offending party has deep pockets doesn’t mean the plaintiff is guaranteed a big payout, especially if the infringing work doesn’t cut into the artist’s target market.
6 Likes
What was my assessment? I already acknowledged the ripoff may very well have occurred, I was just troubled by the lack of evidence presented of it, and asked for it. When I did, I was told to take it easy, which made me more suspicious, then my posts were getting flagged, which made me even more suspicious. Now evidence was provided, I’ll accept that. It’s possible it was manufactured, but I don’t think anyone would go to that degree just to be right on a forum like this, so I accept it, and thank you for providing what I asked for. So someone at the site likely ripped off the design, maybe multiple people, maybe Shapiro himself, and that was wrong. They then pulled the shirt when it was exposed, which is what they should have done. He was never my god, simply a commentator I like, and largely agree with. Maybe he beats his kids, I still largely agree with him, should I suddenly become a Sam Seder disciple because of this? Would I have issues with him as a person, sure, that’s no different than I do with anybody.
True - although maybe though the designer could make the (more complicated) case that there was brand confusion and his brand was damaged by the negative association with internet cesspit that is Ben Shapiro.
2 Likes
Did it even cross your mind that the one person in this forum who levied a baseless accusation of wrongdoing was you, when you wrote the following?
You demand immediate proof of claims while simultaneously accusing an innocent artist of slander based on no evidence whatsoever. And now you can’t even bring yourself to admit you were the one in the wrong.
16 Likes
I didn’t make an accusation, I fully granted the story may be true, I said I was suspicious because there was no evidence being presented in the piece that the story was true, and I couldn’t find any evidence, nor did I ever see this shirt. It’s pretty standard to attach links where people can see for themselves the original sources when making accusations. Then after being presented with evidence, I said thank you, and granted it was sufficient and was exactly what I wanted to begin with. Am I supposed to say “so sorry I was suspicious, I shouldn’t have questioned this claim based on the high integrity of boingboing”? I said I was suspicious it was bs absent evidence, evidence was provided, and I said great, thank you. Isn’t that acceptable?
14 Likes
I’m making the point, that one’s moral conduct is irrelevant to what their views are on government policy. If I read an idea, I don’t reject or adopt it based on what people hold it, that’s childish.
- You made a baseless suggestion that the artist wronged by Shapiro was slandering him and his site.
- I presented some (easily found) evidence that the artist’s claims were factual.
- You responded to this information with another long post saying you still felt justified in your initial baseless suspicions even though they turned out to be 100% wrong.
14 Likes
Hard disagree.
I don’t demand moral perfection from my political leaders, but if a person can’t hold themselves to the most basic standards of human decency then I never want to hear their views on any social policy ever again. That goes for people on the left as well as the right (for example: Bill Clinton can burn if he had even an inkling of what his buddy Epstein was up to).
13 Likes
You are conflating issues here. I’m not saying it wouldn’t make him a despicable person, I’m saying if someone believes capital punishment is wrong, and I think their rationale is sound, I still agree with them even if that person then turns out to be a child molester. The person is despicable, but it’s irrelevant to where we agree.
If I know a person to be despicable I don’t bother checking to see which issues we might agree on, because I’m not going to read their column to get their insight on the issues anymore.
14 Likes
You had no basis—none—for accusing or even suspecting the artist of slander. You simply didn’t have the proof that their claims were true, because you never looked for it.
In the absence of any evidence you instinctively sided with Shapiro.
13 Likes
If you’re intrigued by Shapiro’s ideas and don’t find them, or his grift, despicable, then, yeah, expect people on the BBS to be waiting in the wings to jump all over your posts. His “ideas” often include promotion of extermination or torture of people like several posters here.
17 Likes
Let’s not spend this entire topic debating truthiness with one member, please. Offtopic meta posts will be eaten.
12 Likes
So I can’t complain if somebody calls my statements “baseless” just because I totally made them up?
9 Likes
*sigh*
Here’s the problem with coming into a conversation with a “I believe nothing unless it is proven to me” attitude.
1 - It’s simply not true. What you are saying is “I believe this artist is lying unless proven otherwise”. You are coming in with an opinion.
2 - This debate tactic is exactly how we get to “I don’t believe vaccines are safe unless we can explain this specific case”, or “I don’t believe this brown person is safe until I see proof otherwise”, or “Unless we see Obama’s birth certificate, why should I believe he’s American?”
3 - worst of all, and why it’s not permitted here, is that this debate tactic literally puts all the effort on your respondents. You are basically saying “I am unwilling to do the work required to answer my question. Instead, I am going to place an equally unfounded accusation - that the artist is lying - and make all of you do the legwork for me.”
It is a dick move. And one that is all-too-common as a way to trolley others.
25 Likes
Thank you all, seems worth avoiding.
2 Likes
Boy, for folks who claim to be all law and order-y, conservatives sure engage in a lot of criminal activity.
15 Likes
