Facebook Profile and banner artwork

putting out fires

New Member
Hi, I'm new to the site but am keen to get more involved in forums (I spend too much time in my studio working).

I have a question, bit of an unusal one I guess. It has come to my attention that a guy that 'liked' my Facebook page recently, then went on to 'right click' and download two images from work I put on there and then went on to use them as his Facebook profile picture and banner picture. He is not a designer, I guess he just likes the artwork and he is not passing it off as his work. I sent a message to him asking him to change the profile picture but stating he could use the banner picture as long as he replaced it with the watermarked version I had uploaded (original version was not water marked - pretty stupid on my part). To be honest I am feeling pretty annoyed with the situation but don't know if I am over-reacting. Anybody else contended with a similar issue?

Cheers
 
In a way, I think you have a right to be annoyed, but also as you mentioned the guy could just really like your work, and him using it could be seen as a compliment.

As far as I'm aware nobody's using my work without my permission, though I did get a phone call once from someone asking if he could use an identity design I did for someone for his own needs. Erm, no? Oh well, at least he asked.

Unfortunately, it's easy for people to take someone else work and pass it off as their own (we've had this happen recently on here with someone plagiarising other people's blog posts). There are DIY logo sites that are known to repeatedly steal the designs of designers, alter them minimally and sell them on as "unique" designs. Sometimes, it's not always easy to prove you own the copyrights to a design, and getting it sorted legally can be a massive headache, especially when someone is infringing copyright in a country with different laws on the subject.
 
Imitation = compliment; Taking and using = insult. I'm not much of a Facebook user but can't you raise what's taken place in his feed? At least then people will know.
 
First of all change the privacy setting of your Facebook profile and Send him a message again and tell it is your personal thing so remove it from his profile.
 
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