Art theft & copyright violation?

[lynnfredricks]

So whether you are a small fish or not, if you have proof of what you own, and that he has it and that's something the cops can bust him, I'd do it in a heartbeat. You can easily point out other victims to the cops, and they can do the legwork of contacting the other victims and confirming the violation to build up a heavier case.

Intellectual property doesn't work the same way unfortunately; even with real world goods, once it crosses state lines it gets more complicated.

 

[Umbran]

Just be prepared with URLs and proof that he is selling your stuff and that you want to press charges for theft.

Except, from the cop's point of view, it *isn't* theft - literally and legally, when they file charges, "Theft" will not be mentioned.

The local cops are not typically prepared to deal with copyright infringement, or the computer forensics involved. We are talking about a cybercrime, which is kind of out of their baliwick. Moreover, if he lives in a different state from you, or from the place where you agreed to sell it, then it becomes an inter-state commerce issue, a Federal matter (and copyright is a federal statute, anyway), and the local cops will point you at at least the State Police, or more likely the FBI.

Now, the FBI are *entirely* equipped to handle the matter. They have the jurisdiction and the expertise. But copyright violation on some sales of one publisher's RPG books are probably small potatoes compared to the other cases in their load, so low in priority. This is why class action has more pull - you're now talking about tens of victims, and they start taking notice.

He shouldn't need to be sued. Copyright law is a criminal affair, not a civil one.

Well, you can do both. In fact, if you want to get any money back, you will probably need to launch a civil suit.

 

[Ryujin]

camazotz, did you retain copies of your communications with this stellar citizen? If so, then his own words can be used to prove your authorship.

 

[Alan Shutko]

This is exactly what statutory damages are for. If the copyright is registered before infringement (or within 3 months of publication) plaintiffs can get up to $150k in damages per work. It wouldn't take a lot of those to get Shipman out of business.

However, I'm willing to guess that most artists and authors are not registering everything they publish before the fact, because it's $85 per and a bit of paperwork.

 

[aramis erak]

Does he produce any content of his own, or is it all stolen from elsewhere? I'm not familiar at all with the products in question.

At one point, he did. He hasn't in years, however.