Gene Mills, art theft

[tigon.livejournal.com]

Hey!

So this is a bit of a weird beware. I don't know if this guy is someone who would likely commission anyone or contact you guys but I shall warn you of him anyway.

Back in february I got an email from a guy called Gene Mills about my angry fox drawing . Here is the first emails . It's an old drawing I don't really care that much about, but this guy came off very demanding so I told him no, I don't want him to use it. If he had asked a bit nicer I might have said yes. It is true though that I don't have the psd files anymore and for all I remember I might have drawn it in the same low resolution anyway, it's 9 years since I made it and I was learning photoshop. I also don't use an agent, which he claims randomly contacted him about the same drawing just as I turned him down, how convenient for him! So I thought I would just ignore this guy.

Then yesterday I got a new email from him, different email address but same name, and he now claims that he bought the rights to the drawing for $20 from an agent. Here are the emails, I'll let them speak for themselves as the whole thing is very absurd!
Lastly "Jen Young" sent me this email, and I don't really know why he/she did that. I get the feeling he is trying to taunt me by showing me what I missed or whatever. I still don't understand who this Jen Young person is meant to be either, is she supposed to be the "agent" or the "original" artist?

With some help from a friend I found out a bit more about the guy and here is a picture of how he has used my drawing.
I don't understand what he is trying to achieve, if he hadn't emailed me again I would have never even known he used my drawing. I never contacted him first.

Anyway, I don't want to spend much more time on this guy as he obviously not a very serious or a guy that respects other people, and there isn't a lot I can do. I probably wont post this on deviantart like I told him, but I will at least warn you guys about him!

Comments

[radiocatastrophe (from livejournal.com)]

ಠ_ಠ What... ok.. so he still used the image without your consent? Eh, I dunno what to say to this but you seem to not care too much about the image so there's no point in furthering in a pursuit after him and getting him to discontinue using your image.

He's a weird one I must say.

[theblackdragon.livejournal.com]

true, there's no point in pursuing him after this point for the OP, but if on the off chance he tries to commission anyone else, the beware is pretty valid, i think. he's made it pretty clear that he has no qualms about ripping people off, after all :(

[arikla.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, on that last email... the dates do not match up. Email was written July 18th, The paypal forward (top) says "On 7-12-2012 @3:49pm..."
but the payment says it was made July 18 12:49. So the forward was before the payment was made?
As a curiosity I entered the jenyoung email address into Paypal to see if it was an active account... "This recipient is not yet registered. PayPal will send an email to the recipient explaining how to complete your transaction."

Sooo... overall I think the Jen Young person does not exist and Gene Mills is trying to hide behind that. I certainly doubt he sent $1900 to someone without a Paypal account.

[tigon.livejournal.com]

Hmm yeah the paypal thing is just weird! I got the feeling he is trying to get back at me for turning him down the first time. He must be one bitter guy to still hold grudges for such a small thing!

[morti-macabre.livejournal.com]

Wow. That whole thing is very off-putting. The sense of entitlement he has is gross. :( So sorry about all that. Too bad he just went ahead and did it.

Strange.

[tigon.livejournal.com]

The whole thing is very baffling! I don't care too much about the drawing as it's old and not something I'm very proud of or anything, but the way he acted is just weird lol.

[felonykat.livejournal.com]

Wow... this is just... crazy. Sounds like to me at first he was hoping to get YOU to send him the .psd file to him. Like he thought you had it but was just holding out on him. So this thing of "I bought your .psd file and am using it now for everything for months now thank you ha ha ha ha!" was supposed to try and scare you into going "well I DO have the file, pay me for it instead!" as a means of getting it. He didn't want to show you the file or his supposed cards and site and all else, and as someone noted above the dates are off and this paypal user doesn't exist. When he realized he wasn't getting it, and maybe even realized you really don't have it, he went to just being a fake ass about the whole thing to rattle you and be a jerk to you. The last emails with "brah?" just sound so lame and childish. This is a total scam and a beware well noted.

[takesu.livejournal.com]

total bull. Looks to me, that the guy is lying about paying an 'agent' and that paypal screen might have been shopped, making an excuse to use your image. If he would spend $1900, he could have gotten a better one from someone else! (no offense) but yea, what a dick this guy is.

[kerstin-orion.livejournal.com]

"...what a dick this guy is."

Please refrain from personal insults. That falls under our rule number 3.

[arikla.livejournal.com]

Also, just because I am sitting here waiting for calls so have nothing else to do, I did a search through Trademarkia (http://www.trademarkia.com) that keeps track of registered, trademarked, logos. Couldn't find anything going back to March of this year. So, I sincerely doubt it is registered either. He is just trying to create a false paper trail, I believe.

[tigon.livejournal.com]

Ah thanks for that info! But yeah it seems like his story is just made up to probably troll me and to pretend he really has the right to use my art.

[ellonwye.livejournal.com]

This is an example of a guy that wanted something, was told no, wouldn't accept that and is now on a mission of 'I'll show you!! This is what you get for denying me something!'

[starcharmer.livejournal.com]

I'm not unprofessional, BRAH!

[fancylop.livejournal.com]

"I bought it for $20"
*apparently pays $1900.00*

what was he paying in? yen??? lol

Every single one of his emails were just too pathetic and funny for me to take seriously. The moment he started saying 'brah' I just died. XD But honestly, with such a random sum of money he could have just asked someone else who offered vector commissions for a logo and buy the rights to it too instead of just going on ahead and ripping your stuff. :/

[rivkahwinter.livejournal.com]

ALL OF THIS.
Lol @ twenty bucks turning into just shy of 2 grand.

I am also looking at the whole thing at the end where he started faking ignorance and saying "brah" and just saying to myself, "HE was calling *YOU* unprofessional?!"

I dunno if you could go find this person's business and write a letter to him officially or something? :/ But this seems, well, illegal, and horrifying.

Part of me wants to say it's a troll, like the person who posted the comment below me (zekulapdragon) said... Just that. But then that picture with the DJ Fox stuff... makes me wonder.

[zekulapdragon.livejournal.com]

This whole situation screams "TROLLOLOLOLOLOL" to me. I have a feeling he is messing with you for denying his request.

[tigon.livejournal.com]

Yeah he is definately trying to get a reaction from me. Allthough he has used my art aswell, which makes the trolling part even weirder as I would have forgotten about him if he hadn't contacted me a second time, and I would have never known that he went ahead and used it!

[mysterymoose.livejournal.com]

Just to note, it often takes 4-6 months or more before a trademark (and sometimes copyright) is granted, there's a lot of red tape involved. Honestly, if the guy has used your work you have legal right to sue the shit out of him for falsifying copyright and trademark purchases. That's a serious no no.

The fact there's no paperwork signed from you, and you have no agent, gives you a lot of leeway if this situation really came down to the guy using your work. If he's as much of an idiot as some people are, you can likely get his IP and have local police track it down. Get yourself someone to send him a cease and desist order, and if you're interested, get him into court.

[tigon.livejournal.com]

Even as much as I would love to teach him a lesson I'm not sure the time and energy is worth it. I have no idea how I would even go about doing that as we are in very different countries and I don't have a lot of extra money to spend on this whole thing either.

If I knew he had made a lot of money from my logo or if he turned out to be a famous dj and the logo well known I would definately do something though!

[arcticious.livejournal.com]

I agree with MysteryMoose. I think even if you're not proud of the work or don't care, if you have the funding to, I'd follow it up and make sure he knows that this is illegal. Even if he is a troll, a visit from the police or a letter or summons to court may make him think twice about his actions.

[tigon.livejournal.com]

Well I don't have much extra funds at the moment so sadly it would be too much trouble on my part to take this any further.

I will definately keep and eye on him though and if he ever gets more famous or well known as a dj because of my logo I will contact him again for sure!

[astraldescent.livejournal.com]

The guy probably took the image and ran it through a vector program to get a logo quality image and is probably making up the ""I bought it from someone else"" thing to make you feel bad or try to discourage you from taking him to court.

Shame that you're not in the US, I would love to see this on judge judy.

[tigon.livejournal.com]

Haha yeah Judge Judy would be great! We get that on tv here aswell. I would love to see that too:p

(frozen)

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Wow, smarmy :\
"Look, I'm a DJ! I can play someone else's music AND steal someone else's art!"

His mother must be so proud.

(frozen)

[linksage.livejournal.com]

I lol'd xD

[dave-t-wolfe.livejournal.com]

Why not just send a letter to this individual and tell him that he is using your image and therefore you will seek a payment (twice the amount he paid $3800) for use of your copyrighted drawing. If he fails to reply within 30 days you will turn the matter over for prosecution to his local district attorney's office for copyright violation.

Of course this is an empty threat as most artists are too poor to hire a lawyer and press for damages. Also, damages would be too small to be worth going to civil court.

[tigon.livejournal.com]

It is tempting to do that, but I think he will just fake ignorance again and play innocent, and like you said it would be an empty threat. I will think on it though! I know where he lives so finding his address should not be very hard at all.

[likeshine.livejournal.com]

wow... that was simply maddening ;_;

[dreamerdragoon.livejournal.com]

Do you actually know the address of his website? Then you could at least target his webhost or ISP with a DMCA. Sorry that this has happened to you :( It must be incredibly frustrating.

[tigon.livejournal.com]

Nah I only found his twitter and linkedin profile. Allthough he is active on a few dj forums it seems. He claimed his business has a twitter, facebook page and website but not that I could find.

Thanks! It is a bit frustrating that there isn't much I can do as it would take both time and money that I don't have, but from the way he acted towards me he can't be a very professional DJ so I doubt he will get rich from my drawing:p

[sableantelope.livejournal.com]

Well Tigon, old friend, I think you win the 'craziest art related crap to happen this year' award for 2012!

Man. If that $1 900 is still up for grabs I'll be the mysterious Jen Young.

[wereguitar.livejournal.com]

LOL this guy is from Nova Scotia, too.

[onesteptwo.livejournal.com]

I showed my boyfriend the equipment and he said that he probably ran it through djspace.com to get the skins for the equipment. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to take a look on what their views on copyright is.

[fastbreak333.livejournal.com]

I have this sinking feeling that this guy was using that piece of art before he asked you for permission and when you said no, he had to come up with a way to justify using it before he got in legal trouble.

[frazzled-niya.livejournal.com]

WOW....Just WOW. Might put the word out to my DJ friends to spread the word.

[enter-data-here.livejournal.com]

You know his whole half of the exchange is just so bizarre I can't help but laugh. More than likely he vector traced the image a long time ago and someone told him he needs your permission to use it, and he figures since the image is so old you would probably just say yes. When you say no he comes up with his bs story and fake proof then trolls you because he thinks he's clever. LOL.

Beware definitely warrented.