by Mitch - 04.07.08

Success!! Victory! Wave the banners from the marble arches and fire your rifles in salute, dear Rebels: justice has been served for 4cr! Remember back when we found out that one of my 4cr Nintendo valentines had been plagiarized by a British high fashion retailer? Well, a settlement has been finally been reached and I’ve been paid and credited as the designer of the shirts!
Thanks to your attention and concern, dear Internet, I managed to get connected with the head of production of All Saints Apparel! After talking to him for a little bit, I got referred to the copyright attorney for the company, who told me the actual story behind what happened. All Saints Apparel, like many other apparel stores that produce their own designs, outsource their design work to … well, designers! One of these designers had a deadline to meet, and was looking for something to meet London’s insatiable desire for retro flava.
So, they found my image on a google search and, under pressure, copy-pasted it onto a t-shirt and hoped nobody would notice.
The company was actually relatively sympathetic to my case. They’ve had a number of problems with people stealing their designs, and they weren’t pleased with their designers when they discovered that they’d become what they hated. Their copyright attourney told me that the head of production didn’t quite behave like a proper englishman when he discovered the problem.
After some deliberation and some debate, we settled on an artists’ commission of over DOUBLE that which their own designers get. So, as a result, I still own the copyright on the picture. So, I remember that I said that we’d give some of the money to charity - but that’s back when I thought we’d be able to get a lot more than the money we got! (some research silenced that theory pretty quickly)
Anyway, I’m happy to announce that we’ve got another t-shirt run on the horizon that will get much more money to donate to Child’s Play, instead of the paltry little amount I would have been able to give with the settlement from this case. Stay tuned, rebels. We’ve got a cheap Tetris Heart shirt of our own boiling.











Wow that’s messed up. Good to see it got worked out. Was it difficult proving it was yours?
NoBullet - 04.07.08 9:39 pm
Way to fight the good fight, Mitch! That rocks.
June - 04.07.08 9:41 pm
NoBullet: Nope. It was about as cut-and-dry as you’d imagine. They were quite apologetic and really easy to deal with. So, smiles all around.
Mitch - 04.07.08 9:44 pm
Awesome.
Boots - 04.07.08 9:49 pm
@Mitch: Dang, I was hoping you were all “Objection!” and “Hold It!”
006 - 04.07.08 9:50 pm
I totally will want that shirt once it comes out. ;D
A.J. aka Crimson Warrior - 04.07.08 9:51 pm
This is great news! It seriously made my day!
Captain_404 - 04.07.08 10:22 pm
i’m glad everything worked out and it went along as smooth as possible.
as a illustrator, I know how important it is to hold on to your IP and protect your interests. way to go.
rey-o - 04.07.08 10:25 pm
mitch, let’s take the settlement money and run away together!
Hamblasto - 04.07.08 10:26 pm
But you got *some* money; doesn’t matter how much. It’s not like you have to pay a lawyer fee or anything. You should *still* donate some to Child’s Play no matter how “paltry” the amount was. I hope you’re not going back on your word. Donating to Charity for a separate event does *not* count, however, I do applaud the fact that in the end you still, will be donating.
tekmosis - 04.07.08 10:44 pm
I knew this would come up, but I didn’t swear to anything. My wording was “probably,” and that was banking on the fact that we’d have enough money from the settlement to actually do so.
However, we ARE still planning to give money to the charity, and at a volume much larger than we had originally planned by utilizing t-shirt sales.
Mitch - 04.07.08 10:57 pm
Tekmosis, how does it not count? He’s going to donate more to charity by selling another shirt. That’s hardly selfish at all.
videogamer3586 - 04.07.08 11:00 pm
It’s like telling your son you’ll play catch with him on the weekend then saying “oh, we’ll play next month when I get us new baseball gloves”.
I never said he was being selfish, I even acknowledged the fact that he still will be donating the money. His intentions are just and are very giving, no doubt in that. It just seems kind of round-about to me. Perhaps it was just the wording of the post that made it sound off. As per my metaphor for the situation above, it’s a bit of a let down to the party on the receiving end, that’s all.
For first time readers to the situation, saying “I said that we’d give some of the money to charity” doesn’t indicate past tense of “probably”.
tekmosis - 04.07.08 11:18 pm
Let a man be selfish. Somebody get this guy a copy of Atlas Shrugged.
Simon - 04.07.08 11:34 pm
No, my wording on the original document (the only link in the post, which I assume, first time readers would read) includes “probably.”
Mitch - 04.07.08 11:37 pm
@everybody:
Easy, easy. We don’t want to lose anymore toes here. You’ll all have to excuse Master Pain, err, Mitch. It’s 12 o’clock, and time for his nap.
006 - 04.07.08 11:50 pm
Wow, if they aren’t giving their designers that much they must be making a bank with how much they charge for t-shirts.
peshue - 04.08.08 12:14 am
“Wow, if they aren’t giving their designers that much they must be making a bank with how much they charge for t-shirts.”
I guess it also explains why the design was copy-pasted in the first place.
Volt - 04.08.08 2:30 am
Tekmosis, if you have me £30, and somebody else gave me £20, whose money would I be using if I bought a £15 game?
It doesn’t matter which event the money comes from. Mitch says he is going to donate money to charity, so he is going to give money to charity, regardless of the conceptual - and that’s all that it is - original source of said money.
You, sir, are being stupid.
Donald - 04.08.08 5:47 am
Tekmosis, if you gave me £30, and somebody else gave me £20, whose money would I be using if I bought a £15 game?
It doesn’t matter which event the money comes from. Mitch says he is going to donate money to charity, so he is going to give money to charity, regardless of the conceptual - and that’s all that it is - original source of said money.
You, sir, are being stupid.
Donald - 04.08.08 5:47 am
Glad to hear it’s all sorted, looking forward to future t-shirt designs for 4CR/Child’s Play!
jgoreham - 04.08.08 7:02 am
Great news about the settlement!
Megashaun - 04.08.08 10:36 am
I have to agree with Tekmosis. Donald your argument falls kind of flat. If he gave you money and then gave you more money on a later date that would surely be better than just giving you money one day and not again. If Mitch gave what he could now and then made new shirts to raise money wouldn’t that be better? In the end it’s not about who’s money it’s about the end about how much money there is in the end.
Now I don’t know Mitch’s reasons for not giving this money to charity. He hasn’t said any reason other than what he got wasn’t as much as he thought. Frankly I don’t see how the amount he got matters. It’s still money that he didn’t think he would ever be getting until he found out about people using his ideas. It’s still money he didn’t actively seek out to make. So are there other reasons? Maybe. But unless I heard some valued reasons that the money he got from the settlement is needed for something else then I just don’t see why he isn’t giving this money to charity as well.
Blendy - 04.08.08 10:49 am
Lay off Mitch dude. Everyone’s entitled to be selfish every now and then. He just had the balls to make it public and now you (Tekmosis) are reeming him over it. 4CR has done a lot for charity so back off and let the man have his earnings off HIS design, not CHARITY’s design.
SwiftTheRedFox - 04.08.08 10:50 am
“Man I hope I get a million dollars for a settlement! I’d give like a ton of money to charity! What the? $100? That’s not as much as I had hoped! I know! I’ll make $100 in t-shirts to sell to people, earn $500, and give that to charity! More money for charity, everyone’s happy! Well, not everyone…”
That is pretty much what’s happening. Learn to read.
DTax - 04.08.08 11:23 am
*smacks Tekmosis upside the back of the head*
Congratulations Mitch! Glad it all worked out. I think anyone who works for a living understands. Hi fives!!
designerwhite - 04.08.08 12:15 pm
Cool, glad it worked out!
Marco - 04.08.08 1:25 pm
Now…wait a minute. While it’s all fine and dandy that you’re getting the credit that you deserve (and really, it is, I love the design), don’t you now owe Nintendo money…? When all this started, someone said something to that extent, to which you replied:
“The difference is, I wasn’t making any money off of the use of the graphics – my usage is clearly covered under the tenants of fair use.
These guys are clearly making a mint (a Swiss mint? Mmm…) off of not only my design, but, Nintendo’s graphics!”
So, now that you’re making some sort of comission, don’t you owe Nintendo some dough?
Ben - 04.08.08 6:16 pm
@everyone
Sorry for thinking of the children, my bad, totally.
@Blendy
thanks for seeing it from the same POV I am, it’s appreciated.
@Mitch
You have my email; let me know how much “paltry” was made, if possible I’ll donate the equivalent amount to Child’s Play if it’s within the bounds of what I can afford. Even if it’s not I’ll make a donation in your name.
tekmosis - 04.08.08 8:23 pm
@Tekmosis
Leap that wall, if your so great.
006 - 04.08.08 10:29 pm
Chill guys, let’s not ruin the moment.
There’s not much for it now, so like Mitch said, we’ve got plans up our sleeves to fix that by getting some shirts up for charity. You can help too! Details on that later though — keep an ear out!
June - 04.08.08 10:38 pm
Glad it’s working out for you.
Savage - 04.09.08 9:52 am
Thanks for thinking about the children Tekmosis. Mitch is thinking about them too.
SwiftTheRedFox - 04.09.08 10:14 am
congratulations on your success. you’re obviously entitled to do whatever you please with the funds.
youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com
form - 04.09.08 6:27 pm
Cheers !
I’m really happy for you !
Fel-X - 04.18.08 6:37 am