The Las Vegas SUN presents a journalistically sound piece on the David Kelly/Todd Goldman art theft matter, and interviews both parties. Goldman still sounds like a jerk, alas:

Of the Internet reaction, Goldman said: “This is just a bunch of hater artists trying to take me down. I’m not an online Web guy. I’m not trying to rip people off. I work with a team of artists at David & Goliath. We create thousands of designs.”

Artists and bloggers say Goldman has taken characters from other cartoons. Goldman disputes that, saying that some of the characters in question are his own and have been licensed, and that in the past year he has sent 50 cease-and-desist letters to artists doing knockoffs of his work.

“It’s frustrating to have my whole career, my creativity, being questioned because of one mistake,” he said.

Kelly, on the other hand, says he is “overwhelmed and moved by the reaction.”


The article continues to interview other artist who MAY have had images purloined by Goldman; for the most part they are resigned to the possible rip-offs:

Liz Greenfield, who posts her cartoon weekly on her Web site, stuffsucks.com, says she has received at least 100 e-mails from people saying they believe that Goldman stole her image of a fish in a fishbowl , which says, “Stuff sucks.”

“It could be a coincidence,” Greenfield, who lives in the Netherlands, said . “It isn’t a duplicate that I could sue over.”

Another designer, Jessica Fink, is wondering whether her T-shirt image of a bar of soap and the saying, “Rub me on your butt,” was taken by Goldman and used in a similar painting .

Greenfield says Internet copyright protection is difficult.


It’s a little sad to see everyone so apathetic; that’s what people like Goldman depend on. Colleen has a useful link pointing out that even for underfunded artists there is a resource: The Volunteer Lawyers For The Arts. Worth pondering.

7 COMMENTS

  1. Whenever I see a headline like that I start to believe this is just a massive marketing ploy for Dan Goldman’s Act-I-Vate story “Kelly.”

  2. Good point about our collective apathy, Heidi, we will get all the copyright protection we deserve at this rate.

    That said, I think the bloggers and forums did a good job of highlighting this, and especially the keen-eyed gallery viewer who I think tipped David Kelly off that she had spotted the piece. I think the gathering of all the evidence has moved at an astonishing speed that would have been unthinkable a few short years ago, and it would be a pity to let it just fizzle away in an apathetic fog now.

    I am not jealous of Golman’s success at all, but I am astonished by it because he looks like a cheap knock-off version of the late Patrick Caulfield (oh no, perhaps he will look up new ideas).

    http://rodmckie.blogspot.com

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