Artificial Intelligence (AI) has worsened the problem of copyright theft from book designers, experts have said, as another illustrator spoke of stolen designs on Temu.
Earlier this month, Micaela Alcaino told The Bookseller how Temu listed 50 household items featuring her stolen cover art, before the chain removed the items. After reading the story, Liz Heaven, owner of Raven Pages Design Studio, also discovered stolen images of her cover art on the company’s website.
Speaking to The Bookseller, Heaven said: “Having seen Micaela’s post on Instagram, I was promoted to search Temu myself as I recently worked with author Helen Scheuerer and Pan Macmillan [for the covers of the Iron & Embers and Thorns & Fire series] and designed a trilogy, which has proved to be very popular. It was then that I found some listings with my designs in. They had listed bath towels, rugs and prints of the cover art I designed the series.
“Following the report procedure on Temu I contacted them and reported the items listed and received an email back to say they had been delisted. The next day I went back to check and found more of my artwork had been stolen and listed as items, this time from another book cover.
“This came just days after I was approached by an author via Instagram who had been contacted by a page claiming to be a designer and offering design services, but using some of my work and claiming it as their own [this page has now been taken down]. Not only this, but the image used to promote this piece, which was mine, was actually stolen from a content creator who had used the image of the cover and put together a book review – so that’s two people who had been stolen from.
“I really do feel either people do not understand the laws behind copyright and artwork, or they simply do not care. It’s very disheartening and disappointing to see others trying to profit off something which was not created by and does not belong to them.”
Heaven believes AI has has an impact on this. “I definitely think the issue is made worse by AI, unfortunately. In a fast-paced, fast-fashion world, it seems a quick fix is priority these days and an appreciation of genuine craftsmanship is lacking because of it. You can see it all around us – all the small design features that would make something unique and just a pleasure to behold are slowly fading away and being replaced by AI, or more minimalism.
“This is why designers and illustrators cannot be replaced. We are passionate about this craftsmanship and it is our livelihood. I just hope that AI does not replace that human touch my clients approach me for… they want life and soul breathed into a piece.”
The Bookseller spoke to solicitor Mark Stephens CBE of Howard Kennedy, who is an expert in international comparative media law and regulation with extensive experience in Intellectual Property.
Stephens said: “It’s been going on for some time. And you know, that was always a quite interesting dynamic because illustrators always give the copyright licencee right to reproduce, but they never sell the original artwork, and so, you know, there were a lot of cases back in the early 2000s about people finding that their artworks have been thrown away or sold by publishing houses. And in recent years I’ve seen that people are making jewellery from book covers… that would obviously be a breach of copyright.”
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Stephens continued: “I think that those rounds of cases in the early 2000s clarified the position as far as publishers were concerned, legitimate publishers. But… people have recognised – and that has become more popular in the intervening time – that some book covers have become pretty iconic and some of the illustrators have become quite iconic.”
When asked if he believes that AI and fast fashion have worsened the problem, he said: “Yes because it’s easier and cheaper to essentially rip off these things and fast fashion has adopted iconic book covers… And I think that has prompted the trendy fast fashion companies to adopt a similar iconography and to nick it. They’re not getting licenses from any of the appropriate collecting societies… such as DACS [Design and Artists’ Copyright Society], which represents a vast number of artists and illustrators, so it would be easy to get these permissions.”
He added: “Of course, if you’ve registered your copyrights in America, seeing in America would be very valuable because every single illicit reproduction carries its own damages. And you know, there are organisations there that will pursue copyright infringements on a class action basis.”
His offered the following advice to artists: “Police your works but also do image searches and find out where these things are coming from and find out who the retailers are and essentially put a block on it, and also employ Trading Standards and Customs and Excise.
“If there’s an overall problem it may be worth a group of illustrators getting together and starting a class action. But one of the problems has been that as we, or as society gets lazier, and fast fashion is all about margins, that increasingly, even quite reputable companies are resourcing to infringement of copyright just to save the design cost.”
The Association of Illustrators, which has been in touch with illustrators about Temu, echoed Stephen’s comments on the worsening problem. The trade body’s publications and membership manager Derek Brazell told The Bookseller: “Unfortunately, this issue of infringing illustrators, photographers and designers’ artwork is growing, and there appears to be a business model for a number of platforms where they create infringing products, with the platform probably being aware that it is difficult for creators outside of the platform’s territory to challenge infringements.
“We have had members contact us over several platforms using their illustrations without permission, one of which offers a payment if they’re challenged, but unsurprisingly the payment does not reflect the use the work may have been put to. It is a frustrating situation, for the creators who are being exploited, and for the creative sphere in general.”
Additionally, DACS head of legal Simon Marshall said: “At DACS, we’re seeing an increasing number of cases where our members discover their works reproduced for sale on online marketplaces without their permission. The combination of AI image generation, the ease with which works are copied and circulated online, and the rapid growth of marketplace platforms means creative works can be shared and exploited more easily than ever before.
“Too often, the burden falls on individual creators to monitor these platforms and pursue action by sending takedown notices one by one, while the platform profits. This makes it vital that the creative industries stand together to protect copyright, and that platforms take greater responsibility for preventing unauthorised uses of artists’ work.”
Temu said that the listings in question had been removed from sale prior to The Bookseller’s query. The company continued: “We have expanded our review and added relevant designs to our IP database for proactive monitoring, as part of our ongoing commitment to protecting intellectual property on our platform. Rights holders can contact us at our IP portal if they have any issues.”