RIPPED GRAPHICS IN HUGI #14: THE TRUE STORY

ÄÄÄ( Adok/Hugi )ÄÄÄ

          Since I get a lot of spam via e-mail, I am accustomed to delete
        every mail looking like spam immediately. It was only pure chance
        that I did not delete the  mail I got from the webmaster of a
        porn-site on Sunday, March 14th. The subject caught my attention. It
        was: "Stolen Artwork". Unbelievable! What does a porn-site have to do
        with artwork? I began to read.

          "Some of my artwork was stolen and used in your issue #14. Can
        you please direct me to the appropriate person that can rectify this
        problem? I want my artwork REMOVED from your e-mag."

          Was that a new kind of spam? Or was it meant seriously? How did an
        ominous porn-site-webmaster get Hugi? What artwork could be ripped
        from a porn-site? We have never published any porn-picture in Hugi.

          In order to ensure that the mail was serious, I replied with the
        following: "Of  course [I will remove the stolen 'artwork']. But you
        have to tell me who you are and what exact 'artwork' you mean. How
        can you prove that you are its creator? As soon as I have got your
        answer, I will contact the author immediately."

          On the next day I got the reply. It turned out that the webmaster
        of the ominous porn site was DaVinci of iCE. Everyone who has some
        knowledge of the art-scene  knows  what iCE is. It is a huge
        art-group. DaVinci, one of many members, creates pixel graphics using
        Photoshop. My interest was arisen. I took an extensive look at his
        personal homepage and realized that the logo on the navigation page
        was quite similar to the winning picture in the Hugi Logo Competition
        by DARKflare/ActiveFuel. The border was identical, and the background
        of DARKflare's picture was an image in the "Lightening Tutorial" at
        DaVinci's homepage. For me, there was no doubt that the roots of the
        contest-winning picture were here.

          On his "Rip-Off" page, DaVinci showed a screenshot of DARKflare's
        picture. The text below said: "This piece of stolen artwork is the
        winning entry for a splash screen contest for HUGI DISK MEGA ZINE.
        HUGI14. FEB99 http://home.pages.de/~hugidownload/ Despite my begging
        and pleading, the thief stole my DaVinci logo from this site, chopped
        out the inside, used the lightening images from my lightening
        tutorial (he didn't even make his own), then he ripped off the name
        bar from my Fravia logo to put the name 'HUGI disk magazine' on. The
        artist credited for this mess is Darkflare of ActiveFuel. He even
        signed his name on the lower left corner. [...] If you're wondering
        why I'm uptight about my artwork, here is the reason why."

          The next step for me to do was to contact DARKflare and inform him
        on the matter. I could not believe anyone would risk sending stolen
        graphics to Hugi, as our Legal Stuff section clearly states that all
        contributions "have to be free of third-party-rights".

          A few hours later I got DARKflare's answer, which he had also sent
        to DaVinci. He showed great concern. He admitted not having made the
        picture all by himself but having used some of DaVinci's images.
        However, he said that he had been given permission to use the
        graphics by a "fake DaVinci".

          Since it was now obvious that this picture had violated
        third-party-rights, I disqualified it from the logo competition and
        removed it from Hugi.

          In this way the other places moved up by one. Luminos/MAC was now
        the true winner of the competition. His picture was used as the
        closing picture in the new version of Hugi #14. I uploaded Hugi #14
        v1.1 on March 17th and announced it in several newsgroups.

          At this occasion I want to appeal to everyone once again that
        every contribution to Hugi has to be free of third-party-rights.
        This spares us all a lot of trouble and work.

          With this, I want to officially apologize to DaVinci.

                                                                  - adok^hugi

DaVinci's reply

          [editor: i contacted davinci asking if he had anything to say...
        he has! :) and here it is...]

          ps: thanks for your note. I guess what I'd like to say is that I'm
        happy to have received cooperation from both adok and the group
        ActiveFuel. Both were embarassed by this incident, and the whole
        thing is most unfortunate.

          What's really a shame is that Darkflare does not have the courage
        to confess to stealing my work, but instead says he received
        permission from "a fake DaVinci".  That's ridiculous because he
        knows me, knows that I'm in #phrozencrew on Efnet, and knows where
        my site is and how to contact me. Anyway, he must now suffer the
        penalty for his actions, and his name is forever ruined in the art
        scene community. He has proven to be untrustworthy, a thief, and a
        liar.

          In closing I would like to thank the thousands of visitors to my
        site who know my work and report back to me when they see it used
        without my permission. If someone rips me, they will get caught.
        It's not a question of IF, but a question of WHEN. We should all
        work together and learn from each other instead of ripping each
        other's work. It is in the spirit of fellowship and of sharing our
        techniques that we all grow and improve together.

        Best regards,
                                                 DaVinci [iCE / Phrozen Crew]