White Wolf in plagiarism shocker

[karohemd]

So apparently, the upcoming Hunter: The Vigil book contains at least one blatant ripoff illustration (the cover of Devil May Cry 3). Click the link to nash076's post with relevant links to RPG.net and other sites where it's confirmed.

What gets me is that a company like WW should have procedures in place to prevent that from happening (or am I being green in that assumption?).
Possibly, it was a case of a rushed/missed deadline ("We need a pic on that page NOW, I don't care what it is") but that would be at the very least unprofessional and not what one would expect from one of the leading publishers in the industry.

Comments

[belak-krin.livejournal.com]

It is virtually impossible for the company to know if an image has been plagiarised unless it's something *supremely* obvious/the editor happens to own and recognise the plagiarised image.

The image in question is generic as all hell - "moody bloke with shotgun over shoulder stands on skulls" has been used a million times in goth/rpg/sci-fi/comic artwork. If hadn't used the same pose, hair and skulls it would have been absolutely fine and no one would even have questioned it. The only way they would have noticed the plagiarism was if one of the editing staff owned DMC3 and noticed the similarity. I could totally rip off the artwork from some Mills & Boon for a piece and I doubt you would notice after all.

There is no proceedure you can put into place to search all published images for 'similar artwork'. You can't google 'looks like this'.

The company put their trust in the artist to provide original, legal artwork. The fault does not rest with White Wolf, but with the illustrator who worked up that image, and I hope will find any relevant damages passed swiftly on to him.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

*nods* OK, I can see that it could be tricky.

Hopefully, that "illustrator" will find it incredibly difficult to find work in the future.

[belak-krin.livejournal.com]

They certainly won't be working for WW. It's clearly a direct copy, if not a trace.

[damianobf.livejournal.com]

yeah I was going to say something similar. There is no way you can check every image submitted against every image out there just have something in the artists contract i suppose which says do not submit plagarised images!

[belak-krin.livejournal.com]

It doesn't need to be - the image demonstrates copyright infringement. It is the artist's legal responsibility to not steal someone else's work, and has nothing to do with contracts.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

It's just possible that it'll turn out to be someone who drew it without remembering that he'd seen the original - I doubt it but it's possible. It's pretty bloody stupid either way.

[suzerain.livejournal.com]

as an artist, I'd say that is *absolutely* impossible.

The illustration is a direct copy in terms of proportion, with superficial details added, and unless the artist has a photographic memory Leonardo would've killed for, it's a direct ripoff - I'd have guessed either traced or used as an underlay.

[hesster56.livejournal.com]

Yikes. Always been a fan of WW, but you'd think after the whole Underworld thing, they'd be more careful. Yes, there's a buttload of art in their books, and yes, some of it occasionally will look similar to another work of popular culture, but most of that is done in homage. 15 pages into the Brujah clanbook is a guy that looks like Mike Tyson with fangs or something.

But this, this is...yikes. Now, another legal wrench to throw in there would be "Is this art being used to sell the book, or is it just in there somewhere?"

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

You mean a calling the kettle black situation? Yeah, this is far more blatant whereas Underworld was a story involving Vampires and Werewolves which used a standard expression (abomination). The fact that it looked like a high budget MET game is beside the point. ;o)

Judging by the scan, it's just an illustration on an inside page.

[eddyfate.livejournal.com]

You mean a calling the kettle black situation?

Hrm, a movie with over 40 points of similarity to a story White Wolf produced, compared to one art piece submitted by a freelancer that White Wolf failed to notice? Can you explain to me how that's remotely similar?

[lupie-stardust.livejournal.com]

This makes me Angry.

[ginasketch.livejournal.com]

FAIL

They should have hired moodie.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Now that would be awesome!

[belak-krin.livejournal.com]

Next time around I peg moody for the cover and we'll split the inside ;)

[diasporal-waves.livejournal.com]

My first thought was "But that's Dante, not Virgil", then I re-read your post...oops to me too :)

Hmm, it is impossible to draw something that does not resemble some other piece of art work, but that looks like a photoshop cut and paste of the original!

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Heh.
*nods* A character in a similar stance with a different outfit and hairstyle would be acceptable but this looks like he just replaced the sword with the gun and added a few buttons to the jacket.

[eddyfate.livejournal.com]

We trust our freelancers to provide us content that is theirs, not someone else's. Sometimes, that trust gets violated. We can't possibly check every piece of material we get against the entire body of human productivity to verify that it's someone's original work. We are looking into options to deal with the situation. I don't consider it "unprofessional" to have trusted that our freelancers are ethical, but others are likely to form their own opinions regardless of logic or knowledge of the situation.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

*nods*
My "unprofessional" comment referred to the "we need something now, I don't care what it is" option.

[eddyfate.livejournal.com]

I still disagree. Sometimes, freelancers blow deadlines. Sometimes by a lot. Sometimes we do have to ask for work on very short notice, and mistakes are made. If a company is unprofessional every time they make an honest mistake, then no copy is professional. While I'm not Mike Chaney and can't speak for him, I personally don't consider him not knowing that a piece of art he contracted (on whatever time frame) resembling something from a game he might have never seen in his life to be a "mistake."

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Fair enough!

[bringeroflight.livejournal.com]

A few years back, Games Workshop had to pay out a load because a freelancer plagiarised Elfstones of Shannara heavily...