This is a thing I thought would never happen to me since I was 8. Back then, a cousin of mine used to hide my drawings and take them to her art class, to be graded on (obviously pretending to be hers). I found that out when, one day, I stumbled upon a pile of old drawings of mine, all with a big, red "10" (the equivaent of "A" mark) on them.
I felt flattered and betrayed at the same time. She was STEALING from me - my work, my ideas, my identity.

Yet, history repeats itself. About a week ago, I was notified here, on deviantart.com that one of my photographs was participating in a contest I had no idea about. That person was asking (and I thank her for that) if I was the participant or if I had given my permission for using it.

My cat, potrayed in "Whaaaat?", was in a kitty contest. The thief, some girl, was lying with no remorse. You want to know what for? Awkward. A nice, comfy basket, for these domestic felines. No, it wasn't a large amount of money, it wasn't fame and glory. She was stealing shamelessly to win a basket. She had also given my(female) cat an idiotic and masculine name - "Butzu".

Unfortunately, suing someone for such a cause would be rather a loss of money for me. So that's out of question, even if she would have deserved it. I guess people steal artwork exactly because they do not fear getting caught. What a shame...

Bad news is I'll have to use a watermark (which i deeply despise seeing all over my works) to prevent such things from happening. And I was just thinking... If I had some money to waste, I would probably say hello to that girl in court. Just for her and others like her to undestand that plagiarism is a serious, shameful issue.


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