“For every shop I dismantled, ten more would pop up out of nowhere,” says Jödicke. “I almost wanted to give up my art, because I was so devastated that people were just taking my work and profiting from it, and I saw nothing in return.”
The widespread popularity of Where light and darkness meet This only added to the sentiment, and it was unclear where Jödicke should start. “When infringing use is widespread, it may not be possible to pursue every infringement,” says Eziefula. “Especially if it occurs abroad, when the damage caused is minimal.”
Too often, however, the damage is significant, both because artists’ income is siphoned off and because their brand is diluted, making them a more difficult proposition for potential customers. People often feel entitled to the artwork they find on the internet, and artists face hostility when they try to claim ownership over it. Yet that entitlement is exactly what broke the dam for Jödicke and paved the way for her to fight back.
In 2020, Jödicke He was especially lucky when Aaron Carter, pop singer and brother of Nick from the Backstreet Boys, wore one of the artist’s other pieces, titled Fraternityto promote his clothing line on Twitter (now X). The image, which shares the same vibe as Jödicke’s galaxy wolf, shows two lions butting heads, one white and one black, as their manes curl into a heart shape. A frustrated Jödicke slammed Carter on Twitter. Demands for recognition or removal are often met with stony silence. On this occasion, Jödicke received a response:
“You should have taken that as a compliment you moron, a fan of MINE sent me this,” Carter wrote alongside a repost of Jödicke’s tweet, according to a Court filing from August 2020“Oh here they go again, the answer is No, this picture has been made public and I’m using it to promote my clothing line… Guess I’ll see you in small claims court, FUCK.”
For the first time, thanks to Carter’s response, Jödicke had options. The public nature of this exchange had intellectual property lawyers lining up to represent him, and after years of watching others make money off his art, Jödicke called Carter to tell him of his threat.
After a year of legal proceedings in the U.S. District Court in central California, Jödicke says he secured a five-figure settlement for the violation of his copyright. It was an eye-opening moment. “I had never had any kind of justice,” Jödicke says. “That really motivated me to seek more legal advice and see if I could do something about all the art theft.” (Carter died in 2022.)
This was a singular infringement with an immediately identifiable infringer. Countering the widespread sale of his work on various merchandising items would be a much more complicated task. Nevertheless, his victory against Carter attracted the attention of the British community. IP by Edwin JamesThe firm turned to Jödicke with its resources, specifically its expertise in stopping domain counterfeiters where copyright laws are more lax, such as China.
