Rich Morris' Comics - YAFGC and The ComixBlog

So, I couldn't help but notice that he's still selling the shirts with Rich's image on them on Ebay. I have a plan to fix that though.

I am going to buy one of his shirts, return it, then leave negative feedback for him saying the artwork was stolen. If a bunch of people do that he will have to stop selling them. If he tries to refuse a refund, Paypal will issue one for him.

"That which doesn't kill me will soon regret its failure."
~Athene

Do you actually need to buy something from him to leave negative feedback? I thought that was open to anyone.

Also there's a possibility his site is virus infested. One of the comments people found a virus on their computer, and they had visited his site and thought it might have come from there.

Yes, you can only leave feedback if you make a purchase. That is why I had planned to buy the offending shirt and return it before I left feedback. He has no choice but to refund the purchase price or Paypal will do it for him. The more you buy and return the more negative feedback you can leave.

I don't know about any virus, I'm running Mac.

Ebay is notorious for believing the seller over the customer tho, so be careful. I know folks who bought stuff, returned it, and the seller got to keep the money and the stuff.

Thank's, but that hasn't been my experience. Even so, at least I'll get to leave feedback. If I'm going to make a stand against something, I'm going to make it worth my effort.

I've already made the order, I'm just waiting for it to get here.

Now this is one where lawyers would really be useful.

Person A is offering for sale object O, something they do not have the right to sell. Person B knows this but agrees to buy O for a sum of money M. B receives O and somehow still has M or regains M. What legal obligations does B now have?

If O had been a stolen object, then I suspect the law would be simple. B would be entitled to keep the money but would also be obliged to do their best to ensure that O was returned to its rightful owner (C) otherwise they would be guilty of a criminal offence of knowingly receiving a stolen object. B would have no obligations to A as the contract to sell was unlawful given that A had no legal title to O.

In this case things aren't so clear cut. The design belongs to C (Rich), the concept to D (the Beeb), the shirt material and ink to A. So what is B obliged to do when they find themselves in possession of both M and O? If they painted over the design and returned the shirt to A what would the legal position be? Could A sue for damage to the shirt when they have no right to the design on it? If B placed the shirt in C or D's hands and informed A where it was, what laws could A use against whom?

Well, that was certainly convoluted! I get what your trying to say, but have no idea what answer is appropriate overall. I do know which answer is appropriate for me and that is that if A pays for return shipping A gets said item back. If A does not pay for return shipping A gets both diddly and squat (collectively) and B will likely ship the shirt to C (assuming C wants said item). Not sure what B will do if C does not want the item though. I like the art, but the quote, not so much.

I'm not sure what Rich or Hilary would do - my first thought was paint over the quote with something in the style of the Missing Children ads-

"Have you seen me?"
Last seen stolen from Rich Comix fan art by suchandsuch. Report any sitings of stolen art to suchandsuch.

Still, as long as the thief gets no money from his thieving ...
(I personally don't think the bit about him selling no shirts is any truer than the rest of his story, and would hate for the publicity of his theft to bring him increased sales.)

It's done. I got the shirt, it smelled awful, was covered in dog hair and the pting is splotchy. I was given a refund and told to keep the shirt and donate it to a charity. I left negative feedback warning about stolen artwork.

An Ebay seller is nothing without a positive feedback rating. If everyone does this he will no longer be able to sell his pirated crap there. That will be a big win for us because the holidays are coming and he stands to make a decent amount of money between now and then.

By the way, would someone please PM me an address to mail my shirt to Rich?

Please don't. We have no interest in being involved in this effort. We have made our case to the trademark and copyright holders, and since we're not the original purchasers, have no way to take this up with eBay other than what we've already done.

I am not asking you to take anything up with Ebay, I did what I set out to do and I am done. I simply wish to return the unauthorized copy of your art that I now have in my possession. As far as I'm concerned it is your's by right. The seller doesn't want it back and keeping it myself Just feels wrong.

I will do whatever you want me to do with the shirt, though.

I just got an interesting response from Canacreations about my negative feedback. He sent me the following:




A note left on the feedback I gave him says:

What a nutcase. As if everyone who knows who the Doctor is wouldn't know he can't copyright a drawing of the Doctor without BBC getting involved.

Yeah, I only wish I had the real copyright info to post in response. What he has posted doesn't have to be true, so long as no one contradicts him people will believe him.