A TikTok user named @Way0fJ is calling out an artist for recreating his family photo without permission to make money. The father claims that the unknown artist ripped off a picture of a sweet family photo that he took with his wife shortly after the arrival of their son years ago. Now, that same image is allegedly being sold in stores for purchase.
J wants the artist to “Pay up.”
“So, I’ve been alive 25 years, right? And I ain’t never ever seen nothing like this,” the TikTok star said in a video posted to his account Jan. 17.
“A little backstory, my family and I took these pictures like two years ago — almost three years ago. It went crazy viral on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,” he continued before he revealed the dodgy artwork similar to J’s family photo, which captures him kissing his wife as she swaddles their newborn baby boy.
“Let me show you what happened. Somebody took our picture, made a silhouette and put it in the store for $5. They made my son darker. They made my wife darker. I’m still the same skin tone, but damn!”
The frustrated patriarch said he wasn’t sure if he could get paid off the artist’s drawing because his face and the faces of his family members do not appear in the artwork. He doesn’t know who recreated the photo, either.
“Bro, that’s crazy work. That’s crazy work,” he added.
In the comments section, J’s followers tried to offer advice on how to deal with the bizarre situation. Netizens urged the social media star to consult a lawyer. A few people claimed that they saw the same drawing being sold at other locations like Ross and T.J. Maxx. One user alleged that Burlington was selling the bogus image for $30.
“Not me seeing this video with the $5 pic on my bedroom wall.”
“Call a media lawyer near you. They’ll let you know if you have a case or not.”
“That same portrait is in every Ross and T.J. Maxx in America lol.”
“Wow, see if you can reach out to a legal team. i think this may be worth pursuing if you can.”
“That is wild…but they getting more than 5$. I’ve seen same print for 30$ in Burlington.”
Take a look at a few more videos of the bizarre print being sold in stores below.
Is this copyright infringement?
This one is a tricky situation. Copyright is a legal protection that gives the owner of an original piece of work the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell or distribute their work. “This means that the original creators of products and anyone they authorize are the only ones with the exclusive right to reproduce the work,” Investopedia notes.
In this case, the artist did not ask J for permission to recreate the original photo, so this certainly looks and smells like copyright infringement, but J would need to be able to prove that his family photo was “extensively, obviously and knowingly” copied or imitated, according to The Law Tog. That might be hard to do now that the image is sold in stores.
Dang!
This is wild, and we hope the good brother can get legal help soon. Has this ever happened to you? Any advice? Let’s help J out.
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