Settled amicably
———————————————————————————————————————
I am taking this opportunity to thank my friend, Adilah Bakar, who discovered about the illustrations, my lawyer Mr Harris Abdullah for the speedy demand letter, and to all who have given me support throughout this copyright issue. Thank you so much.
———————————————————————————————————————
Despite having a mild fever, I forced myself up this morning and went with my husband to meet the owner of Swensen’s Cafe (SC), Mr Tan Lian Ann, a very soft spoken man with a sweet face. When we came, he was in a meeting and apologised that he had to attend to us a bit late. He greeted us with a smile and invited us to his room. We talked about the issue regarding my illustrations that appeared on the calendar that his company produced as giveaway to customers. SC entrusted the graphic designer with all their creative works without knowing that the designer has a shortfall of not being able to illustrate by himself. They fired him two days after they got my e-mail. I felt sorry that the designer had to learn the hard way. But I guess he learned the lesson well, not to simply take images from the internet. Like Mr Brad said, “The default you should assume for other peopleβs works is that they are copyrighted and may not be copied unless you know otherwise.”
Anyway, we settled the issue amicably with help from HKM lawyers and came to an agreement that I give him the right to use my five characters for a year, for a total amount that I am not going to disclose. Mr Tan has thought this over as he didn’t want to think it as him being penalised for what his former employee did and for me not to profit from his misfortune. That is good enough for me and I agreed.
It is sad to learn that all calendars have been destroyed.
Before coming to see Mr Tan, I did a background check on him. Well, what can I do, am a big fan of Magnum PI. I found out that he is a Chess Champion so I asked him about it. He smiled and talked enthusiastically about chess. He was a chess prodigy at the age of 9 and reigned supreme in the 1950s and 60s as the Singapore and Malayan Chess Champion. He traveled the world to play in chess tournaments and in 1973, he was awarded International Master.
My husband and I had fun listening to his story and before we left, I showed him my illustrations portfolio and since he has no graphic designer, he told me that he might want me to illustrate for him. Since his company deals with a lot of kiddies stuff (Nuk and Lego), he said it’s a blessing that we meet each other as my expertise is in children illustration.
I am glad to have met Mr Tan today.
42 Comments
LadyJava
Yeay!!! Singaporeans are so nice pple kan Emila? lol!!
LadyJava
So happy for you dearie.. all settled. and now life can move on π
LadyJava
A blessing in disguise indeed.. you got another client!!
emila
indeed, lj! π
emila
yes, life goes on.
emila
that’s what mr tan and i keep telling each other π
mangosteenskin
everything happened for a reason.
emila
betul tu mysara
Iskandar aka DR Bubbles
Kak, saya suka dengan kesudahan episod hidup ini. Alhamdulillah! Moga terus dimurahkan rezeki. Amin! (The Power of Nice!)
emila
Is, amin. Saya pun suka.
Nia
boleh pulak org tu makan gaji dengan cara menipu ye kak. mcm2 perangai manusia ni.
Whitey Mommy
alhamdulillah akk… ada hikmah daripada apa yang berlaku…:)
see, you got new job…:)
boleh belanja kebab ni…eh, up sikit… belanja pizza…ngeh2
emila
macam-macam dik….
Whitey Mommy
akk take care for ur fever… a good news yang leh akk segar sikit…:)
emila
alhamdulillah dik. boleh saja belanja pizza.
emila
heheh betul tu, dik. segar banyak dapat berita baik ni, kalau tidak semalam asyik terperuk je kat katil, panas sejuk panas sejuk batuk dan selsema.
jalilah
syukur…segala sesuatu yg berlaku adalah ketentuan Allah jua.
emila
betul tu kak ilah, syukur alhamdulillah.
Siamesecatz
Wow… I just went thru ur older entries to get the full story… Glad it all went well… It’s kinda blessing in disguise…. You think so?
marvic
wah..i loike byk2..story ended with something better…far more better than naik turun court..hehehe..dari jauh..saya nak kirim…..nanti akan dipikirkan barangan nya…cewahhhh..nak jugak ni…hahaha
emila
kena kirim aiskrim je hehe
emila
yes, i like to think it’s a blessing in disguise π
darkstar
dah selamat.. nice la akak. kesian juga desginer tu learn pengajaran copyright dengan akhirnya dipecat. Tapi itu bukan salah kita..
Itu tindakan bos dia sendiri. Semoga lain hari, desgner2 lain pun waspada seket bab2 menCOPY.
Salute kak emi =)
zulkbo
salam…
ermmm..tahniah
akhirnya berbaloi juga
kerja2 anda..alhamdulillah
mrs jamal
alhamdulillah, sume dah settle ee.
p/s: kak, ayu ada contest untuk akak, sila la amik ye.. π
ET
This is great news! Many people will learn somethin’ from your experience especially in regard of Art works! Congrats kak Emi :).
Bem69
Rupa- rupanya ada hikmahnya. Good to know this was settled with the casualty being the designer but padan muka for attempting to prove the grqphic is not from you. Mr. Tan is very professional. I guess I’m see more Emila illo in Swensen’s?
emila
ya jeeb, ada hikmahnya.
hopefully π
emila
betul ET. kak emi harapa dapat beri kesedran tentang artwork copyright.
emila
alhamdulillah ayu. ok, nanti kak emi pi ambil ya, thanks.
emila
salam. alhamdulillah.
emila
dah selamat semuanya dik. yelah, kalau dia tak menipu takdelah bos dia nak marah.
Unsunghero
Salam Emila…moga pereka grafik berkenaan juga mendapat hikmah di sebalik apa yang terjadi ke atasnya. Emila…moga terus sukses π
emila
Salam Unsunghero. Saya juga berharapan yang sama, agar ianya memberi kesedaran tentang hakcipta.
bain
salam kak Emi.
ada lagi org lain copycat drawings kak Emi ni then guna utk kepentingan diri sendiri tanpa kebenaran kak Emi. sabo jelaa…
mmg ada byk hikmah disebaliknya.
emila
ya bain, lepas tu tak mengaku ambil kat blog, kata ambil kat free hosting…padahal dia sendiri upload kat free hosting.
Khemy
Alhamdulillah semua dah selesai. Harap designer tu tak berdendam dengan awak Emila lepas ni sebab dia kena fired. I hope he learned his lesson, not holding a grudge on you. Nanti ko sms la aku berapa Mr. Tan bayar. Sajer, nak busybody.
Karaoke kot…….Hehehehehehe.
ps: Emi aku turun 6 kg sebab mabukses. Huhuhu.
emila
whoaa! kurus sudah! aku naik 6kg, boleh? hahahaha
alhamdulillah ida, settle dah, aku harap benda ni dia jadikan ikhtibar…dan aku juga berharap dia belajar melukis. melukis ni satu proses yang penting bagi designer.
mendenya nak karaoke, kau tu mabukses.
fifth
salam. i’ve been following you blog, kak emila, for quite some time, used a few freebies happily, as i found your illustration in jakim magazines a few years back and was wondering who did the cute characters there, and it was you. glad you stand up for your right. hope to see many more illustrations in future!
emila
glad you like the cartoons. been doing illustrations for jakim kid’s magazine for 2 years before i call it a quit this year. dah tak larat π
fifth
too bad. maybe you can produce a comic book for kids some day. i mean, your cartoon characters are so distinct and catchy that even a layman like me could recognize it right away, i don’t really understand why people think its ok to take other people’s hard work. π
emila
I am so glad that you can recognise my work…will try to work on comic books for kids, that is one great idea. π