It seems that copyright issue is not important here in Malaysia as copyright violations happen everyday. Recently, my friend Sha saw a furniture ad in local newspaper featuring my Raya Em’s doll illustration. I bet if I asked, the person behind it would tell me they did not know that the illustration has its owner. This has always been the case. People (graphic designers included) actually did not know that taking artworks/illustrations/images/drawings from the Internet is wrong (unless the terms stated it can be used commercially.)

Some people would even have the face to say, “if you don’t want your images violated, do not upload on the Internet.” This kind of remark is saddening. Instead of apologising, they prefer to condemn the effort for putting up images, even when the terms of usage is stated clearly on the blog…even when they searched for images, the terms “this image is subjected to copyright” will popped up together with the search. In my case, I put it up because I am a freelance illustrator. I promote my work on the Internet. When I put it up on the Internet, it doesn’t mean that anybody can take it or use it for free without my consent. I am not that stingy with my illustrations, I offer it for personal use to accompany articles with the terms; ask me first, credit my name and link to my blog, as per my terms-of-use page. I also offer some free banners for personal use to use without seeking my permission.

On one recent case, my Merdeka Girl illustration has been integrated in Merdeka sales ad. I e-mailed the owner, left messages on his/her facebook and but no reply. I checked back few days later and thankfully, the illustration has been taken out. But sorry seems to be the hardest word; no words at all from the violators. Courtesy and copyright awareness are lacking in my own country. What can I do about it? Reaching to all through my blog or my FB page? By phone calls? E-mails? I tried all. When I was about to give-up, a good friend, Linda, said to me, “Lets talk to the press.”

And so we did. Our plea to let people know that taking images from the Internet for commercial use is WRONG has been published in Berita Harian, a local Bahasa Melayu newspaper that has millions of readership throughout Malaysia. I hope this time, it will not fall on deaf ears/blind eyes. I am trying my best to create awareness about copyright and hopefully it gets into the mind of half of the readership, if not all. I know some people can still be ignorant even if we try to educate them.

So, yeah. I will continue to raise the issue everytime my rights on my own images/illustrations have been violated. In below article, we also highlight the rights that illustrators (image owners, this can apply to photographers as well) that they might not know of.

To get yourself educated about copyright, please visit MyIPO website.

Berita Harian, 28 Julai 2012. Click to view larger version.

P/S My agent has wrote to the furniture owner and we’ll see whether there’s a reply or not.