Nov. 6th, 2012 at 5:57 PM
WHO: SoulEevee99 on Deviantart
WHERE: http://souleevee99.deviantart.com/
WHAT: Stole an icon template from me and has been altering and selling on DeviantArt for DA points.
WHEN: Just discovered today, apparently they started October 13th of this year
PROOF: Their journal entry asking for commissions with icons (Screencap in case of deletion)
Original icons by me on my FurAffinity
Overlay showing trace
EXPLAIN:
LATEST UPDATE: Followed onto FA and sent more harassing notes from Grovyle
I do a lot of commissions on Chicken Smoothie, a virtual pet game. I began selling "dango icons" like the ones linked to my FurAffinity on the Proof section in October of 2010 for collectible pets on CS (Link to thread. Date is off since I edited the post, but according to my records I started selling them in October.) I stopped selling them last year in favor of new products.
While browsing around the art shops on CS, I found SoulEevee99's art commission thread, which linked to the DA journal above full of stolen icons that were paid for in DA Points. A lot of their friends are using these icons not knowing they paid for stolen material.
I confronted the artist and not only did they deny their theft, their SO is threatening to report me for harassment. The comment thread is capped here, I am Rainbow-Smashed. (The replies occurred while I was typing this post) I admit my initial post was rather threatening, I should have been more polite and I fully acknowledge my tone was harsh.
This is the first time I've had my art sold and I'm pretty upset. Even though it may be for DA points and not real money, it's still disappointing. I have filed reports both on Chicken Smoothie and DeviantArt. Their art commission thread on CS has been locked but I have yet to hear back from DA.
The SO and the artist continue to deny their theft and I've ceased communication after my last reply with sources. I will let DA handle it and hope they rule in my favor.
UPDATES POST-APPROVAL: So this is more recent events that have occurred since before this entry got approved. It's been a wacky whirlwind lemme tell ya.
The thief's friends jumped on me for trying to get my work taken down and defended their friend. Even with SoulEevee's friends trying to pick fights with me, I ignored them and decided to wait until DA's ruling.
DA got back to me on my report and told me to file a DMCA due to "complications in the case." (I'm assuming the complication is that I use different usernames in different places but it beats me tbh.)
I sent in a DMCA takedown notice to their violations department on November 7th. As of this entry's approval and this edit (November 11th) the stolen art remains up and the thief has hidden comments from me, their friends defending SoulEevee, and a friend of mine trying to convince the thief's SO that my work was indeed stolen. All that's left is comments in Czech that I don't understand.
I foolishly did not cap all the comments. But they did decide to put up this journal yelling at people and vaguely discussing my accusations.
At this point all I can do is sigh and hope DA complies with my takedown notice.
EDITS (NOVEMBER 12th, 2011): SoulEevee has decided to harass me not only on DA but Chicken Smoothie as well.
DA Comments (link to thread. It's on my page and I will not be hiding these.)
They have also provided a blog post to try and prove that I am a thief. Blog post dates can be altered and the "stolen icon" is really a painted over version of Wildstorm's icon on Chicken Smoothie.
Blog post (with original icon)
Image data of "original" icon proves it was made on November 12th, 2012, not 2009. (Big big thank you to !)
Sora-kun is not only my furry name but my FurAffinity page, active since 2006. I am slightly disturbed by the coincidence.
They also made this journal post and linked me to it on my profile comments to further harass me. I have reported this user for harassment on Chicken Smoothie and DA and have asked them to leave me alone, a request they have not complied with as they and their boyfriend, Grovyle, keep trying to pick a fight with me and continue to smear me on their own pages.
As of November 13th, I have ceased communication with both Grovyle (the boyfriend) and SoulEevee.
NOVEMBER 14TH UPDATE: Even after my request to stop using my stolen template, SoulEevee has still been using it. SoulEevee, using Grovyle as a messenger, is now claiming a third party gave them the icons, claimed the work as their own, and gave SoulEevee permission to use them. Since SoulEevee has yet to provide a name for this third party (which I would expect they would offer up as soon as they were caught) I strongly believe this is also another lie to try and avoid taking responsibility for their actions.
My DMCA notice on DA hasn't gone through (all icons are still there) or have been replied to. My ticket on Chicken Smoothie has been picked up and I am working with Chicken Smoothie staff to build a harassment case. I'm fairly certain they can't do anything about the offsite harassment but I included that in my ticket (as well as this AB) to give background as to how deep this goes.
UPDATE 2 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: My harassment ticket was responded to. I was told to simply block SoulEevee when it seems like Grovyle is doing the harassment. Grovyle has started not only sending me messages, but has been harassing another member of this comm as well as leaving messages with their friends on FA.
To top it all off, I got the passive aggressive non-apology to end all passive aggressive non-apologies (comment thread on DA.) This is just salt in the wounds and my nerves are already very VERY frayed. I've said my piece and blocked them. I will block them on any other accounts they try to contact me with. I'm beyond fed up.
To all who are getting harassing messages from Grovyle; please report them and accept my deepest apologies for their behavior.
NOVEMBER 15TH: DeviantART has denied my DMCA takedown notice. A lawsuit isn't worth it at all (due to international problems) so I've filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau regarding DA's denial of my DMCA.
NOVEMBER 18TH: Grovyle has sent me three notes on FA. Not only that, they started watching me!
Note 3 (Links to this. Dead link.)
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