Illegal reproduction of the work of others
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (384554)
Rockingham, Australia
July 13, 2026 2:24am CST
I’ve been hearing more and more about people’s designs and products being illegally reproduced and sold on various sites.
The particular one I read about was a mosaic sold by Julie Aldridge from South Australia in 2013. The Sunset Wave design was exhibited at the Barossa Regional Gallery and did not sell at the time. Later, a Californian man bought the piece saying he’d found it on Pinterest. As Julie had not put it online, she thought that maybe the exhibition put the artworks online.
Thirteen years later, Julie continues to see images of the mosaic on quilts, canvases, colouring-in sheets, mats, rugs and on crochet sites. Julie has reported all the accounts she found and Temu in particular was quick to take down those on their site. None of the sites have permission, give accreditation or offer compensation. Using a keywords search for ‘sunset’, mosaic’ and ‘wave’ will bring up works using Sunset Wave. I can only see this becoming a bigger and bigger problem over time. Some people have no ethics.
The photo is mine.
16 people like this
14 responses
@Nawsheen (28772)
• Mauritius
13h
That is awful. Imagine spending so much time creating something original, only to see others copy it, sell it and make money without permission or credit. Sadly, with images spreading so quickly online, I agree that this problem will only get worse.
2 people like this
@LadyDuck (504360)
• Italy
15h
I know that it's a problem. It even happened to me when I wrote for Squidoo. A commercial site "copied" an article I wrote about car ports, with photos and everything". It was a serious problem because Squidoo thought that I was the one who illegally reproduced the article. I am glad I could prove it showing the date of publication.
2 people like this
@RasmaSandra (98995)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
1h
Hopefully there can be a way to control this expecially when the artists are the crative ones and put in so much work on their designs,
@Shiva49 (28506)
• Singapore
7h
Now some indulge in unethical behavior and mostly get away with it.
They get AI to write articles for them and pass them on as their own.
Then AI images being circulated of "celebrities".
Some say AI can only copy and alter but will not have originality like humans.
@teamfreak16 (44291)
• Denver, Colorado
15h
People will steal anything. Even if it's nailed down.
1 person likes this
@Ineeddentures (38032)
•
Just now
Aye
I know someone who uses other people's designs and alters them slightly so they are not exactly the same.
He admits it
He says everybody is doing it
@rsa101 (41404)
• Philippines
14h
It’s unfortunate that so many still choose to copy and profit from the work of original authors, whether it’s art or written pieces. It’s often difficult to catch those who do it, and it usually only comes to light when someone complains and takes legal action.
@toniganzon (77660)
• Philippines
11h
It is a big problem and it's something that happens quite often these days.
@rebelann (117646)
• El Paso, Texas
9h
It's such a shame, I personally believe that a lot of the problems are with the AI's everyone seems bent on using. The programmers who create AI's for other people to use need to be held to the same standards as anyone else
@wolfgirl569 (137308)
• Marion, Ohio
9h
It is easy to steal images so is bad. Imagine tho that temu was fast in responding 
. We know how often we hear bad about them
. We know how often we hear bad about them
@Fleura (35631)
• United Kingdom
12h
I guess this has always gone on but it's so much easier now.
Even Dylan Thomas did it!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czejdpy81k0o
@2ndchances24 (12388)
• Cloverdale, Indiana
13h
I have to agree with @Nawsheen that's been going on for years
there's a lot of thieves in the world that's too dump or lazy to come
up with something of their own it's easier to just steal it for themselves.
