Someone stole my photographs and exhibited them...

I wish I was making this up. But honestly, you just can't make this stuff up. My photographs were printed and exhibited without my consent, and in this video I talk about what exactly happened.
If... you want to support me instead of criminals, I'll give you a few options down here...
Go check out my newsletter here: ulyaoki.substa...
Contact me for original prints of your liking: [e-mail]
#photography #leica
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[@antwon8902]

I really don't understand how people thought you were in the wrong or conspired everything I saw everything unfold on twitter and it was like a fever dream.

[@danewetton]

Yea blows my mind. He’s handling this with professionalism and understanding

[@UlyssesAokiPhoto]

To this day I still think it was a fever dream 😂

[@UlyssesAokiPhoto]

Overwhelmed by the heartwarming comments on this video! I just wanted to express how much I appreciate everyone's moral support, and that I'm able to make more educated decisions because of an overall intelligent audience (you guys!). I truly belive that all your input over the years have helped me become a better person.

[@kelwinkwel]

amazing story. Inspiring and a message on forgiveness.

[@jaimeduncan6167]

I support your decision, and I guess I will do the same. On the other hand, I feel I need to say something to you, that you may not like. Narcissists are very good at manipulating people, and the more dangerous ones are better at it. I am talking about the body harm level of danger. If you get even more disappointed in him, because he does something similar again and you try to cut the relationship we don't know how he is going to react (if you stay close enough for him to fantasize that you are friends). I love that you show mercy, and I believe you may have a nice impact in his life, but please take care.

[@patyeaman]

You are such a kind and thoughtful person. You have tried to solve this problem the best you can all the while trying to help the perpetrator. Good on You!

[@PatrickSmith]

This has happened to me several times. Whenever I search for my photos, I see all sorts of unauthorized uses. At this point I’m only disappointed if somebody doesn’t win a competition with one of my photos.

[@PerfectNormal]

You’re awesome for being charitable and being empathetic for someone’s issues. You have earned even more of my respect. Bravo! That’s greatness right there.

[@jmbaug1229]

I admire your reaction and your level of maturity confronting such a troll. I remember years ago Richard Prince made a whole show in New York with stolen pictures from random instagram users. From my humble opinion the main root of the problem is how little or zero these big social media companies are protecting creators work and content. Sorry to hear that something so unpleasant and upsetting happened to you. ❤ from London J.

[@AlexanderSylchuk]

This type of theft is very damaging and hurtful on a personal level. It's quite hard to estimate actual economic harm, but it's a lot deeper than that, it's like stealing away part of you. When I was 6 I went to some art school where we were learning watercolor painting. I was the youngest child in our group, but everybody seemed to like my work very much. After a year or so our teacher asked for our best works to choose from for our local exhibition at that school. The works had to be displayed for a year and then they had to be replaced by newer stuff. Almost all of my art actually qualyfied for that exhibition (26 or 24 paintings in total), which was almost half of all the works represented. Then I went to primary school and my schedule overlapped the one at that art school. My cousin still went there and after half a year she had brought my works back, but only four paintings, teacher said that new kids took most of my works to show their parents. I got back only my worst works which I didn't like that much, but that feeling of not owning your own work, and understanding that someone else now claims it's ownership is very painful. It was just a child's watercolors, it wasn't some Monet or Picasso, but it was part of my personality and my identity which was taken. I still have some weird hope that it was somehow archived and signed under my name, even though it obviously does not have the same value for the others as it did for me. After having a bad art teacher at mid school I completely gave up on my art. For some reason that teacher didn't like anything I did and very often she blamed me for submitting someone else's work. The same problem in trying to prove that your work is actually yours. In my twenties I somehow got back to art, this time into photography, after buying a cheap Canon compact camera. This time I've read all the copyright laws and such. Even though my main career choice at the time didn't work out for unrelated reasons I decided to keep art my personal non-comercial endevour. I was sharing some of my photos on social media as everybody does. Maybe like 6 years ago or so my cousin called me on my birthday. She said all the nice words and told me that she saw my photos on my social media page. It's so important to hear that someone actually appreciate your work... - I saw your work online it's very nice, I painted some of it... - Oh, thanks. It's OK since it's non-commercial. I know that you work now at the university teaching art and design... - No, I sold those painting, they sell very well. - Yeah, cool, these are called reproductions... you know its kind of illegal, without a consent of original author, and quite unethical, but well, if it's for educational purposes, then maybe it's OK... - They are on the internet, that means they are free for all, no... That was probably some of the worst birthday congratulation one can make. Not only I was crushed by the betrayal of supposed friend and relative, but my work was stolen again. Even though I knew all the legal basis for that type of situation, I decided to do nothing. The thing was even worse, since I actually struggled financially at the time and knowing that someone was illegally gaining benefit from me wasn't very pleasant as well.

[@UlyssesAokiPhoto]

Thanks for the thoughtful reflection, and man that's a crazy, crazy situation. Thank you for sharing that. This obviously won't help, but I truly believe the only actual way of getting over it, is to keep creating things... especially since people deem our work so worthy of stealing. I refrained from mentioning this in the video... but I make a living mostly outside of photography. I take photos and share them because I need to do it, for me. I'm technically not financially in a struggle, but if I only had photography as a means of financial survival, well, I would honestly be in trouble. That's also why I'm struggling to grasp the situation I'm in too- I'm actually not some bigshot photographer as I may seem since I choose to be plastered on the internet. People that I stealing from me think I'm royalty free because they're under the impression my work has already "made the rounds". The harsh reality is, I've only had 1 large(ish) exhibition in Japan over the years, and I've never created a book of my work. In fact, since the guy that stole my work had a few exhibitions lined up in Japan through stealing my work, he already has more "success" that me in a more traditional sense. After all the negative press I got and tens of millions of people being aware of the issue, not one gallery or even individual has reached out to me to actually help me out from a meaningful standpoint. And yet, again, the guy that stole my work had more connections with albeit small, galleries and individuals that offered opportunity. I see this more as a structural issue rather than an issue I'm facing as an individual.

[@dansloss2566]

This is so heart-warming and heart-wrenching at the same time. Well done to you for your impressive, mature response. You don’t need to “fix” the problem. You’ve risen above it.

[@ania_kosma]

I applaud you for being so authentic and for approaching this from a very different angel. Seems like you've put a lot of thought and heart into this decision, despite going through all of the feelings, I am sure, this all evoked. If we all would put a little more compassion, empathy and understanding in difficult cirmostoances it would be a huge shift for this world. Thanks for being an example how things can be handled. This experience, for the 23 yr old, and your guiding hand may create another great photographer, eventually ... like yourself!!

[@jjonestowne]

Dude, this’s nuts. Like i get people steal and post online like it’s theirs…but to have a whole exhibition? That’s next level. It’s shocking someone would do it in the first place, but also to think you’d get away with it…boggles the mind. Also, I can see not pressing charges. Honestly, I doubt I would either, so it’s not just you. Hope some of the hate eases up and you start feeling better about stuff. You’re a good dude, you deserve to not have the added stress.

[@aaronthecameraguy]

Respect for your empathy man. When you said he was 23 I instantly got your perspective. Hopefully this is a transformational moment for him and not having you take legal action against him and possibly putting him back further is the right thing to do. Its humiliating for him most likely, which will hopefully be enough. To be an artist and exhibit someones work that isnt yours shows how sad that person must be irl. I hope they grow from this and I hope they are happy one day because everyone deserves that. Gained a lot of respect for you man. Good job.

[@ControlTouchMaster]

I once had someone steal one of my photos and publish it in a news article.

[@yozegami]

I think you've handled this very well. Really, unless someone is making money from your work there's not much point in legally going after them. Hopefully this thief has been punished enough socially and will think twice before stealing work again.

[@avegaiii]

Sometimes depending on the law in said country it’s still a good idea to go after someone legally. Not doing so could be seen as giving consent.

[@PoeInTheDitch]

You're a very kind soul. In this circumstance, too kind perhaps. The thief is not going to just stop doing this, especially if he gets caught and then gets away with it in the end. If you know he's been lying through your exchanges, it proves that he has zero genuine remorse, only regret in being caught.

[@patrickmorgan5210]

Ulysses, this is the most important photography video I’ve seen in a while. Given the facts you laid out, I feel that your actions are rational and just. In terms of restorative justice, your working with the theft is admirable and can lead this person to change their path. In terms of justice, I also don’t see a pathway for financial compensation or justice through pressing charges since they did not really financially benefit through their theft (BTW, this is why I stopped posting on 500px since folks were stealing my photos, even if I am not a financially profitable photographer and I doubt they would be either). So, I’m totally with you, respect you even more, and am actually in awe with the path you chose.

[@jasonhalaykophotography]

Calling them out on Twitter and making this video is probably more than enough for this kind of situation. Chasing him down with the "law" is probably just waaaay more of a pain than anything.

[@The_Essential_Light]

Years ago I had two of my images made into posters for a major beer company without my knowledge or permission. At the time I couldn’t afford to get a lawyer but I threatened the restaurant that allowed the images to be used and that was enough to have the posters to be taken down.

[@JohanLorentzon]

I really like how you handled this issue. I hope you'll feel better soon and I hope the guy in Nagoya learned some kind of lesson. And, thank you for talking openly about it. Very interesting and informative. Keep up the good work!

[@chrisbeard9113]

This happened to me a few times with my art, was approached through social media by people with credentials from art and fashion design companies, their profiles were authenticated by the platforms, and after sending a high quality portfolio, they kept chatting with me a lot, A LOT, and it made me suspicious and I reverse image searched the person and found people who had posted online that they were scammed. I reverse image searched my own artwork and found it posted online on a few profiles claiming it as their own, from south East Asia. Art has always been copied and stolen, so be vigilant and realize it will continue to be copied and stolen far into the future using new technology and distribution methods.

[@matiasdonoso3374]

My respect is with you, I support every word you've said about this. I admire your strength, your patience, to hear and to get to understand the person that did this. I feel sorry to hear about the backlash you've received in twitter, social media is full of hatred sometimes. Keep it up, ánimo y fuerza, nanaicito.

[@nickfanzo]

This is also a reason why I shoot film mostly. If this happens and you have to take legal action, you have proof these photographs are yours, by possessing the negatives

[@aliayub5475]

That person who stole your photographs want a horrible little man .a low life criminal.who needs to take responsibility for being a theft

[@AhHerPadi]

Sorry to hear about your rough situation, I hope everything settles down soon. What you did was IMO, a correct response to the whole situation. Keep making stuff!

[@jethrojacinto2798]

I'm sorry this happened to you. I'm no professional photographer and just a humble hobbyist, but if this happened to me and people were messing with my livelihood I would be sure to give them hell and then some.

[@beachstart]

Hey, I think your reaction is very generous and nobel. I don't excuse the theft by any way! But your reaction gives the person probably the chance to get on the right track. Plus you don't need to invest more "angy time" of yours in fighting a strange law suit, with an unsure outcome. I'm sorry you had to go through this but I pull my hat for you for such a strong reaction. Greetings from Germany :-)

[@zenaanharkness7628]

Champion! Well done in your pursuit of peace, for you as well as for others. Your heart is inspiring to me.

[@jeffreywjpn]

Wow, Ulysses this story is really bizarre but I am so happy to hear your genuine and magnanimous response. You are so right. I think the way you dissected this issue and really thought about what is the right thing to do, what is the human thing to do. So many people/artists would, as Twitter demonstrated, react with the quick and east emotion of anger and blame and retribution, etc. also I love how you related it to the business world and I see what you mean about business transformation and change and how just firing someone or a vendor is not addressing the problem head on. Also, I would fight the urge to revert to considering pressing charges. You have already done so much to try and help this guy and show him the way forward. If he doesn’t listen to you (his inspiration) then it’s hopeless. Just let him be as he has been blasted enough by social media.

[@nelsoncheetube]

I am glad you gave this young man a chance despite he was in the wrong. You gave him a chance to be human and grow up. I felt your heart is bigger than your photography work man. Love this!

[@AeromaticXD]

I have utmost admiration for your response, and especially avoiding the legal side. The legal system doesn’t work to help people who’ve done wrong, and as such it’s so great to see you show such care and dedication. It’s also a shame that that Twitter thread went the way it did!

[@yomama9188]

Really sucks to see it, but you took it really well and did the best you can. Respect

[@mawavoy]

I’m sorry to learn of your unfortunate experience. Iquit posting to instagram because I thought people were misappropriating my images. Unfortunately we live in a time where these things happen.

[@thedarkslide]

The fact that he had blocked you consciously on Instagram while he was stealing your work shows clear intent. I got no issues with publicly shaming someone who so blatantly steals other people's art work to build up their own fame. They wanted fame, they get infamous - sounds a fair punishment.

[@cubanrum]

Kudos to you for doing the right thing. I have the highest respect for you.

[@nigelhoward7403]

Ulysses, I’m so impressed by how you’ve dealt with the situation. You’ve shown great kindness and understanding. And ignore the sad twitter trolls. They are just a very sad minority. The more they comment the stronger you become. Keep up your great work.

[@jameelnewkirk7359]

You are waaaaay nicer and charitable than I am because there's NO WAY I would buy this reasoning from someone who blocked me ahead of time. Evidence of premeditation, in my eyes. He tried to scam, pure and simple is what it sounds like....

[@guillaumeraux]

That's very mature of you. I also understand him, although my own work has not been stolen from me, so it's easier for me to say that. I thank you for being humane and compassionate about it. More respect for you. Your work will always be your work regardless. And even more importantly: the knowledge, skills, and experience you gained along the way, will never be stolen from you. Take away Picasso's work and his brushes, and he's still Picasso.

[@vavas_]

i started to follow you not long ago and although i got to your videos because of photography, what captivated me the most was your very humane way to put and tell everything, this humanity and kindness of yours always made your words relatable to me and this video is the confirmation of what i thought all of this time. you ispire me not only as a photographer but also as a human beign and i am just happy that i found you and your work.

[@Daniel_Verhey]

You are such a good dude for being this nice to him. I’m sorry that all this happened to you.

[@JulianFok]

thanks for sharing your ordeal with this situation. It sucks, but I think you're handling great. He's likely never going to make it in this field now, so there's justice in that. The need to crush him legally really doesn't help anyone at this point, nor will it deter others from doing the same in the future. He's lucky to have stolen from someone who's as understanding as you are.

[@belatedjuvenilia5573]

Thank you - not just for sharing your experience but also for your inspiring behavior and deeply ethical take on this.

[@WhoIsSerafin]

You can almost feel sorry and pity someone who must have such low self esteem to do something like this to impress friends and family.

[@Kvelding]

Every poet is a thief, but not every thief is a poet.

[@paynalward6921]

You may realize that forgiving is the first significant step in getting through this. Much better that holding anger and taking things personally.

[@sleepycache]

definitely a wild situation to be in! I think you handled it as best as anyone would in your position though, very level headed. at the end of the day we protect our artistic ip as best as we can.

[@oliscurra]

Man it sucks what's happened to you in terms of the art theft, but even more to have to deal with the fall out mentally. I think in this situation, it is best to do what you need to, in order to sleep better at night. Peace ✌🏾

[@JayRegular]

I think you took the right approach with this one. Trying to fast track success never ends well, and the person who sought to take your work as their own will have their just desserts whether you intervene or not.

[@neeravnaik]

You have definitely shown a lot of empathy and understanding! I would have raised hell and then not engage with him at all as he clearly has wrong intent. I also may not have pressed charges to avoid going through al l the trouble. Whatever you do is the right decision as it is your art and your life.

[@lnlsun]

Ulysses, I am sickened by this person's behaviour - felt a knot in my stomach right after hearing about it. It's a shit experience to be on the end of, for sure. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. You're right that this young man is misguided and ignorant of the effort that you've gone through to create art for his own selfish goals, he's taken the "easy" shortcut without considering the consequences for himself and how it affects you. Sorry to hear about the blowback from the cesspool that is Twitter comments. Hopefully you can use this exposure to your advantage, and that you can share a good laugh about this event some time down the line. Your response has been honourable. 🙏 Much love and respect from Sydney. Come back and enjoy some time here in Australia again :)

[@Asiaddicted]

You’re a good guy Ulysses, you handled this like a true gentleman.

[@lynnd6422]

This reminds me of something that happened to me years and years ago. My friend was opening a business and as I was working as a graphic designer at the time, he asked me to come up with logos. So I came up with ideas, he chose the logo he wanted, and then we worked on getting him set up with cards, invoices, letterhead, signage, etc. About two years later, a graphic design company came into his shop trying to sell their services to him. They showed him their portfolio and the logo I did for him was in there. He asked about it and they told him that they were the design firm that had come up with the logo for him. Needless to say, my friend shredded them and their design firm went bye bye fairly soon after that.

[@iDigress77times]

Well you've made it man. People are stealing your shit and that is flattery.

[@stephaneg]

You are way too kind Ulysses! Just remember that the trolls are absolutely on the wrong side of this!

[@psrosemary]

Your talent and creativity means there’s more where those works came from. The other guy isn’t so lucky.

[@nomimidzu8984]

You're a real person! You behaved wisely, honestly and courageously! Be calm and move on! Respect🙏!

[@liverpix]

Sorry to hear your story; at least the guy admitted his wrongdoing. I once saw one of my photos on the wall in a photo lab i used. The owner of the lab denied he had stolen it and said he took the photo himself ! I took it to a small claims court and got a bit of copensation out of it but it was a very stressful time taking it to court. Hope you sort this out and move on from it.

[@AManWhoWasntThere]

Good on you for choosing empathy over retribution. The world needs more of that.

[@lexiecataldo]

Don’t ever apologize for taking the high road.

[@THAILANDCANUCK]

You are handling this in a very thoughtful and forgiving way. I am not sure I would not be as forgiving if it happened to me.

[@AbrahamMusalem]

Crazy situation man. I think you took this whole thing really well. Props to you and I hope you know we’re behind you on this.

[@Edvanfleury]

You are a great artist and definitely an amazing mentor. Sorry for this mess situation Ulysses

[@cyberhell0]

Your decision is very respectable here, not many people would have enough cool to keep it as it is. It is also understandable why you keep a close contact with the guy and try to get more context and find out his intentions, but I would suggest to not sit in this position for too long and try to spot when it is time to let go. Being too invested in this situation can be emotionally detrimental for yourself too, it can cause some weird thoughts along the way and in my opinion it would be more peaceful to finally seek closure and leave this behind as soon as you see fit. Hopefully this was the first and final time this happens to you. Just my two cents, love your work and all the best!

[@juangoyeneche7304]

You did right. Doesn’t matter what twitter people say. And the result is that love or hate, the audience is there.

[@FedThePoopy]

Man this is awful, the thing that sticks out to me is that he preemptively blocked you. That indicates maliciousness

[@NohStar]

awful that this happened but so cool that you live your principles

[@malmedia]

Thanks for sharing this story. It is really interesting. Not everyone has the same damage from life and not everyone has the same ability to express compassion. Even with the haters, you have to imagine that life has damaged them to the point of responding in whichever way they did. So their response may be more personal to themselves than to you or your situation.

[@naejluoar9815]

Sorry to hear that Ulysses. Human beings will always puzzle me... I will be in Japan (mainly Tokyo ) in October-November.. can't wait. Take care.

[@ecsays]

Do yourself a huge favour and ignore the haters. I am really sorry that this happened to you. I sense you are getting over it and I admire the way you decided to handle it. Had it happened to me, I am not so sure I could have found enough kindness to let the person off like that. The curators or event coordinators need to take some of the responsibility as well. As a curator I would want to see, not only a current body of work produced by an artist, but also their development, what led them down this path and what their previous projects were about, as well as have them produce some sort of artist statement about their own work, before I decide whether or not to work with them.

[@stefanboeykens8874]

You have a good life attitude, it’s unfortunate this is happening to you. Take it as a recognition for your skills as an artist. Unfortunately these things happen , check out this Belgian artist Christian Sylvain who saw his work copied and sold for thousands during 30 years by Chinese so called artist ye yongqing . He ended up by winning his lawsuit but had thirty years of his live ruined by fights. Good on you that you are able to see the psychology behind it. Time to move on , you are evolving and I have been following for some time now as a fuji shooter and have great respect for the compositions of your work that helped me to develop my way of looking for simplified less noisy work showing character. I wish you all the best for your personal growth in photography.

[@abh623]

That's a damn tough situation you're going through, man. Hope you resolve it properly.

[@bradl2636]

Dude displays evidence of personality disorder. He’s borderline doppelgänger. A psychopath. You’re not responsible for his mental health. Copyright theft is a cancer on creatives. None of the images he showed may be his. You may not be the only victim. Huge red flags that could easily turn to violent behaviour. A thief will be a thief FOR LIFE. You will not help this individual by facilitating further opportunities for his bad behaviour.

[@carrieannkouri2151]

Man, I’m sorry that happened. I hope you were able to take legal action.

[@AikoiEmil]

Really crazy situation. You don't owe the guy anything. Taking it to court doesn't make a lot of sense. You will loose too much time and energy. Why do you even think about helping that guy? He is probably mentally unstable or something. You can't take care of everyone around the world.

[@Trailers.and.Cigarettes]

creativity can not be begged, borrowed or stolen by those who have none. Since I was 17, my art was stolen-even by art professors! I got to learn to live with it. now at 64, it still happens to this day, however, being creative, I always make more art. if i we’re to ‘right click’ on an image using google, i can see my work being used by someone, somewhere. if you park your images on Getty images, they’ll come down ‘very’ hard on anyone using their copyrighted works (including representing your work) - keep things simple, leave it for the lawyers.

[@sharvo6]

It seems everyone growing up with the internet thinks everything should be free for the taking. Maybe something like NFT's will become a solution someday. Good for you for doing what you think is right. Best of luck with future projects.

[@balticstylejapan]

Given what happened you have been really empathetic and kind towards the guy, I hope he actually understood the possible consequences of such actions and does not think that he just had an easy pass..

[@SteveWallaceart]

Yeah, I think you are making the right decision here. Maybe it doesn't work and he goes off and does this again, but you can't really control that. The best you can do is set a good example and hope he can move forward and honestly create something for himself.

[@HuyNguyen-qu1oh]

Well I guess, as a fan and follower, we just need to like this video so KZbin can recommend it to more people so Aoki can send his message out, but I also admire your coolness on the subject!

[@HamishWatson-d9z]

Hi I have subscribed to your channel for a while. Admire you photos. The person who appropriated your photos doesn't understand why we take photos. I'm super impressed by your approach to dealing with this issue. I hope the person responds to the way you are dealing with him. Try to ignore the negative responses you are getting. All rights are with you.

[@h.o.j2375]

This guy’s name will forever be tarnished, people in the industry in Japan will remember. He will never be recognised as a photographer, he will always be remembered as a person who steals other people’s work.

[@labradax]

This really sucks been there, my experience in the film industry where lots of money was involved. It is heart breaking and life changing when you don’t get compensation, justice or notoriety for the idea or work.

[@phillipallaway7306]

Can't believe what some people think is acceptable behaviour. Well done for handling it this way - keep strong and maybe reassess whether you really need twitter.

[@ThomasGiles]

Something to remember is, if it is a copyright issue and you do not defend against the infringement, you’re essentially giving up the right to defend copyright infringement in the future. Because they can say “well you don’t defend your copyright, so there’s precedent to allow us to do the same if we feel like it.” (Based on my meagre understanding of how copyright law works 😅)

[@Selfpowered]

There seem to be a lot of people that really devalue photography and photographers. One terrible example is how an artist painted a copy of one of Jingna Zhang's photos. She lost the copyright case, and people have harassed her on social media for trying to stand up for herself. Even worse in her example is that she came up with the concept, and organised and styled the shoot so it was entirely her vision.

[@trueblack6760]

うわー、お疲れ様でした・・・。 これからも有名になると、このようにトラブルと対峙しなくてはならないのかもしれませんね。 この件も「塞翁が馬」になりますように！

[@ChrisFreitag]

I had started to think that I should start water marking my photos I share online to help thwart unwanted AI content-scraping to use my photos in a generative AI tool. But never did I think of people actively taking my small JPG images I share and using something like AI fill to make them large and pass them off as their own. What a crappy thing to have to worry about now. Sorry this happened to you.

[@thegroove2000]

Its flattering. Someone likes your works sooo much they wanted to exhibit them. Without your consent and foreknowledge is of course understandable to be annoyed. Focus on the positive and not get emotional like a woman. That's the digital age. Easy to copy ones works. You participated in it, so this kind of behavior is to be expected.

[@raulmedialdea794]

Looks like this is the beginning of a great friendship.

[@sdsviet]

all i got to say is people need to take responsibility and understand the consequences of their actions. people can take that how they want.

[@josephlai1078]

That's pretty messed up. Kudos on your decision. Keep it professional, get this issue resolved and move on. Based on my past experience, it was not a wise move to get involved as a mentor. It is very difficult to change someone's personality. It is also human nature to think that we can, hence a lot of failed business ventures and personal relationships in thinking that compromises and changes could be made. Anyway, good luck with this.

[@nekominato1570]

I think you should press charge though… just my opinion but this is literally why laws exist…. I love your works and I don’t want anyone to take advantage of your kindness 😢

[@jyjtbub]

With him blocking you and consciously committing art theft, he should have his share of punishment 😕

[@enriquenavas1979]

I am sorry on both counts, your work being stolen and the cyberbullying. I respect the approach that you are taken. It goes to show that your empathy for this individual is such that you are willing to help him overcome his issues. I just hope that the individual who stole your work has learned his lesson, even without you pressing charges, and makes the effort to right his wrong. As far as those negative responses in Twitter is concerned, do not waste any energy on those. I am sure that the silent minority support your response.

[@sapi3512]

From a lawyer’s perspective. NO!!! That guy is 23… young but society calls him an adult. What he did is a crime. Because it's intellectual property, it doesn't mean he can steal it. It sucks that you need to spend money to stop the guy. But as a young person, he should not be starting his career or anything by stealing others' work.

[@MARKLINMAN1]

Knowing the JAPANESE culture and how HONEST they are and how they Live, this is SHOCKING, Embarrassing AND very SAD that a fellow Japanese artist would go this route, Glad you caught him soon enough, who knows how far he would have gone with this. I would ABSOLUTELY Press Charges.

[@sabbottart]

Plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.

[@NewManToHandle]

Not an attorney, but you should consult with one. Does he have originals or copies? You can take him to civil court and have him produce the work for an examination? If you have the originals, you may be able to extract the meta data from each using an EXIF tool, which should show details about the photo and camera.

[@rickylefleur2158]

To redeem his sins you should make him work for you organizing exhibitions. He seems to have some talent in that field.

[@KillerTacos54]

I'm so sorry this happened to you man

[@dylanhill1640]

This happens often so I'm not surprised at all.

[@AlexOnStreets]

I would be furious. But ya, he didn't make any money off the stunt so it's a moment to humble him, which you did, so good. Hopefully on to more positive times now..