The Vicious Ant Valkyrie Logo

[John_]

I know many of us have become desensitized to cloning, ripping off, straight out stealing of intellectual property, largely due to the massive market of clones in the vaping world. Some people turn to them for cost reasons, other people have their own reasons, whatever, I'm not here to judge. I myself have purchased my fair share of clones.

I recently jumped in on a group buy for the Vicious Ant Valkyrie. It's supposedly a newer version which has fixed all of the problems that plagued the device on it's initial release. While I was looking around for reviews/pictures on the Valkyrie, I came across this page on DeviantArt - Wings of the Valkyrie. Now I'm not claiming this is the original source for this image, but this picture looks awfully similar if not identical to the Valkyrie logo. The earliest I've seen a Valkyrie was in 2013, and this image has been up of DeviantArt since at least 2012. I'm not trying to bash Vicious Ant or claim they ripped somebody off, I just thought this was an interesting find.

EDIT: I apologize if this is the incorrect sub-forum for this post, but it's kind of about general cloning in the vaping industry.

 

[Dampmaskin]

No connection, I was just reminded of this case:
Anti-Piracy Movie Ads Caught Using Pirated Music

 

[Christopherja]

Looks like a clear case of theft imho. The plausible story is that the creators of the mod typed 'Valkyie' into Google, found the image on DeviantArt, and thought "no one will ever see this", and copied it.

Happens all the time unfortunately, especially from DeviantArt apparently - even Disney appears to have ripped-off a DeviantArt user! Did Disney steal this Alice in Wonderland image?

 

[Dampmaskin]

And Hitler ripped off Disney. Or so the story goes.

Sorry for godwinning this thread so early. No, not really. As a matter of fact I've been to that museum and looked at the pieces. They look genuine enough to me. But then again I'm hardly an art historian or a forensic expert. Anyway, a very charming little museum. Where was I? Oh, copyright infringement. I'll round this off by quoting myself:

"Good Artists Copy; Great Artists Steal."
-- Dampmaskin.

 

[Nikkita6]

Everyone who creates, borrows, if not out right steals ... there is nothing "original" that exists on this planet .. not a single thing. There is only One original creator, whom it is not necessary to name.

Man creates nothing, everything is created "through him/her". We are are the vessels of creative inspiration, not the Source. It is the Ego of Man, and the error in him who says "I made this, I did that". It is a Blessing to all of us that God finds the humor in this ... TRUTH.

 

[Dampmaskin]

 

[jrs99]

Eh, it seems many many posters here are perfectly fine with original logos and artwork being ripped off from the original artists. As long as they can have the high end look without paying for it I don't think they really care.

 

[kbjoran]

I didn't create my spider but I did create the image. It can be so easily recreated by anyone but I wouldn't want someone to steal it and call it their own. Just a POV from an artist.

 

[Dampmaskin]

Personally, as a consumer, I don't have much qualms about clones. But when they even clone the logo and serial number trying to pass it off as the real thing, I find that rude, tasteless, and impractical. If you copy somebody else's work, you should at least be honest about it, and give credit where credit is due. This is of course just my personal view, and other people will see it in vastly different ways. Not to mention the lawmakers and lawyers. I have no problem with that either. (As long as they don't start prosecuting me for owning a cassette of The Dead Kennedys that I copied on my neighbor's double decker in the 80s or anything like that.)