Copyright ignoring t-shirt makers thrive at Etsy, ripping off an illustrator near you

Jacqui Oakley is an established illustrator who uses oil, acrylic and elbow grease. You can find her on twitter as JacquiOakley, and her work on thousands of pinterest-boards, often uncredited and unlinked. She made this this Rihanna & zebra illustration with a splash of hot pink, and found much to her surprise an Etsy account selling a t-shirt with that print on it. A shop that has not asked for her permission. The shop XXLA and owner Aaron/Jacob are based in China, selling "finely crafted tee's" where most, if not all, of the designs are ganked from other peoples work. The I like you dog kiss cat illustration is ripped from Gemma Corell, and many of the designs look very familiar.

Jacqui has informed Etsy, who are presumably looking into it. In a world where violating (or just plain not caring about) copyrights is as common as breathing, how is an honest artist going to be able to make ends meet? Oh wait I know, sell T-shirts, right?

Meanwhile, someone might want to tell Rihanna. She is no no stranger to suing T-shirt shops for using her likeness, asking Topshop for £3million for printing her face on T-shirts. I'm sure she can kick some Chinese t-shirt pirates ass.

Sorry to inform you @fabciraolo @gregabbott but I think this shop might be using your work without permission too: etsy.com/shop/XXLA?ref=…

— Jacqui Oakley (@JacquiOakley) May 17, 2013

...& they're ripping off @gemmacorrell too! Theirs: etsy.com/listing/121063… and Gemma's society6.com/product/I-Like… . The world is an awful place

— Jacqui Oakley (@JacquiOakley) May 17, 2013