Welcome To The Animal Artists Protection League

We are all aware that if we start our own website - however big or small, our artwork is prone to being copied or stolen. No matter how many precautions you take there will always be a way around it. This is why we have set up a group called the Animal Artist Protection League – to stop the theft of artwork, website content and text being used illegally.

Our official website is here - http://www.aapl.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk - and you can read more here about what we do and how we can prevent the theft of our artwork and website content.

How to become an AAPL Member

If you are interested in becoming a member, you must join the forum and be an active part of our group. We rely on our members in taking the time to visit various sites on the Internet, to look out for everyone's work and report back if they find anything. At the present time you must have around 20 posts on the main forum to become a member of the AAPL.

If you are interested in becoming a member, just Personal Message myself (Melanie) and let me know that you would like to become a member. I will add you to the AAPL Group and you will be given a password to access this section. As soon as i have added your name to the AAPL Group you will always see a new subsection of the forum right at the top (above new members), entitled 'Animal Artists Protection league. You can click into this section to read all of the posts and join in with the discussions. Your website will be added to the members list so that we can familiarise ourselves with your work.

Why do i need to become a member???

I protect my work so it can't be stolen....

Watermarks across your work can help a little - however someone with Photoshop, the clone tool and a tablet and pen could possibly remove the marks well enough to use your work. What about the right click disable feature you ask? I can get around it, and if I can, then they certainly will. You will sometimes see images being sliced up so that when you right click you only save a section of it - but that's not an issue as all parts will be saved and joined together quite easily. When people save my images they only save a blank gif - people can screen capture your work and save it that way. There will always be a way around it. People will always be able to save your images.

My website is very small, they would never find it...

Don't be so sure, even if you think your website is only a few pages, its amazing how many times it could come up in the searches. Also don't forget, if someone is looking for a portrait of an Afghan for instance, they will search in Google or Yahoo images. What did you call your image in your website – Afghan Portrait? Its possible that your image will come up quite high in the searches and they can get to your site that way.

What would they use my work for?

Your work can be used for anything from signature tags, decoration for websites, to pass work off as their own, to sell other products, to put on plates, mugs, t shirts, coasters, calendars, cards, keyrings etc. They can copy chunks of your well thought out text, rip off the design of your site. What if artists have repainted your artwork and are selling them on ebay? What if your artwork was being used for cross stitch and being sold on ebay? It could be happening to you right now – unless we look we will never know.

What's the likelihood of me ever finding my work being used?

That's what the AAPL is for. We are a group of dedicated artists who were beginning to become irritated by people copying our work, lifting our text, using our website design, all to make their life easier. How many hours did you struggle over making your website? Was it difficult? Did you have to think for ages what to write? Its not nice to think that someone has taken and duplicated it on their own site without any thought. What about the painting or drawing you put 40 hours of time and hard work into – someone could be now making profit from it without you ever seeing a penny.

If you are interested in becoming a part of our group then contact me today. By forming this group hopefully we can cover far more ground than an individual could.

Melanie Phillips
Animal Artists Protection League