Is Emily The Strange A Rip Off?

1. Dan0
   December 3rd, 2008 at 8:54 pm

   Emily the Strange? Never heard of her.

2. Jill Harness
   December 3rd, 2008 at 9:03 pm

   She is a popular icon in the Hot Topic community.

3. AndyIII
   December 3rd, 2008 at 9:42 pm

   Eh, and Homer Simpson is nothing like Fred Flinstone, who is nothing like Ralph Kramden.

4. Corinne
   December 3rd, 2008 at 9:43 pm

   Siouxsie Sioux is a goth icon. Emily the Strange is a mallgoff joke.

5. Nick
   December 3rd, 2008 at 10:03 pm

   Hot Topic has been known to rip people off before. No surprise here.

6. Edward
   December 3rd, 2008 at 10:06 pm

   To add flesh to AndyIII's well pointed comment, there is a line between inspiration and plagiarism. I do not know enough about this subject matter to form an opinion, but the community will.

7. shakeit
   December 3rd, 2008 at 10:22 pm

   Emily has always been, to me, the worst thing about Dark Horse Production.

8. seekshelter
   December 3rd, 2008 at 11:21 pm

   emily once kicked me and threw sand in my eye... she never looked the same to me after that...

9. Alex
   December 3rd, 2008 at 11:40 pm

   Don't all goth look a like?

10. Corinne
    December 3rd, 2008 at 11:47 pm

    @Alex

    Just about the same way all "norms" look alike, you mean?
    ;-P

11. Jenny
    December 4th, 2008 at 12:41 am

    it wouldnt be the first

    http://www.kimbawlion.com/

    go to the lion king? section.

12. laly
    December 4th, 2008 at 1:51 am

    As anybody who ever plagiarized, would tell you...

    Ideas, ideas! Why..?

    They just float around!

13. graffiksguru
    December 4th, 2008 at 2:36 am

    If they didn't acquire the rights to the character, it is a blatant ripoff.

14. DOJ
    December 4th, 2008 at 3:41 am

    Has the "statute of limitations" for copyright law really run out?

15. Gregg
    December 4th, 2008 at 8:55 am

    This is obviously way to close. Are Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Marc Simont getting royalties from the sale of all that merchandise?

16. MosselKots
    December 4th, 2008 at 9:02 am

    Wow...
    And the original looks SO MUCH better...
    (to me anyways)
    the face, the eyes, the hair..
    but most of all; the pose..

17. Colt Seaver
    December 4th, 2008 at 9:32 am

    Nonconforming plagiarists. Heh.

18. Sid Morrison
    December 4th, 2008 at 11:37 am

    clearly a ripoff. It's a whole lot more than a loose inspiration.

19. Amber
    December 4th, 2008 at 1:54 pm

    Are you serious? How do these characters seem similar?
    You cannot copyright a girl with black hair and cats.

    Ive read nate the great and this girl looks like this in ONE page of 25 books! You have nothing better to do with your time? That's pretty sad.

20. Jill Harness
    December 4th, 2008 at 2:51 pm

    Amber, you can't copyright something as simple as a girl with black cats. But you can't deny that these pages are practically the same from their white mary janes, to the positions of the cats to the text that's only changed by two words. That is a rip off.

21. LisaL
    December 4th, 2008 at 3:35 pm

    Very blatant ripoff and anyone who says otherwise is just angry that the thing they liked turned out to be plagerized.
    I'm an artist myself and have had a few of my pieces stolen before and copied without my permission... it sucks ass and seeing things like this makes me angry.

22. brogey
    December 4th, 2008 at 6:11 pm

    I know it sucks when something you like is a ripoff, but I don't see how anyone could deny it in this case.

23. Shen
    December 4th, 2008 at 7:10 pm

    I really hate these character copy cases.
    least that one is not as bad as sonic recolors...

    maybe theres a reason for this.

    though it wouldn't be as bad if that phrase wasn't there or maybe just keeped the same name, that would have been less embarassing!

24. samlive
    December 4th, 2008 at 7:23 pm

    whats wrong with copying a character? putting them in a new universe and exploring other possibilities? I think copyright law is BUNK. I'm an artist and freely share everything I create; all of creativity and imagination have been and will remain open for everyone to use and share.

25. ted
    December 4th, 2008 at 7:30 pm

    Yup, it's a ripoff. Never heard of either of them. Doesn't look like I'm missing much.

26. Rocky Rook
    December 4th, 2008 at 9:37 pm

    whiff ... over my head.

27. MightyCow
    December 4th, 2008 at 11:42 pm

    I told a friend of mine this story, and he said he met the artist, who was a complete a-hole and tried to stiff him on a print job. Sounds like karma to me.

28. raina_c
    December 5th, 2008 at 12:31 am

    Never heard of this character but it's an obvious copy. Reminds me of the author who said that JK Rowling copied her.

29. sam
    December 5th, 2008 at 2:27 am

    1. Good artists copy.

    2. Great artists steal.

    3. Smart great artists destroy the evidence!

30. sam
    December 5th, 2008 at 2:30 am

    If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it's another nonconformist who doesn't conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity.

    (Nope, no attribution. How apropos!)

31. sam
    December 5th, 2008 at 2:32 am

    raina_c: Actually, it was J.K Rowling who was accusing someone of copying HER crap.

    It inspired Orson Scott Card to write this great commentary: http://www.hatrack.com/osc/reviews/everything/2008-04-20.shtml

    I don't know which you were referring to, actually - but OSC's is at least somewhat facetious.

32. mishelley
    December 5th, 2008 at 12:02 pm

    The original is much better

33. Noelegy
    December 5th, 2008 at 1:24 pm

    Why, yes. Yes, she is.

34. Seriously?
    December 5th, 2008 at 5:46 pm

    http://www.youngeomall.com/bemarket/shop/index.php?pageurl=page_goodsd etail&uid=2725

    http://www.youngeomall.com/bemarket/imgs/save/upload/bookpage/kizC01_t ardy_1.jpg

    How can you say THIS looks like Emily the Strange? You cannot copyright a girl with bangs and cats.

    Because that seems to be the only similarity. Why not look at every other girl with bangs or cats and say they should be sued for a character with Rosamond traits?

    She bares no resemblance. OBVIOUSLY she has changed since that drawing.

35. JamesM
    December 8th, 2008 at 1:54 am

    Reminds me of another rip-off "artist"... Todd Goldman. He did the worst thing he could have possibly done. Ripped off someone who was very well known to the Something Awful Goons.
    http://www.miketyndall.com/todd_goldman/

36. miacat
    January 19th, 2009 at 12:02 pm

    no way. emily ROCKS.

37. miacat
    January 19th, 2009 at 12:05 pm

    i agree with number 34 (Seriously?)

38. Jon H
    June 5th, 2009 at 10:17 am

    I suppose it's not surprising, if the original Emily image was practically a one-off for a skateboard.

39. Catsady
    November 13th, 2009 at 4:56 am

    The other Emily stuff isn't the same as this but it's undeniable that these two are pretty much the same artwork. They're so similar there wouldn't even be enough differences for a spot the difference panel.

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