This guy is such thief. Penny Arcade has another set of comparison pics from Threadless.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/2007/04/25#1177521360

People like this give designers a bad name.

“..we create thousands of designs……… which we ripped off from the really creative and added little details like pupils and stitches because we know people are stupid and won’t be able to tell the difference.”

This guy makes me sick. I guess that makes me a hater artist.

I think that it’s the duty of everyone this guy ripped off to sue his ass into the ground. He needs to be gone.

He had a thriving business going there but apparently has never had an original idea in his life. Hopefully he won’t go into television after he’s ruined.

He gets 90 million a year for ripping off other artists. Yep, that’s evil.

Oh, total thief and deserving of a multi-case lawsuit that would scorch the sun and bankrupt him but, you know, I like his taste. He rips off great people and seeing the originals is cool.

TotalD - You’re a glass half full kind of guy it would seem…

Why support him? If all he does is trace over other people art and sell it, then why couldn’t I do it? All those 15 year old teens on Deviantart that trace the same images of cartoons and anime would have already done MILLIONS compared to him…

But they are kids. We are talking about a man, who tries to be an artist. Shame.

Also, his designs are Ugly as sin. This isn’t art, this is an infantile ego who found a way to make money.

Heh heh heh. I’m a blogger who has been forced to take down my reports on this matter by Goldman’s thug lawyers. This guy is seriously a douchebag of COLOSSAL proportions.

Wow, I’ve never seen a plagiarism case *this* bad. I’ve never really seen art this bad either…Now, if I was a smart entrepreneur I would already have my plagiarized shirts about Todd Goldman’s plagiarism. For example, instead of “you suck BIG TIME” how about a shirt that says “you suck BIG TIME Todd Goldman.”

Josh: T-shirts that mock Goldman already exist
http://www.huzzahgoods.com/Goldman.html

A ton of webcomic artists are paying homage to Goldman via their comics:
http://sirive.livejournal.com/146743.html

wait … he makes THAT much? No wonder he’s so nervy. But nothing’s going to change until someone (or a big group of someones) takes legal action against him and he knows it.

I would point out that the webcomic blog http://www.fleen.com seems to be preparing to defend themselves from Goldman’s legal team. They have not removed any of their articles concerning him.

I like the Disney one. I hope there’s action as a result of that. I mean, DieselSweeties had to stop selling shirts with a specific 8X8 pixel shape on them, because it kinda looked like some space ships from Star Wars. And another one looked like R2D2 if you squinted really hard (or is that if you drank really hard?)

I hope this can somehow be turned into a criminal matter and Goldman ends up sharing a cell with the crying baby Joe Francis. That would be funny!

This is really too much…. surprised to see the comparison…. we are not blind yet….

Again, I can’t thank Amid enough for shedding light on this kind of thing. All yuks aside, people like Goldman present a grave threat to any artist who hopes to make a living off his/her own creations.

The bullying letter posted on Fleen.com is scary as hell (Thanks, MisterSpook). And what’s scarier is the Orphan Works Bill pending in Congress which threatens to create a loophole in copyright law that could make it next to impossible for artists to protect their work.

I know taht many of you in the animation biz are salaried employees and waive the rights to your work, but to those who love to create art on the side and wish to protect their creations: you owe it to yourselves to visit the IPA website and keep well-informed on these issues. http://www.illustratorspartnership.org

OK I have a story about this guy.

My dad works in the clothing business, and I work on a popular prime time cartoon….sometimes at trade shows, my dad meets people who want to “get into animation”, and sometimes gives them my phone number (against my wishes)…sometime last year, he gave my number to Todd Goldman. At the time, I didn’t even know who he was…

So, Todd Goldman calls me - and I’m paraphrasing here, but he was basically saying “I’ve conquered the T-shirt world with my great art and edgy characters, and I’m moving to LA because I have all these amazing ideas for cartoons - but I don’t know anything about the biz, so you wanna help me make all my cartoons into shows, because I’m so cool!?!?!?” I got douche-chills from this guy …he doesn’t even know me, but he’s acting like he’s doing ME this HUGE favor….by giving me the “opportunity” to bring his wonderful creations to life. (Now we know all his “creations” have been brought to life already, before he stole them). Sorry, but I don’t play the Hollywood phony game, and even before I knew he was a rip-off con-man - I could tell he had a way-to-over-compensating ego, and it was fishy…so I was just honest with him. I said “I’m so busy w/ the show I’m working on, if I DID have spare time to work on pilots and such, they’d be my OWN.” He pleaded a few more times, and I had to keep telling him that TV animation artists like coming up with their own ideas and characters…and while they work on other people’s shows all the time, when it comes to pitch/pilot work - they’d rather work on their own stuff. Eventually he got the point, but still gave me the cliche “OK, but hey - when I get in town, we’ll do lunch” …..I never heard from him again, and almost forgot about the whole thing…

A few weeks ago, a friend started telling me all about this rip-off artist and showing me comparison links….and I start thinking …”wait a minute….I think this is that asshole that called me!” I called my dad to double-check…..yup…it was him.

I knew he was an asshole from the moment my dad started describing him to me….I knew it when he called me. This whole situation really proves it. I mean - the fact that he can’t even slightly alter the stuff he jacks….unbelievable.

I hope all the artists he’s ripping off get a chunk of the millions he’s made. GO GET HIM!

You know, the hilarious part about this is that if he’d owned up to Dave Kelly right at the start, instead of dragging his feet and calling him a pedophile, it’s quite likely this would have been considered a fluke. Instead, he pissed off a huge group of internet nerds who them went on to expose the rest of his shady practices. He’s ripped off web cartoonists, studio properties, clipart providers, and various commercial ventures. There isn’t one thing on his site that hasn’t been tracked to another source.

A suggested tactic to combat the guy is to send letters to those stores that carry his merchandise and tell them you won’t be shopping there until his work is removed. Hot Topic would be the main target, though a look through Goldman’s website will give a more complete list.

By the way, he pulled down that Bambi piece. Nothing like facing the Maus to put the fear of God in you…

Somebody should do a line of TODD GOLDMAN SUCKS/THROW ROCKS AND LAW-SUITS AT HIM t-shirts.

I think Goldman’s theft is completely self-evident and there is nothing I can say about the subject that isn’t completely obvious (well I could mention the rumors going around that he is paying off hackers to take vengeance on people who criticize him.)

But I feel that someone needs to call out Amid on this article, in so much that the tone of the article seemed very influenced by Something Awful’s recent update.

My problem with this is that Amid, you’re not a comedy writer, and the joke you are trying to convey (ie that Goldman isn’t a thief) has already been told by a comedy writer at SA, and told better.

That and I come here for straight forward news, for a second I wondered if you really believed what you sarcastically stated.

This guy’s a favorite of You Thought We Wouldn’t Notice:

http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3/

It makes me sick to my stomach to know this guy has made a comfortable living stealing other people’s work. I really do hope he gets run into the ground. As mean as it sounds, he deserves no less.

This is no matter for sarcasm, unfortunately. He had a gallery here in LA at the Grove giving him HUGE exposure. Celebrities have bought his (ripped-off) work for thousands of dollars. And yet the actual artists still have to live on in relative obscurity? This man should be thrown in jail.

He must have incredible marketing skills to have gotten so far without someone stopping him sooner.

I’m a little tired of people justifying situations like this with the Picasso quote (which I’m sure was taken out of context many years ago). This guy is not an artist — he is a business man. When businesses steal from other businesses they get sued, like Verizon is suing Vonage for 58 million.

It’s sad that this guy makes so much money that he can buy all the lawyers he needs to attack the press — and that the press like Wired are rolling over and taking it. I hope 20/20 does a story on him, and that the businesses and illustrators he’s ripping off get together and class action sue him for a billion dollars (about 10 years income for his business).

I’m actually glad this story is still gaining momentum instead of just going away. I’ve been following the last half of the Something Awful thread and new swipes are revealed on almost a daily basis. Todd seems to be well acquainted with Clip Art for someone who’s not an internet guy.

I’ve been following the ‘Saga of Todd Goldman’ for a little while now, when it first appeared on a popular webcomic I read (go-girly.com). The original instigator was a comic artist named David “Shmorky” Kelly, whose design of a little kitten saying “Dear God, please make everyone die. Amen.” coincidentally looks like one that Goldman recently put up at an art exhibit.Kelly’s comic was published in 2001.

I cannot believe Goldman has the gall to pull something like this….just because the webcomic community isn’t a multi-million dollar corporation, we deserve to be abused and taken advantage of? I’m really happy that the word is getting out about this. Let Goldman reap what he has sown. Justice for artists everywhere.

It’s about time. ;D

What a depressing article, the guy is an unapologetic WHORE and he makes millions. There isn’t a spot in Hell hot enough for a hack like this. Granted, the Internet has provided artist with a million and one “influences” at the touch of a keypad, but that shouldn’t excuse out and out THEFT of other people’s work. The celebrities who are buying this crap need to be educated. They wouldn’t stand for someone stealing their work or likeness, and they shouldn’t support this, either.

Chris and Daniel - I wonder if there’s more to the attempt at humour than meets the eye? After all, an article written like this doesn’t necessarily have any defamatory remarks that lawyers could object to right? Even though Brew regulars will be able to discern what’s sarcasm and what’s not :)

Put me firmly in the ‘haters’ camp. Unbelievable. And one of the few times where a case really screams for litigation on behalf of all the ripped-off parties.

Hey Nipplenuts- THANK YOU for posting this! This is EXACTLY what I’ve gone through time and again since moving to LA seven years ago. There are so many BS artists, hucksters and snake-oil salesmen in this town and for some reason a lot of them think they can take advantage of animation artists. Unlike you I was dumb enough to fall for it more than once but I learned my lesson. I’d never heard of Goldman OR his work before reading this but rest assured I won’t be buying any of his T-shirts or dealing with any stores that sell his wares.

It seems to me that the artists who have been affected by this should get together a Class Action lawsuit and sue Goldman, naming him, his company, and–here’s where you get some real traction–ANYONE who retails his product, as co-defendants.

The minute the retailers smell the stink of lawsuit they’ll stop carrying his crap.

“It seems to me that the artists who have been affected by this should get together a Class Action lawsuit and sue Goldman - ”

I think we all agree with that statement but it seems that most artists who give a damn don’t have the finacial means to go up against a guy with millions.

That or they just don’t care enough to do something about it.

I have no problem buying a Todd Goldman T-shirt. After this series of lawsuits is over, that’s 90 million dollars that’s going into the pockets of the people who actually made this stuff. Way to go Todd, for making some money for a bunch of struggling artists. Please pay soon, and in cash.

Oh, man, that’s just shameful. Shameful.

Goldman’s website has a cute little page on which you can submit your favorite “stupid boy story”.

Like this one.

Make up your own story here.

I’ve been watching this blow up over the past few weeks. This guy needs to be sued into oblivion. The fact that he steals not only from the “little guys”, but also from more established artists like Chip Wass shows his shamelessness knows no bounds.

Didn’t we learn this lesson in grade school drawing time? NO COPYING!!!

Goldman sucks!

Wow, except for the single troll-like comment supporting stealing from cool artists above, we’re unanimous that this guy’s an asshole and he needs to be stopped. Nice.

I think that the main thing that will bring him down other than the class action lawsuit that is obviously brewing is that “pedophile” letter he had drafted as an auto-response to any inquiries about his thievery. That is the kind of chutzpah that makes a Todd Goldman a Joe “Girls Gone Wild” Francis.

Moving to pistol whip some of the most popular artists sites on the internet… yeah, that’s going to make him much more endearing.

Mike Tyndall’s link is such a wonderful smoking gun. Amid you should post more of these examples on the front page!

The sad fact about all of this though is Todd Goldman is going to win. He is clearly a bully, and in this country the bullies with the most money and power win. The copyright laws in this country are not set up to support the little guy. And all those scattered starving artists he’s blatantly robbing simply don’t have the cash to go after him.

:( A scumbag like Goldman will yank a few t-shirts, but continue to make millions selling other people’s work to the masses.

If you guys find this guy pretty bad, check this place out. Wonderful article. Beware though….it’s for adults.

This is freakin unbelievable, living in New Zealand, I’ve heard nothing about this sneaky asshole but by the looks of things he’s got a hell of a lot of Karma building up. He’ll get whats coming to him!!

90 mil??? What the f**k, I struggle as an artist everyday and all I needed to do was rip someone off, slap it on a shirt and wait for the money to roll in!! Who knew aye!

I wouldn’t count on the mainstream media to do anything to expose this guy… remember, 20/20 did a huge puff piece on Marvel AT THE EXACT SAME TIME they were in the process of screwing Jack Kirby out of his original art. (Hey, I would have thought siding with the little guy genius against the big corporation would have made a better news story, but what do I know?)

Hey Amid, where can I buy a Rugs Rabbit T-shirt?

I work at Target, and we have a large display of Goldman themed products…I thought they were kind of contrived, boy was I right.

I guess this explains why he didn’t show his face at this year’s NY Art Expo. If I see him at next year’s I’ll slap his plagiarist head for him. On film.

Too little, too late, and without any reparations or change in policy, but Publisher’s Weekly reported on Todd’s “apology”. As in “I’m sorry I got caught this time”.

Holy. Mother. Fracker.

…Amid, *please* tell us that you were being sarcastic about your admonishions towards Boing Boing and the other blogs bashing Goldman’s obvious ripoffs. Even Stevie Wonder couldn’t help but notice the obvious swipes!

[shakes head in utter dismay]

Has anyone ever faced with a latter from scumbag lawyers about a blog post ever just ignored it? Ignore the demand. Ignore the lawyers. Leave the psot as it is.

Are they really going to push it to the point where a sheriff will be dragging you from your house for free speech? I mean, really? Where is the ACLU in these cases? I’ve not faced such a thing (yet), but I can’t imagine complying because some tiny dicked bully with a law degree tells me I can’t express my opinion about something.

Too bad this post will probably also face legal action by Goldman. He won’t rest until every trace of his actions is erased.

I’ve thrown in a shirt design re: the Todd Goldman issue myself (click my name to see it). As someone trying to go into the same line of work he’s in, I actually used to admire the guy. Now, not so much. It’s HARD to come up with a new design every day. That’s why it’s so rewarding.

You know…the best way to tackle this clown would be via a CLASS ACTION SUIT. Get every animator who has been wronged by this guy to work with one lawyer, and from there, go after him.

I got eight dollars back from Verizon because of something like this, so I know it would work. Surely Cartoon Brew would be willing to find a lawyer and make the point.

I’ll donate $100 to the lawyer pot to kick it off. Whattya say?

Much like the unveiling of the thievery that was “Ebaum’s World”, this is a double-sided sword.

For one, very few, if ANY of the ripped off artists have any power to sue this guy or have their opinion voiced into the public, other than the internet.
Second, now that this demonic man has been exposed, smaller companies will start to do the same thing to make a quick buck before a law is passed to stop this sort of thing.

The amount of media-stealing Ebaum-esque websites that have cropped up since the original Anti-Bauman movement is disturbing.

It’s really saddening there is really no way to hurt this dick financially. Other than saying “hey that shirt you are wearing was made by a greedy sleaze” to people one might see on the street. :(

Hi, this is my first time posting here. I’m a frequent “lurker”, but this piece just made me mad. I can’t believe the nerve this guy has. I really hope he gets the karma he’s putting out there!

I was so mad I was trying to figure out ways to get this more national attention, but I found something that might make people feel a bit better. I did a search for “Todd Goldman” and looked at various gallery sites that show his work. Well, it looks like they have pulled all of his artwork because of “recent postings”. It’s VERY interesting, and hopefully a sign of this snowball getting bigger. Check these out though.

Peabody Fine Art

Animation Art Gallery

Art.com

Oh, and when you do a search, it doesn’t look like there’s an article that ISN’T about him being an art thief or a general asshole. So, maybe payback is coming sooner than you guys think? I sure hope so!

If he has a gallery at the Grove, it would be, uh, *interesting* if someone did a little culture jamming and left a few fliers nearby with some examples of his thievery.

The other route of telling retailers that they won’t be patronized if they continue to carry his crap is the best way us ordinary folk can show Goldman that it *does* matter that we think he’s a prick.

Ben: What is likely happening is that the distributor of Goldman’s work has asked the galleries to temporarily stop selling his work until the legal issues are cleared up. However, the galleries will begin selling ‘his’ paintings as soon as they get the greenlight.

Like RedDiabla points out, the best way is to put pressure on the galleries so that THEY make the decision to stop carrying his work.

This thread had me bothered for a while, but how do we know he’s getting away with this?

Goldman’s obviously got his legal machine working overtime, but some of these cases are such slam-dunk examples of IP theft, I can’t believe there’s a lawyer in America that wouldn’t take these on spec. I also can’t see any judge or jury favoring Goldman in these instances. I think it’s a matter of artists getting the nerve to go through the ordeal.

Goldman isn’t invulnerable. He wants to keep making 90 mil a year. He has overhead expenses, and he’s scared shitless of bad press, which is why he’s aggressively threatening folks like Wired and Juxtapoz. I don’t think he’d win any of those cases either. He also appears to be dependent on other artists to come up with ideas, and soon there won’t be a soul who’ll work with him.

My hope is that he’s already in arbitration with most of the wronged parties, and no one’s able to talk about it. He’d be stupid not to pay damages upfront.

I say leave it up to the damaged parties to hire their lawyers, but certainly keep the bad press going. I love the way bloggers are always bringing new cases to light. Write to retailers and galleries if it rocks you to sleep. And if you have a friend whose a copyright lawyer, by all means, point the way to the feeding frenzy.

I need to make a retraction. To the best of my knowledge Target does no longer carry Goldman products. I’d mistaken him with another artist. So head on down to Target folks, where they *don’t* sell Todd’s fine products.

Okay, how long will society tolerate these thieves? Another person in Goldman’s mold is on LIPITOR commercials, tauting an invention that TIGGER, AKA, Paul Winchell created, not him, yes–Dr. Jarvick, “creator” of the artificial heart — had Paul convinced that he and his partner needed him to sign away all rights so they could save lives by sending the hearts to Christian Bernard, in S Africa, and get the heart in production quicker. Bernard never received the hearts, lots of people died that could’ve been saved if Jarvick, in many opinions, hadn’t been lying to steal all of Winchell’s plans, and made good on his promise. He never returned Winchell’s or Dr. Heimlich’s calls again. There he is in Lipitor ads acting like such a savior to mankind, but he, like Goldman chose to ride on the backs of other’s accomplishments. What a shame.

Re:>>Paul Winchell created, not him, yes–Dr. Jarvick, “creator� of the artificial heart

Did you see the episode of ST. ELSEWHERE on which Paul Winchell played an eccentric ventriloquist who invented an artificial heart? That show kick tass….

I wish I could make 90 million easy like this guy, but at least I’m not spineless!

How long ’till Todd Goldman comes up with a “RATS OFF TO YA!” t-shirt?

“Rats Off To Ya”—THAT’s funny—–too bad Tim and Eric can’t parody their own show, and use Todd Goldman’s likeness instead of the T-Shirt guy who steals Tom’s idea AND shirts! (I think it was originally the guy who co-stars w/ Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm). It’s like that episode was a parable of the Todd Goldman Saga, Well, Bats Off To Ya!- that’s a new Goldman shirt I hear he got the idea from an epiphany he had while watching Tom Goes To The Mayor.

what’s scarier is, when reading further into this guy, is how several myspace pages were seemingly hacked by him when they had been associated to his name and/or bringing to light the plagiarism presented here. they got a stolen account and a nice big “TODD WAS HERE” .jpg of freakery proportions on the main page.

It’s true, Paul Winchell DID invent the artificial heart, the only problem was that you had to constantly pull a string to make it beat. (sorry,just a joke, no disrespect meant for Paul, God rest his soul)

Sad, but the truth is with IP infringement, and visual cases - they are very tough to make in a court. The Disney example is clearly satire. That’s why Disney wouldn’t/couldn’t do anything. The other examples would have to be visited one at a time, and it would be slow and expensive lawyering. It’s very tough to claim ‘ownership’ of something that is not widely exposed.

The sad truth is, legally there is a very limited and difficult case here.

This is guy is nothing more than a parasite and bottom feeder.

“hater artist”….that’s a new one. What a loser. I predict he will be going down soon.

Hmmm…I think its time to make some shirts with several characters Todd has lifted throwing stones at a parody of Todd….entitled…Todd Goldman sucks…throw rocks at him’

I’m a cartoonist and humor writer. I hate to admit it, but I used to work for David & Goliath as a freelance artist and later on as a very, very short-term employee. I can’t say much because I don’t want their lawyers knocking on my door, but if I knew then what I know now, I would have never worked there.

I remain very, very annoyed with them because part of my artist’s contract said that I would get paid royalties for any cartoons and cartoon ideas that they used for the life of the product. They used at least two of my cartoons and cartoon ideas (I saw one of my drawings on a plagarized artwork Web site), but because I quit before they could terminate me, they claimed I broke the contract so I never got paid any royalties so it burns me up when I see my work showing up on numerous Web sites over this scandal and I know I’m not making a penny off of any of it.

Sadly, I am one of the few morons who worked for them and gave them permission to use my artworks as long as I was paid royalties, but since I was denied my royalties, I will never forgive them, until the day I get paid my royalties. A class action lawsuit or whatever is fine with me. I am trying to contact David Kelly’s attorney for advice. I think they broke their contact with me when they didn’t pay me royalties after I quit working for them.

I’m in the know, having worked there, but I’m not at liberty to say anything else for fear of apparisal by high-paid attorneys. The only positive development is, I might get discovered indirectly by all of this free publicity. My works are right alongside those famous cartoonist and comic artists everyone keeps talking about.

Time will tell, but I hope I can find David Kelly’s email address this week and talk to his attorney this week.

That 90 mil needs to be distributed to the artists he stole from.

Todd Goldman is a thief and a loser, what’s worst is all the money he has made from copying and stealing peoples works.

Todd Goldman is not creative, or talented, he is a waste of space, and a detriment to society.

People like him are ruining the world.
Hope people stop buying, and exhibiting his stuff.

Shame on Todd Goldman.

HAHA i love the dripping sarcasm

I work in the industry. I know several of the designers who have worked for this joker in the past. Trust me everyone. Todd steals art. Todd steals ideas. He is nothing more than a common thief. He isn’t an artist… and if you think he is.. then I feel really sorry for you. Open your eyes. His plagiarism is deliberate. He is constantly looking at threadless and other online art sites… to steal more and more. This guy needs to go. Mr. G boys aren’t stupid… but you are.