Something Awful Forums thread
Digg article
You should probably buy this cool Shmorky shirt.
Profits from this shirt by Huzzah Goods go to the Boston Arts Academy.
This page is intended to collect images created by Todd Goldman (of the David & Goliath clothing line) that some people regard as being plagiarized from other sources. Whether or not they are actually plagiarized is up to you.
Unless otherwise noted, Goldman's works are shown on the left with other images on the right for comparison.
Click here to download a handy-dandy ZIP file of all the images on this page and more.
Update 4/19: Todd Goldman has threatened me with legal action for this page. Stay tuned.
| From: | Andrew P. Felix, Esq. |
| To: | Mike Tyndall |
| Subject: | Todd Goldman |
This firm represents Mr. Todd Goldman. I write on behalf of Mr. Goldman regarding certain comments and disparaging remarks that are posted and housed on your website (www.miketyndall.com).
We have acquired articles posted on your website which contain defaming, derogatory and malicious statements about Mr. Goldman. Therefore, we request that you immediately remove these article from your website, as well as any subsequent articles and/or URL links of this nature regarding Mr. Goldman. Further, the hosting of such statements and/or URL links about Mr. Goldman is actionable defamation and libel that has caused irreversible damage to his character.
Unless we receive written assurance that you have removed these article, as well as any subsequent articles and/or URL links of this nature regarding Mr. Goldman, from your website by the close of business on Friday, April 20, 2007, we will have no other alternative but to take action to seek injunctive and monetary relief against you pursuant to Florida law. Please be advised that we will also seek to recover attorneys’ fees and costs associated with this matter. As time is of the essence, this action must be taken immediately.
This letter is not, nor should it be construed to be, a waiver of any rights or remedies available to Mr. Goldman under federal or state law, whether now existing or hereafter accruing.
PLEASE GOVERN YOURSELF ACCORDINGLY.
Sincerely,
Andrew P. Felix
SHUTTS & BOWEN LLP
Many other webmasters have received the same message, including Fleen's Gary Tyrrell. Juxtapoz took down their article already. Wikipedia's Todd Goldman article was removed for several days, and now contains a single small paragraph that only describes the Shmorky issue.
On the left is Dave Kelly's (Shmorky's) Purple Pussy comic from
September 19, 2001. On the right is a painting by Todd Goldman, as seen in a
Los Angeles art gallery.
So far, Goldman has drawn two different versions of the painting. The first one matches closely with Shmorky's comic.
But even the second one is very close, when corrected for perspective:
Update 4/11/2007: Goldman wants to settle with Shmorky. The official press release: (View SA post • View Digg post)
So far, Goldman has drawn two different versions of the painting. The first one matches closely with Shmorky's comic.
But even the second one is very close, when corrected for perspective:
Corrected image by Aaron Teitlebaum
Update 4/11/2007: Goldman wants to settle with Shmorky. The official press release: (View SA post • View Digg post)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
POST POP-ARTIST, TODD GOLDMAN, CONTROVERSAL PAINTING
CLEARWATER, FL, April 11, 2007- Popular post pop-artist, Todd Goldman who has made a career of making fun of the world with his sarcastic commentary and cartoon icons, has mistakenly used the design of an another artist in two of his recent paintings. Todd’s painting, “Dear God, Please Make Everyone Die”, was inspired from a drawing he received unbeknownst to him belonging to an underground web comic artist David “Shmorky” Kelly.
In addition to painting, Todd designs t-shirts for his clothing company, David & Goliath. Todd and his design team create and receive thousands of design ideas every month. It’s no secret that Goldman creates a lot of his painting ideas from his t-shirt designs. Goldman says “I made a judgment error and didn’t research the background of this particular submission. “My intention was not to copy Mr. Kelly. I have never seen his work before and would never intentionally knock-off someone else’s idea.”
Goldman has issued a formal apology to Mr. Kelly and has stated that he will not be using his design again in the future. As a gesture of good faith, Goldman has pledged not profit from his mistake. He will instead donate his proceeds from the painting directly to Mr. Kelly or his charity of choice.
Shmorky posted: (View post)
POST POP-ARTIST, TODD GOLDMAN, CONTROVERSAL PAINTING
CLEARWATER, FL, April 11, 2007- Popular post pop-artist, Todd Goldman who has made a career of making fun of the world with his sarcastic commentary and cartoon icons, has mistakenly used the design of an another artist in two of his recent paintings. Todd’s painting, “Dear God, Please Make Everyone Die”, was inspired from a drawing he received unbeknownst to him belonging to an underground web comic artist David “Shmorky” Kelly.
In addition to painting, Todd designs t-shirts for his clothing company, David & Goliath. Todd and his design team create and receive thousands of design ideas every month. It’s no secret that Goldman creates a lot of his painting ideas from his t-shirt designs. Goldman says “I made a judgment error and didn’t research the background of this particular submission. “My intention was not to copy Mr. Kelly. I have never seen his work before and would never intentionally knock-off someone else’s idea.”
Goldman has issued a formal apology to Mr. Kelly and has stated that he will not be using his design again in the future. As a gesture of good faith, Goldman has pledged not profit from his mistake. He will instead donate his proceeds from the painting directly to Mr. Kelly or his charity of choice.
I should be clear, what Todd does is he has other artists come up with ideas and then he paints them. An artist at D&G sent him that image and he traced it. I hope that Todd learns that not only is this a bad way to make ART it's a terrible way to run a business. I think Todd should start making paintings on his own, but... well I wont go into that.
Click here for the Las Vegas Sun
article regarding Goldman and Shmorky.
Roman Dirge, creator of Lenore, The Cute Little Dead Girl, believes
that Goldman's character, Eve L., is copied from Lenore. He says that there is almost no difference aside from the
lack of pupils and the replacement of the skulls in her hair with ribbons.
For comparison (from Roman Dirge's LiveJournal):
This shirt featuring Eve L. has the same pose as Lenore from one of the Lenore comics.
For comparison (from Roman Dirge's LiveJournal):
This shirt featuring Eve L. has the same pose as Lenore from one of the Lenore comics.
Posted by goon stevej88na - View post
An existing shirt.
A Google image search for owl cartoon turns up an image from this page.
The full-size version of the image.
Goldman's shirt featuring the image, and phrase similar to the one on the other shirt.
This image shows that even the twig the owl is standing on is intact.
Posted by goons Saturnia - View post
and JeanneMarie - View post
and LiveJournal user suzie_chan - View post
On the left are items by Todd Goldman. The others are creations of Jim Benton.and JeanneMarie - View post
and LiveJournal user suzie_chan - View post
Posted by goon My PIN is 4826 • View post
This shirt parodies the advertisements of Swedish vodka maker Absolut.
According to My PIN is 4826, Absolut has decided to take legal action.
Hello [name edited out],
Thank you for your email! We're delighted that you brought this trademark infringement to our attention. Commercial use of our trademark is not allowed in any way - it is well protected from any infringements, and we will no doubt take legal action.
Once again, thank you for the information.
(This is My PIN is 4826's translation. View his post to see the original Swedish e-mail.)Thank you for your email! We're delighted that you brought this trademark infringement to our attention. Commercial use of our trademark is not allowed in any way - it is well protected from any infringements, and we will no doubt take legal action.
Once again, thank you for the information.
Update 4/17/2007: The "Absolut Slut" shirt has been removed from Goldman's website.
E-mailed anonymously
On the left is a character Wassco's Chris Wass
created for a commercial introducing the Intel Pentium III processor, which was released in 1999. On the right is
Goldman's "Boys Are Stupid, Throw Rocks at Them" shirt, probably his most famous. His company was founded in 2000 and
this shirt debuted a little bit later on.
The commercial can be viewed here (1.89 MB, requires Quicktime).
Sent via e-mail by James Turner
an anonymous contributor
and goons motherfish • View post
and NightGyr • View post
On the left is Goldman's "Bad Kitty" shirt, which has been sold both by David & Goliath and as part of the "Fred Is
Red" line that Goldman created for Target. On the right, a character from Wassco's
"Chippies" font, created August 13, 1997 and sold here.
Chris Wass is also the creator of the Intel character above.an anonymous contributor
and goons motherfish • View post
and NightGyr • View post
On the left is another character from the font. On the right, a Goldman shirt that also features the Goodbye Kitty character that is mentioned below.
The devil's body is nearly identical to the BSD Daemon, as seen here:
Posted by goon Synthesizer Patel • View post
A Goldman shirt featuring the same slogan, and apparently the same graphic, as a shirt from Blank Generation Shirts.
Posted by goon Boko - View post
A shirt by Goldman featuring his character Meatball, and a drawing from an old children's textbook at abcteach.com.
A newer version of the textbook contains a fat mouse instead of the image on the right.
Posted by goon Strongylocentrotus - View post
Goldman's character "Goodbye Kitty" is featured on many of his shirts. Neko,
an old cursor-chasing desktop accessory that was created for older computer systems such as Windows 3.1, is shown
beneath Goldman's image.
Animated overlay:
Overlay by LiveJournal user benkling - View post
Posted by goon Altf4 - View post
A Goldman shirt featuring the Goodbye Kitty character, compared to an old clipart image.
Goldman's "Kitty Porn" shirt, featuring Goodbye Kitty, and an older shirt manufactured by American Apparel.
(Goldman's shirt is on the right in this image.)
(Goldman's shirt is on the right in this image.)
Posted by goon The Power of Heart - View post
A shirt by Goldman, and a DVD cover for Disney's School House Rock!.
(Goldman's work is on the right in this image.)
A similar item:
A similar item:
Posted by goon Saturnia - View post
A Goldman shirt featuring a devil cat.
Older items (shirt, purse, and stickers) featuring similar artwork:
Christopher Rhodes wrote to inform me that the purse was probably made by Faster Pussycat.
Posted by LiveJournal user lukadia - View post
and goons The Mentalizer - View post
Mercury Hat - View post
and Astrosmash - View post
Goldman's "Chill'n With My Gnomies" shirt.and goons The Mentalizer - View post
Mercury Hat - View post
and Astrosmash - View post
An existing shirt, and artwork of the gnomes from The Secret Book of the Gnomes that appears to match the silhouettes in Goldman's shirt:
Comparison:
A later version of the shirt changes the phrase slightly, but the same silhouettes are present.
A single silhouette also appears in this shirt.
Posted by goon Boko - View post
A recent piece by Todd Goldman, and a comic from the January 1998 publication of Mitre, available here.
Posted by goon liquorhead - View post
This shirt contains a phrase similar to one in a popular photoshopped image.
Posted by goon EmuOfFury - View post
This Goldman work is similar to this image and Flash animation.
Posted by goon Kanira - View post
An original character by Goldman, and a DVD cover for Aardman's Rex the Runt.
This Goldman work (shown on the right) is drawn in a similar style to his piece above. A bear drawn by Jim Benton, creator of the previously-mentioned Happy Bunny shirts, has a similar design.
Posted by goon samurai slowdown - View post
A Goldman shirt design, and a well-known unofficial Calvin & Hobbes image. (Goldman's work appears on the right in
this image.)
Additional comparisons
Several people have compared this shirt to Jhonen Vasquez's Nail Bunny. Vasquez is known for creating the Invader Zim TV series.
Jana Kirkman noted via e-mail that she believes David & Goliath's Mini Monstas series is similar to the Uglydolls, which were first released in 2002.
Liz Greenfield believes that Goldman has taken a drawing of hers. Decide for yourself here.
More T-shirt pairs I've been e-mailed about:
This Goldman shirt, and Nuts! by Barnaby Bocock (2004).
God Loves Quitters by Goldman, and God Hates Techno by Threadless (several years old).
I'm Hung Like a Horse and a textless one by T-Shirt Hell.
(Posted by goon NthreeRD • View post)
I'd Hit That by Goldman, and I'd Hit That by Busted Tees.
Don't Have Sex with a Miner by Goldman, and Sex with a Miner by Busted Tees.
From Russia With Love by Goldman may be a violation of copyright.
(Posted by goon Synthesizer Patel • View post)
Several people have compared this shirt to Jhonen Vasquez's Nail Bunny. Vasquez is known for creating the Invader Zim TV series.
Jana Kirkman noted via e-mail that she believes David & Goliath's Mini Monstas series is similar to the Uglydolls, which were first released in 2002.
Liz Greenfield believes that Goldman has taken a drawing of hers. Decide for yourself here.
More T-shirt pairs I've been e-mailed about:
This Goldman shirt, and Nuts! by Barnaby Bocock (2004).
God Loves Quitters by Goldman, and God Hates Techno by Threadless (several years old).
I'm Hung Like a Horse and a textless one by T-Shirt Hell.
(Posted by goon NthreeRD • View post)
I'd Hit That by Goldman, and I'd Hit That by Busted Tees.
Don't Have Sex with a Miner by Goldman, and Sex with a Miner by Busted Tees.
From Russia With Love by Goldman may be a violation of copyright.
(Posted by goon Synthesizer Patel • View post)
Odds and ends
This image from goon Joe Anglican (View post) shows what Goldman earns, on average, from his paintings.
This post from WIRED Magazine's blog describes a humorous encounter with Goldman.
Goldman was refused trademark for the phrase "CHICKS RULE" because it was too similar to the existing trademark "GIRLS RULE." His appeal was also unsuccessful. The "GIRLS RULE" trademark was owned by Desiree Chardas who later assigned her rights to Lloyd Cotsen. Summary here.
Just Born, Inc. (manufacturers of Marshmallow Peeps and Mike and Ike candy) filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Goldman's company on October 30, 2006.
(Thanks to Andrew A. Gill for bringing these to my attention via e-mail.)
Here is an e-mail he briefly sent to everyone who contacted him through his website. It libels Shmorky and contains a link to furry porno, which was sent to several minors. The artwork is Shmorky's; years ago, when he took commissions, many furries purchased his services. Despite pressing financial problems, he eventually quit taking commissions because he was sick of drawing the things they would buy. Another important note: the photos are not of Shmorky.
Picture #1 Sent to goon catbread.jpg.
Picture #2 Sent to goon Lobster Harmonica via MySpace.
Picture #3 Sent to goon Lazy_Liberal.
A version with full headers was posted here, courtesy of goon catbread.jpg.
Someone reported the e-mails to MySpace, and Goldman's account, previously located at myspace.com/toddharrisgoldman, was deleted for abuse. The old page has expired from Google's cache, but it was a simple photo of Todd, a couple paragraphs of description, and a picture gallery of 40-odd shirts.
Goon EmuOfFury changed his account's MySpace address to park the URL. He changed his profile to feature a collection of images similar to this page. Goldman gained access to EmuOfFury's account two days later, after the account's e-mail address was changed (presumably by the MySpace staff) to Todd's. Todd wiped the profile and set it to be private. While the profile was down, goon thelightguy had created a duplicate profile at http://myspace.com/toddgoliathgoldman, but Goldman now owns that account as well. (Coincidentally, that account was registered by someone whose name is also Todd Goldman.)
Since then, several people associated with those two accounts (as friends/commenters) lost control of their accounts. One such goon (Tuxedo Jack), whose name was set to just "APPLE DAY," lost years of e-mail, blogs, and personal messages with friends and family members. His MySpace was flooded with porn, images of sex toys, etc., but he was able to delete the account. The girl who originally reported the theft of Shmorky's artwork also had her MySpace hacked. Some of the MySpace pages were replaced with an image saying TODD WAS HERE. (The image is hosted on Goldman's website, suggesting it was either Todd or an employee with access to his webserver.)
Update 4/15/2007: The image has been removed from his server. Click here to see it, or here for a screenshot by goon Ramen Pride! of the image at its original location.
Many goons also reported receiving password-retrieval e-mails from other sites where they used the same username as their MySpace profiles.
A couple of articles about Goldman ("Meatball" in the first article is the "fat" character from the textbook listed above):
University of Illinois at Chicago - Chicago Flame
Las Vegas Sun
This image from goon Joe Anglican (View post) shows what Goldman earns, on average, from his paintings.
This post from WIRED Magazine's blog describes a humorous encounter with Goldman.
Goldman was refused trademark for the phrase "CHICKS RULE" because it was too similar to the existing trademark "GIRLS RULE." His appeal was also unsuccessful. The "GIRLS RULE" trademark was owned by Desiree Chardas who later assigned her rights to Lloyd Cotsen. Summary here.
Just Born, Inc. (manufacturers of Marshmallow Peeps and Mike and Ike candy) filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Goldman's company on October 30, 2006.
(Thanks to Andrew A. Gill for bringing these to my attention via e-mail.)
Here is an e-mail he briefly sent to everyone who contacted him through his website. It libels Shmorky and contains a link to furry porno, which was sent to several minors. The artwork is Shmorky's; years ago, when he took commissions, many furries purchased his services. Despite pressing financial problems, he eventually quit taking commissions because he was sick of drawing the things they would buy. Another important note: the photos are not of Shmorky.
Picture #1 Sent to goon catbread.jpg.
Picture #2 Sent to goon Lobster Harmonica via MySpace.
Picture #3 Sent to goon Lazy_Liberal.
A version with full headers was posted here, courtesy of goon catbread.jpg.
Someone reported the e-mails to MySpace, and Goldman's account, previously located at myspace.com/toddharrisgoldman, was deleted for abuse. The old page has expired from Google's cache, but it was a simple photo of Todd, a couple paragraphs of description, and a picture gallery of 40-odd shirts.
Goon EmuOfFury changed his account's MySpace address to park the URL. He changed his profile to feature a collection of images similar to this page. Goldman gained access to EmuOfFury's account two days later, after the account's e-mail address was changed (presumably by the MySpace staff) to Todd's. Todd wiped the profile and set it to be private. While the profile was down, goon thelightguy had created a duplicate profile at http://myspace.com/toddgoliathgoldman, but Goldman now owns that account as well. (Coincidentally, that account was registered by someone whose name is also Todd Goldman.)
Since then, several people associated with those two accounts (as friends/commenters) lost control of their accounts. One such goon (Tuxedo Jack), whose name was set to just "APPLE DAY," lost years of e-mail, blogs, and personal messages with friends and family members. His MySpace was flooded with porn, images of sex toys, etc., but he was able to delete the account. The girl who originally reported the theft of Shmorky's artwork also had her MySpace hacked. Some of the MySpace pages were replaced with an image saying TODD WAS HERE. (The image is hosted on Goldman's website, suggesting it was either Todd or an employee with access to his webserver.)
Update 4/15/2007: The image has been removed from his server. Click here to see it, or here for a screenshot by goon Ramen Pride! of the image at its original location.
Many goons also reported receiving password-retrieval e-mails from other sites where they used the same username as their MySpace profiles.
A couple of articles about Goldman ("Meatball" in the first article is the "fat" character from the textbook listed above):
University of Illinois at Chicago - Chicago Flame
Las Vegas Sun