Australian artist Tank alleges online marketplace Temu of copying his designs

Australia-based artist Tank accused Chinese-owned online marketplace Temu of stealing his designs and selling them for a very cheap price.

Tank sells his small canvas print design titled Complexity of Being for A$275 on his website.

On Temu, however, an identical item is being sold by two different dealers for less than A$7, with one of them having already sold 500 copies.

In fact, the design is even sold for 78 cents on other similar websites.

When Tank first learned about the situation via a buddy on social media, he was surprised that it was so extensive.

"It has happened before on smaller scales, you'll get people deciding to do this and calling it their own work," Tank told the Australian media outlet ABC.

"I'll have to chase more websites now because it seems to be spreading," Tank said.

Tank said he was disappointed to see his work being plagiarized, but that he expected it.

"It is not just art, it is everything in the world these days being part of the rip-off market," he said.

"If you have a product out there and it is good it will be reproduced, possibly branded as the same thing and sold online."

Shepparton Art Museum chief executive Melinda Martin told ABC that these instances are the biggest threat to the contemporary art world.

"It is really challenging because copyright law should protect you," Ms Martin told ABC.

"It has already been infringed, so it is really challenging to then go back and recoup it.

"It means that creativity is not being valued and that is the core, people can't make a living without that creativity. It is a very sad indictment of contemporary culture."

Pitchmark wrote a similar story about US-based artist Magdalena Mollman, professionally known as Maggie Stephenson, who accused Chinese fast-fashion retailer Shein of using her artwork without permission. She alleged that her famous bestselling artwork “One Is Good, More Is Better,” which ranges between US$19 and US$300 was sold by Shein for as low as US$4.

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