Where does it stop?
In a newly posted video for the “Blackwing Experience”, Justin Oberman of Obercreative.com has included one of my original photos without permission and without attribution. The video is watermarked with the “Palomino Blackwing” seal of approval in the lower right-hand corner:
From YouTube.com
You can see it here [video has been removed] If the video is taken down, I have saved a copy and will post a link. Surely Mr. Oberman won’t mind if I share his work without permission.
1. This is inexcusable and indefensible on Oberman’s part, on the Art Director’s Club part, and on California Cedar’s part. It seems David Rees is an unwitting participant. These are people who work in media, and they’ve chosen to plagiarize—there are no “oops, I should have checked” that will work here at this level. The copyright notice is clearly stated on my blog. But if it weren’t, there’s no excuse to take someone else’s work (unless you’re just hoping you won’t get caught).
2. As “artists”, I wonder how Mr. Oberman or the Art Director’s Club would feel if someone took their work without permission and attribution.
3. I know nothing of Mr. Oberman’s standing in the art community, but I’m betting plagiarism won’t put him on the fast-track to success.
Ladies and gentleman, even if you have been on the fence about recent developments, surely you can see that this is wrong and that it is a pattern. What more has to happen before something is done about this?
How is this O.K.?
Blackwing Pages 
I think Stephen Sondheim has already written the perfect theme song for the so-called Blackwing Experience: “Send in the Clowns.”
No, wait a minute: I wrote that song, just now! Can you prove that it didn’t happen?
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You, sir, are unique Creative #19 in my book!
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The image in the shown screen capture may have taken a second to photograph, but it should be known that it would have required great effort over time to set up – possibly years. It is a unique and beautiful photo showing generations of scarce Eberhard Faber Blackwing pencils.
It all seems incomprehensible – how can a pencil company steal the work of the very small and loyal audience who publicly state their love of pencils? How can “Art Directors” misappropriate the art of others? What’s going on?
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You’re correct about the time frame: it represents about 4 1/2 years of searching, negotiating, bartering, and dead-ends, as well as some very trying circumstances.
I think some looking-in might wonder what the big deal is—that it’s just a photo of some pencils. It’s not about me looking for recognition for the photographs or something though, because I’m not a photographer; and I’m recognized plenty for other things I do. And it’s not about publicizing this blog—I’m not selling anything. It’s about, to coin a phrase, the principle of the thing. If this incident were isolated then my reaction would have been less strong I think, but with California Cedar involved again I just don’t see where it ends—it’s not as if they’re just going to all of a sudden one day start doing all of their own work. The harder I work to bring out something new, the sooner it gets appropriated, tangled, or misrepresented, then spit back out—that’s no fun. And I don’t think it’s fun for anyone to have to read the kinds of posts I’ve been putting up recently, either.
It’s difficult to put into words, but I’m truly saddened by how all of this lying and deception all but extinguishes that innocent spark for people who are learning about the Blackwing for the first time (but through California Cedar’s marketing). They may never know that the original is something truly special, where it came from, who truly used it and why, and that they are a meaningful prize if you can find one—and how that first chance just to try one and write a few words with it might be an experience indistinguishable from time travel to them! 🙂 And that’s something I think that CB has never understood—he’s never been a “Blackwing user” himself. Instead, as he has expressed on his own blog, he deigns and endeavors just to “understand” the Blackwing fan. I presume this is in order to better market his lookalikes but it’s also to buffer criticism I think, i.e. complaints are things that can only come from “picky” Blackwing fans (I think a fan of anything would be picky about lying and plagiarism, though). He then tops it off with a touch of hubris (the black erasers), to put his own stamp on things—to make at least one aspect of the ‘Blackwing’ “his”.
I suppose it would be simple if this were a business-oriented thing for me—you just deploy business-oriented solutions for these kinds of problems. But instead it’s one of those things that you love doing just for the sake of doing it—a true “amateur” (which literally means “ a lover of ”)—and having to fight with it takes all the fun out of it.
I don’t know. I can’t imagine what goes through his mind each and every time something like this happens (and so many times it’s been!), but I can’t say I’m too interested to find out. Shame on me though, were I to think it would ever stop.
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Oh my … Is there no end to it?
By the way, I am disappointed to see that David Rees lets himself be roped in for CalCedar (I have ordered his book quite a while ago).
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I’m guessing David Rees is probably just doing his thing, and was hired for the Palomino Party De-Luxe in New York. There’s probably not too much pencil-sharpener-for-hire work out there, so you’ve got to take what you can get. 🙂
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Thanks for this web site. I’ve been following your travails with interest. I was happy to make the video because I like the Palomino Blackwing, but I won’t be at the Blackwing party.
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Thanks for dropping by, David.
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David, apologies for sounding so harsh – I didn’t mean to offend you. The whole story has upset me, and I was disappointed to see that something which I enjoy – your work – was monopolized too. I am now happy to see that this is not the case. By the way, your book is shipped, and I am looking forward to receiving it and to showing it on my blog.
Sean: Of course you’e right.
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This has been quite a sad thing to see happening. And so senseless, because, even if the Palomino Blackwing 602 is different in signifcant ways from the original, it is still a great pencil in its own right, and Cal Cedar has done a disastrous marketing and publicity job, to the point that you wonder if there is a Board of Trustees that will step in and stop the damage (I almost wrote rampage). Charles needs to hire a professional PR expert and get out of his own way. A professional with a modicum of ethics will also cease the blatant theft from your website. I’m so sorry. When Cal Cedar first announced the Blackwing project, I remember the shared sense of joy throughout the pencil community—all of it wasted and misused. It is urgent that Charles stick to making wonderful pencils and stop the DIY approach to marketing and communication.
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I liked the first and second knock-offs, but wouldn’t call either of them great pencils; they’re good, definitely, but not great. For less money, I can get Mitsubishi Hi-Unis or Tombow Monos that are vastly better pencils. Even in spite of that, I was excited by them at the start, and still bought a couple dozen of each.
I think for a lot of true pencilheads, it’s too late: even if Berolzheimer were to step back, the damage has been done. The huge goodwill his company once had has been totally squandered by sleazy marketing, dishonesty, and outright intellectual theft. I definitely won’t be buying anything from them ever again.
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I’d add to what Adair said that a DIY approach could be honest and endearing. What we’ve see though is a cynical appropriation of someone else’s work.
Sean’s comment about amateur status reminded me of an observation from the poet Alice Notley: “‘non-careerist’ . . . is not the same as not professional.” Sean is the true professional in this situation.
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Thanks, everyone, for your support.
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My takeaway from this is that I can use anything created by Oberman, in any way I choose, without giving him any form of credit or remuneration. If it’s a paying gig, all the better. He, surely, would be happy to know I’m profiting from his hard work?
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Fair use is a complicated issue. Columbia University has a checklist to help people figure out what seems to constitute fair use:
Click to access fairusechecklist.pdf
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I went through the checklist on Oberman’s behalf, and filled it out as honestly as I could. I’ve uploaded a copy of it here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/38783918/forums/misc/2012-04-16.oberman-fair-use-checklist.pdf
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