Todd "Goliath" Goldman: Art Thief?
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.Updates
March 17, 2008 – Goldman's alleged trolling of WIRED.com and a personal encounter with him have been added to the Odds and Ends section.
March 13, 2008 – Goldman recently removed a shirt that offended feminist bloggers, then posted a shirt as a response. Scroll down to the Odds and Ends section for details.
Have something that belongs here? E-mail me!
Mirrors: (it is likely that some or all are out of date by now)
#1 by goon Monkey Lincoln has been replaced. (But thanks for the support!)
#2 by Daniel Barbeiro
#3 by Tresser McKay
#4 by Robin Lionheart
#5 by goon Sanchless
Unless otherwise noted, Goldman's works are shown on the left, with other images on the right for comparison. Should there be any any updates regarding a specific work, they will be posted alongside the work. The majority of the image comparisons on this page can be attributed to the "goons" at the Something Awful Forums.
Click here to download a ZIP file of all the images on this page and several more (as of 5/12/2007).
The Something Awful Forums thread, where this all began in early April 2007, has since been deleted. It was previously located at http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2416213. There are backups available, but I have chosen not to distribute them through this page. (The thread was deleted as an unofficial part of Dave "Shmorky" Kelly's settlement with Todd Goldman. Instead of direct links to posts, there are now page numbers listed, so you can look them up if you have a copy.)
On 4/19/2007, Todd Goldman threatened me with legal action for this page. I altered it to suit his wishes, but avoided removing any of the content. Here is the letter I received from his lawyer:
| 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
On 4/24/2007, I was informed that the Animation Art Gallery website had removed Todd Goldman's artwork, with the following explanation:
Due to the recent postings regarding Todd Goldman's artwork,
we are not showing his art until we have resolution from the distributor.
If you have any concerns, please do not email us. Instead, contact S2 directly.
The notice is still in place. Goldman's gallery at art.com
was removed as well.we are not showing his art until we have resolution from the distributor.
If you have any concerns, please do not email us. Instead, contact S2 directly.
By 4/27/2007, the Peabody Fine Art Gallery had removed his work, with the following message:
The art of
Todd Goldman
is not currently being displayed on our site.
Due to recently posted concerns about Todd's artwork, we have put his works on hold until we hear of a resolution being reached.
As an art dealer, we are not in a position to answer questions about the allegations being made on the internet. You will need to contact Todd or his publisher (S2 Art) about those issues.
The notice has since been taken down, but Todd Goldman's gallery has not been restored. It appears they have no
intention of doing so.Todd Goldman
is not currently being displayed on our site.
Due to recently posted concerns about Todd's artwork, we have put his works on hold until we hear of a resolution being reached.
As an art dealer, we are not in a position to answer questions about the allegations being made on the internet. You will need to contact Todd or his publisher (S2 Art) about those issues.
On 5/2/2007, Shmorky settled with Todd Goldman. Shmorky received the full selling price of the paintings from the gallery, and granted Goldman a retroactive license to the Purple Pussy work (essentially preventing a lawsuit, but barring Todd from creating any more copies of the piece). Goldman issued a formal apology, explaining it as an error in judgment. As part of the agreement, or perhaps as an effort to put it behind them, Shmorky informed everyone that he would be deleting the Something Awful Forums thread, where most of the items on this page were posted. Several goons archived it before it was deleted later that day.
With that, the issue was essentially brought to a close. Few artists attempted to pursue legal action, and nothing came of the ones who did. However, as mentioned above, several art galleries removed Goldman's work. The wholesalers who buy Goldman's posters canceled their orders and asked for refunds on unsold stock. According to Goldman's art dealer, Jack Solomon, he lost the three biggest poster distributors in America. Finally, this site and others like it are the top results when searching Google for "Todd Goldman," placing even above David & Goliath's site.
Links:
SA - Todd "Goliath" Goldman's Amazing Art Odyssey
SA - ALOD - Todd Goldman: Art Thief? – Links to this page. (Note: My SA username is Ryuzaki.)
SA Forums - Todd and Shmorky AGREEMENT Press Release – Requires archives access.
SA Forums - The Todd and Shmorky Epilogue Thread – Discussion of the settlement. Requires archives access.
SA Forums - Let's Make our own Todd Goliath "art"! – Requires archives access.
Digg post – The story spread to the rest of the Internet mostly through this post.
Fark post – Wasn't approved until the St. Petersburg Times story went up.
Slashdot post – Links here. I got an e-mail from my host about a "DDOS attack" from all the traffic!
Wikipedia article
Huzzah Goods shirt – All profits go to the Boston Arts Academy.
Something Awful's AwfulMart has been offline for several months, so the official Shmorky shirts are no longer available.
On the left is Dave Kelly's (Shmorky's) Purple Pussy comic from
September 19, 2001. On the right, a painting by Todd
Goldman, as seen in a Los Angeles art gallery.
Goldman drew 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: (p.67) (View Digg post)
Update 05/07/2007: A new press release, dated 05/02, was posted here by Shmorky.
Click here for the Las Vegas Sun article regarding Goldman and Shmorky.
Click here for the St. Petersburg Times front-page article. (You can see the cover of the Tampa Bay Times here.)
Goldman drew 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: (p.67) (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: (p.69)
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.
Update 05/07/2007: A new press release, dated 05/02, was posted here by Shmorky.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DAVID KELLY AND TODD GOLDMAN REACH AGREEMENT ON PAINTING
MAY 2, 2007
Artists David Kelly and Todd Goldman have agreed to settle and end the recent claim that Mr. Goldman utilized an image and caption belonging to Mr. Kelly in an original painting without his permission. In early April, an internet site noted the similarity of a recent Goldman painting to a web cartoon panel produced six years ago by Mr. Kelly. Mr. Goldman has agreed to pay Mr. Kelly the full proceeds from the sale of the two paintings in exchange for a perpetual non-exclusive license for the image and its caption (“the “Work”). “It was a mistake on my part to not research the source for this Work which was sent to me over the internet by a friend. “Until a few weeks ago, I had no knowledge of Mr. Kelly or his body of online cartoon and animation work,” said Goldman.
Mr. Kelly has accepted Mr. Goldman's explanation and payment of the license fee and calls for the internet sites and all interested parties to acknowledge that Mr. Goldman’s use of the Work was an unintentional legitimate mistake and that there should be no further debate on the matter. Mr. Goldman’s two paintings which depict Mr. Kelly’s image and caption have a legally valid and enforceable license from Mr. Kelly. Mr. Goldman has agreed that he will not paint this image for any future commissions or exhibitions or otherwise use it for any further commercial purposes. Each of the artists have declared their intention to move on in their respective fields and encourage their supporters, friends, and patrons to do likewise.
# # # # #
For further information, please contact:
AR american rebel pr
1509 N. Crescent Heights Blvd. #5
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 656-5020: Phone
(323) 656-5021: Fax
DAVID KELLY AND TODD GOLDMAN REACH AGREEMENT ON PAINTING
MAY 2, 2007
Artists David Kelly and Todd Goldman have agreed to settle and end the recent claim that Mr. Goldman utilized an image and caption belonging to Mr. Kelly in an original painting without his permission. In early April, an internet site noted the similarity of a recent Goldman painting to a web cartoon panel produced six years ago by Mr. Kelly. Mr. Goldman has agreed to pay Mr. Kelly the full proceeds from the sale of the two paintings in exchange for a perpetual non-exclusive license for the image and its caption (“the “Work”). “It was a mistake on my part to not research the source for this Work which was sent to me over the internet by a friend. “Until a few weeks ago, I had no knowledge of Mr. Kelly or his body of online cartoon and animation work,” said Goldman.
Mr. Kelly has accepted Mr. Goldman's explanation and payment of the license fee and calls for the internet sites and all interested parties to acknowledge that Mr. Goldman’s use of the Work was an unintentional legitimate mistake and that there should be no further debate on the matter. Mr. Goldman’s two paintings which depict Mr. Kelly’s image and caption have a legally valid and enforceable license from Mr. Kelly. Mr. Goldman has agreed that he will not paint this image for any future commissions or exhibitions or otherwise use it for any further commercial purposes. Each of the artists have declared their intention to move on in their respective fields and encourage their supporters, friends, and patrons to do likewise.
# # # # #
For further information, please contact:
AR american rebel pr
1509 N. Crescent Heights Blvd. #5
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 656-5020: Phone
(323) 656-5021: Fax
Click here for the Las Vegas Sun article regarding Goldman and Shmorky.
Click here for the St. Petersburg Times front-page article. (You can see the cover of the Tampa Bay Times here.)
Posted by goon Eris Is Goddess (p.5)
and LiveJournal user bloodypepper • View post
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.and LiveJournal user bloodypepper • View post
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 (p.40)
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 goon My PIN is 4826
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. His post contains 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.
Posted by goon Boogeyman (p.106)
This Goldman shirt features Bambi as he appears in the famous Disney movie. Disney has a reputation for being very
protective of its copyrights.
Update: The shirt has been removed from Goldman's website.
Posted by an anonymous contributor and goon P78M (p.106)
On the left is a character Wassco's Chip 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.
Goldman's "Bad Ass" shirt, and another character from the commercial.
The commercial can be viewed here (1.89 MB, requires Quicktime).
Incidentally, the slogan on David & Goliath's page is "We make shirts so you don't have to." Wassco's is "We have good ideas so you don't have to."
Sent via e-mail by James Turner, an anonymous
contributor, and goons motherfish and NightGyr
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.
Chip Wass is also the creator of the Intel characters above.
On the left is another character from the font. Second from the left, the BSD Daemon. (Commercial use of the BSD Daemon requires the consent of Brian Tao and Marshall Kirk McKusick • see this page). Third from the left is the Neko sprite mentioned below. On the right is a shirt by Todd Goldman.
Posted by goons Saturnia (p.37) and JeanneMarie (p.22),
and LiveJournal user suzie_chan • View post
On the left are items by Todd Goldman. The others are creations of Jim Benton.and LiveJournal user suzie_chan • View post
Posted by goon Synthesizer Patel
A Goldman shirt featuring the same slogan, and apparently the same graphic, as a shirt from Blank Generation Shirts.
Posted by goon Boko (p.22)
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 (p.9)
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
Sean O'Brien writes that the current release of the KDE desktop (Unix/Linux) includes a package called AMOR that
includes the neko images and is distributed under the GPL.
Posted by goon Altf4 (p.35)
A Goldman shirt featuring the Goodbye Kitty character, compared to an old clipart image.
Posted by goons Saturnia (p.35) and psycho78m (p.36)
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.)
Posted by goon The Power of Heart (p.24)
A shirt by Goldman, and a DVD cover for Disney's School House Rock!.
Posted by goons samurai slowdown (p.6) and The Mentalizer (p.39)
(Goldman's work is on the right in this image.)
A similar item:
Posted by goon Saturnia (p.34)
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.
Elena Takami wrote that the older shirt is being sold at ChoiceShirts, and was designed by Xit (click here to see the relevant part of their design list).
Jay King sent me this screenshot of the 1998 Playboy Playmate of the Year, Karen McDougal, wearing a shirt with the cat on it.
Posted by LiveJournal user lukadia • View post
and goons The Mentalizer (p.39), Mercury Hat (p.41), and Astrosmash (p.41)
Goldman's "Chill'n With My Gnomies" shirt.and goons The Mentalizer (p.39), Mercury Hat (p.41), and Astrosmash (p.41)
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. The gnome drawing is called "Kabouter" and was created by Rien Poortvliet.
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 (p.22)
A recent piece by Todd Goldman, and a comic from the January 1998 publication of Mitre, available here.
The comic was created by Stephen Kramer, and is #7 on this page.
A painting by Todd Goldman for the Jack Gallery, and an old cartoon by Stephen Kramer (#136 on this page). This was brought to my attention by Mr. Kramer after he explained his situation (described below).
Update 5/08/2007: Some backstory and info from Mr. Kramer:
Todd Goldman is President of the company David and Goliath. I gave David and Goliath permission to use my cartoons when I worked for them. Compensation for usage of my cartoons was mutually agreed upon to be payment in the form of royalties for the life of any product. Unfortunately, I was never paid any royalties because I quit working for David and Goliath. When I quit working for David and Goliath, my artist contracts with David and Goliath were ended and therefore my royalties were ended. But doesn't it follow that usage of my cartoons should have also ended? I am seeking fairness, justice, and compensation for the continued usage of my cartoons. My hope is that an intellectual property attorney will resolve this matter for me in the very near future.
Posted by goon liquorhead (p.3) and an anonymous contributor
This piece contains a phrase similar to one in a popular photoshopped image, which is also sold here
by allposters.com.
The beer can in Goldman's version appears in many of his shirts. On the left is another Goldman shirt. On the right, a piece of clipart from Clipartguide.com. The slogan in Goldman's image is similar to one that appears in this commercial for Red Stripe Beer.
Sent via e-mail by MariV
Goldman's "I Love London" shirt, and a piece of clipart copyrighted by the University of South Florida.
According to the license for the clipart, it is for
non-commercial, educational use only unless special permission is given.
Sent via e-mail by an anonymous contributor
Goldman's "Big Weinny" shirt, and a piece of clipart from this page.
Sent via e-mail by Andrea Flotte
Goldman's "This Sucks" shirt, and a piece of clipart from clipart.com.
There are gaps in Goldman's image where the character's hands are in the clipart.
Sent via e-mail by Sean O'Brien
This Goodbye Kitty shirt seems to feature recolored versions of the Frogger sprites by Konami.
Posted by goon Vogon Poet (p.108)
Another Goodbye Kitty shirt, and a piece of clipart from clipart.com.
Posted by goon Monkey Lincoln
Yet another Goldman shirt featuring Goodbye Kitty, and a piece of clipart from clipart.com.
Sent via e-mail by Andrea Flotte
Goldman's "I've Got Sex A-Peel!" shirt bears a resemblance to the Chiquita banana.
Posted by goon Loonytoad Quack
Goldman shirt, and clipart from from csaimages.com.
CSA's terms of use state: "Images may not be used as reference or as a basis to create a different image or derivative
image, and logos and trademarks may not be applied to any image."
Posted by goon Kanira (p.24)
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 (p.6)
A Goldman shirt design, and a well-known unofficial Calvin & Hobbes image. (Goldman's work appears on the right in
this image.)
Additional comparisons
Click here to see a comparison between Goldman shirts (on the left) and Threadless designs (on the right).
This shirt appears to use an Indian head logo created for Indian Head A.J.M Davies Arena. 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.
This Goldman piece, entitled "Hello Kitty Bullet" and displayed alongside Shmorky's image here, is a painting of a Hello Kitty image, except with a bullet wound added.
Two of the Goldman works visible in this image resemble those of web cartoonist Natalie Dee. You can see some examples of her work here, here, and here. (Thanks to Amanda Reimherr Buckert of the San Antonio Express-News for e-mailing me about this.)
This shirt bears (heh) a resemblance to a well-known Pedobear macro from 4chan. Thanks to an anonymous contributor for the tip.
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)
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)
Piggly Wiggly Member's Only Club uses the logo for Piggly Wiggly.
These pieces use Sesame Street characters. As a side note, the characters in the painting on the right are obviously designed to look like VeggieTales characters.
Click here to see a comparison between Goldman shirts (on the left) and Threadless designs (on the right).
This shirt appears to use an Indian head logo created for Indian Head A.J.M Davies Arena. 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.
This Goldman piece, entitled "Hello Kitty Bullet" and displayed alongside Shmorky's image here, is a painting of a Hello Kitty image, except with a bullet wound added.
Two of the Goldman works visible in this image resemble those of web cartoonist Natalie Dee. You can see some examples of her work here, here, and here. (Thanks to Amanda Reimherr Buckert of the San Antonio Express-News for e-mailing me about this.)
This shirt bears (heh) a resemblance to a well-known Pedobear macro from 4chan. Thanks to an anonymous contributor for the tip.
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)
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)
Piggly Wiggly Member's Only Club uses the logo for Piggly Wiggly.
These pieces use Sesame Street characters. As a side note, the characters in the painting on the right are obviously designed to look like VeggieTales characters.
Odds and ends
This image from goon Joe Anglican (p.42) shows what Goldman earns, on average, from his paintings (click to view full size version).
A description of Glenn Sacks's 2004 campaign against Todd Goldman's shirts, and Goldman's response, can be found here.
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.)
On August 3, 2007, Special Olympics, Inc. filed suit against David & Goliath for infringement of their trademark. The case concerns this shirt, mirrored here.
(Thanks to David Schlosser for e-mailing me about this.)
Goldman removed this shirt from his site in late February 2008, after receiving complaints from offended customers, particularly those at feministing.com (read their post about it here). The shirt also drew comparisons to this one from Bluenotes. (Thanks to Jessica Adler for e-mailing me about this.)
This page was originally home to the offending shirt. For a few days after it was removed, this page redirected to the David & Goliath home page, since the shirt was no longer in the database. However, it appears Goldman specifically added something to replace it in early March. If you click the link now, you get this shirt from the "Little Losers" series:
The thumbnail for the main shirt image, oddly enough, is still the "no means no" shirt. (Thanks to Christine for the update.)
Commenter "Nipplenuts McGurk," who has chosen to remain anonymous, left this comment on Cartoon Brew's entry about the Goldman issue:
I received an e-mail from an anonymous contributor, who related the following brief encounter with Goldman:
Here is an e-mail he briefly sent to everyone who contacted him through his website. It contains libel against Shmorky and 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.
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, proving that the e-mails originated from Goldman himself, was posted on p.28 in the thread by catbread.jpg.
Another important note: the person in the photos is not Shmorky, despite any claims you might read elsewhere. I can verify this personally. (It's likely that Goldman grabbed the images from Encyclopedia Dramatica through a Google search.)
Someone reported the above 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.
Someone posting from a smtp.davidandgoliathtees.com IP address (216.199.185.166) wrote comments defending Goldman on WIRED Magazine's website, almost immediately after the article was posted. He claimed to be from Philadelphia, but the IP address is in Florida. (The WIRED article has since been removed due to a letter from Goldman's lawyers, though it is possible to find a copy in the comments section.)
He posted on the article under the following names:
Pop artist Rihanna purchased seven Todd Goldman paintings for $35,000 on February 23, 2008. The first three (Fat kids are harder to kidnap, Goodbye Kitty in a microwave, and Gold digger: like a hooker just smarter) are all listed above on this page. Click here to see an image of Rihanna in front of the paintings. (Thanks to Rebecca Cleary and others for bringing this to my attention.)
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 (p.42) shows what Goldman earns, on average, from his paintings (click to view full size version).
A description of Glenn Sacks's 2004 campaign against Todd Goldman's shirts, and Goldman's response, can be found here.
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.)
On August 3, 2007, Special Olympics, Inc. filed suit against David & Goliath for infringement of their trademark. The case concerns this shirt, mirrored here.
(Thanks to David Schlosser for e-mailing me about this.)
Goldman removed this shirt from his site in late February 2008, after receiving complaints from offended customers, particularly those at feministing.com (read their post about it here). The shirt also drew comparisons to this one from Bluenotes. (Thanks to Jessica Adler for e-mailing me about this.)
This page was originally home to the offending shirt. For a few days after it was removed, this page redirected to the David & Goliath home page, since the shirt was no longer in the database. However, it appears Goldman specifically added something to replace it in early March. If you click the link now, you get this shirt from the "Little Losers" series:
The thumbnail for the main shirt image, oddly enough, is still the "no means no" shirt. (Thanks to Christine for the update.)
Commenter "Nipplenuts McGurk," who has chosen to remain anonymous, left this comment on Cartoon Brew's entry about the Goldman issue:
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!
"Thuggy" agrees:
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!
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.
I received an e-mail from an anonymous contributor, who related the following brief encounter with Goldman:
I have a small handbag company. I met Todd Goldman 7 years ago at my very first trade show.
He came into my booth and looked at all my designs. After he left my booth, my neighbors said "sweetie you better watch out, that guy that was just in your booth is known for knocking people off" Since then I cover up my both and only let in legitimate buyers.
He came into my booth and looked at all my designs. After he left my booth, my neighbors said "sweetie you better watch out, that guy that was just in your booth is known for knocking people off" Since then I cover up my both and only let in legitimate buyers.
Here is an e-mail he briefly sent to everyone who contacted him through his website. It contains libel against Shmorky and 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.
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, proving that the e-mails originated from Goldman himself, was posted on p.28 in the thread by catbread.jpg.
Another important note: the person in the photos is not Shmorky, despite any claims you might read elsewhere. I can verify this personally. (It's likely that Goldman grabbed the images from Encyclopedia Dramatica through a Google search.)
Someone reported the above 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.
Someone posting from a smtp.davidandgoliathtees.com IP address (216.199.185.166) wrote comments defending Goldman on WIRED Magazine's website, almost immediately after the article was posted. He claimed to be from Philadelphia, but the IP address is in Florida. (The WIRED article has since been removed due to a letter from Goldman's lawyers, though it is possible to find a copy in the comments section.)
He posted on the article under the following names:
- Totally Wrong (most are under this name)
- Totally Wrong Again
- Auntie Semite
- goon number 2
- O.J.
- Shmorky
Pop artist Rihanna purchased seven Todd Goldman paintings for $35,000 on February 23, 2008. The first three (Fat kids are harder to kidnap, Goodbye Kitty in a microwave, and Gold digger: like a hooker just smarter) are all listed above on this page. Click here to see an image of Rihanna in front of the paintings. (Thanks to Rebecca Cleary and others for bringing this to my attention.)
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