Todd "Goliath" Goldman: Art Thief?

Updates

From: Andrew P. Felix, Esq. To: Mike Tyndall Subject: Todd Goldman Dear Sir or Madam:



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

Dear Sir or Madam: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. FelixSHUTTS & BOWEN LLP

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 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.









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) ( 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) 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 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





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:Goldman wants to settle with Shmorky. The official press release: (p.67) ( View Digg post Shmorky posted: (p.69)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 .)

Eris Is Goddess (p.5)

and LiveJournal user bloodypepper  View post Posted by goon(p.5)and LiveJournal user









For comparison (from





This shirt featuring Eve L. has the same pose as Lenore from one of the Lenore comics.



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.

Posted by goon stevej88na (p.40) An existing shirt.





A Google image search for





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.



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





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.)



Update 4/17/2007: The "Absolut Slut" shirt has been

This shirt parodies the advertisements of Swedish vodka maker Absolut According to, Absolut has decided to take legal action.(This is's translation. His post contains the original Swedish e-mail.)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. This Goldman shirt features Bambi as he appears in the famous Disney movie. Disney has a reputation for being very protective of its copyrights.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





Goldman's "Bad Ass" shirt, and another character from the commercial.





The commercial can be viewed



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." 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."

motherfish and NightGyr Sent via e-mail by James Turner , an anonymous contributor, and goonsand





On the left is another character from the font. Second from the left, the





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.

Saturnia (p.37) and JeanneMarie (p.22),

and LiveJournal user suzie_chan  View post Posted by goons(p.37) and(p.22),and LiveJournal user

















On the left are items by Todd Goldman. The others are creations of Jim Benton

Posted by goon Synthesizer Patel A Goldman shirt featuring the same slogan, and apparently the same graphic, as a shirt from

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



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.







Animated overlay:

benkling  View post Overlay by LiveJournal user 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: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.

A Goldman shirt featuring the Goodbye Kitty character, compared to an old clipart image.

Posted by goon Wan Another Goodbye Kitty shirt, and a piece of clipart from

Another Goodbye Kitty shirt, and a piece of clipart from Plaquemaker.com

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.)



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!.



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:



(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

Elena Takami wrote that the older shirt is being sold at

Jay King sent me 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.

lukadia  View post

and goons The Mentalizer (p.39), Mercury Hat (p.41), and Astrosmash (p.41) Posted by LiveJournal userand goons(p.39),(p.41), and(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.

Goldman's "Chill'n With My Gnomies" shirt.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







A painting by Todd Goldman for the







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. 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).Some backstory and info from Mr. Kramer:

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





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





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

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

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

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

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

Another Goodbye Kitty shirt, and a piece of clipart from clipart.com

Posted by goon Good_Vs_Evil (p.109) A Goodbye Kitty shirt, and a piece of clipart from

A 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

Yet another Goldman shirt featuring Goodbye Kitty, and a piece of clipart from clipart.com

Posted by goon Monkey Lincoln Goodbye Kitty. Clipart from

Goodbye Kitty. 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

Goldman's "I've Got Sex A-Peel!" shirt bears a resemblance to the Chiquita banana



This Goldman shirt uses a slightly modified version of the Goodwill Industries logo.

Posted by goon Loonytoad Quack Goldman shirt, and clipart from from

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 EmuOfFury (p.42) This Goldman work is similar to



This Goldman work is similar to this image and Flash animation

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



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 amir (p.23) T-shirt designs from David & Goliath and from





T-shirt designs from David & Goliath and from T-shirthumor.com

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.)



A Goldman shirt design, and a well-known unofficial Calvin & Hobbes image. (Goldman's work appears on the right in this image.)

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.– Goldman's alleged trolling of WIRED.com and a personal encounter with him have been added to the Odds and Ends section.– 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 (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 goonUnless 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, 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:I can confirm that this was sent through Mr. Felix's official address at Shutts & Bowen. Many other webmasters received the same message, including Fleen 's Gary Tyrrell. WIRED Magazine and Juxtapoz Magazine removed their articles. Wikipedia's Todd Goldman article was removed for several days, and now contains only a brief description of the Shmorky issue. However, the article about Neko states that Goldman copied Neko and sold the design. The Boys are stupid, throw rocks at them! article also contains a section marked "Alleged plagiarism" that compares the shirt to Chip Wass's Intel Bunch characters.On, I was informed that the Animation Art Gallery website had removed Todd Goldman's artwork, with the following explanation:The notice is still in place. Goldman's gallery at art.com was removed as well.By, the Peabody Fine Art Gallery had removed his work, with the following message: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.On, 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. 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! 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.