Dear Friends, I am sending you one of my old articles(1997):

PLAGIARISM IN CARTOON

Dear cartoon friends,

From time to time, we coincide with very similar cartoons that are signed by different people. We see some of them in different places or times and some of them even in the same album. As a result, a question of theft pops up in our minds: “Which one is original, which one is stolen?”, “How should the thief be punished?”           

Stealing somebody else’s work and signing it is such a self-humiliating thing for an artist that, I don’t think he/she has to get a punishment beside it. On the other hand, reduplicating a formerly used idea unknowingly can be done easily by any cartoonist. If you approached the same problem with the same method, certainly the cartoons will be the same in the end. In all branches of art, there have been the ones who steal others’ work. In Western languages, it is called “plagiarism”. The Romans used to call the act of stealing someone else’s worker (not work of art) and selling it, “Plagiarius”. That word is supposedly coming from Greek origin “plagios”, which means bent, askew, crooked. There is a slang expression in Turkish which uses the same word, “to make crooked” and it means to do wrong to someone. Each day, thousands of newspapers, magazines and albums are being published all around the world and inside them ten thousands of cartoons… No cartoonist, publisher or jury member is capable of viewing them all. Keeping each of them in mind is completely out of question. Therefore detection of the stolen work is random. People getting excited by finding out a reduplicated cartoon, should be aware that they are being consoled only by a very small percentage. For example in Turkey, subscribing to a few magazines of South Africa and Far East is enough for a corrupted cartoonist to continue his profession (!) with stolen works (At the time this article was published, the Internet was not as common as it is now).

The famous cartoon thief of our time is Peter Kaste of Germany. In spite of all my tolerance,

I consider announcing it as my duty. Peter Kaste is so wild in this plagiarism act that

he doesn’t hesitate to steal the drawing characteristic of the original cartoons as well as their

 main idea.  Kaste is not contended with less obvious, hard to get caught-theft.

It is found out numerous times that he has stolen from Quino, Serre, Aragones and from

the cartoons that were awarded in the most famous contests. With these works, he has earned

money from the magazines he has worked for and been awarded in contests.

He also confessed that he has done that intentionally and apologized to the cartoon community.

Well, isn’t there a precaution in order to prevent such actions? The below term can be added

to the contest regulations:

“If a cartoon is detected to be stolen, the royalties paid and the prizes given are going to be retrieved; the perpetrator is going to be exposed.” Other than that, for reduplications, prohibitions from the contests or profession can be practiced. Thousands of cartoon friends are capable of doing this determination. In case of disagreement, “The original owner of a cartoon is the one who gets to publish it before.” should be considered as the rule. What should the honest cartoonists, who are afraid of recreating an old cartoon, do?

1-      Be proud of this fear of yours, but never allow it to become a reason for inaction.

2-      Be skeptic about the ideas that easily pop up in your mind (Probably they had been used already).

3-      Invent the way and technique of your own (The airplanes that fly at different altitudes do not crash into each other.)

In addition to those, if you have favorite ideas, draw them and get them published as soon as possible. Somewhere, someone might be drawing the same cartoon. If you think that one of your favorite cartoons resemble a famous cartoon a lot, you can put a note underneath it as reference. For example why not a note like: “Variation on a theme of Turhan Selcuk”? Anyhow if some day you see that you are perceived as a “re-doer”, you can write to the cartoonist that you are not a Kaste supporter, then never publish that work of yours again and that’s it.

As the conclusion, no artist can say “I created my work from zero”. We all, consciously or not, utilize or get influenced by something. But while we sign underneath our work, our judgment about our own values, will stay as the fairest.

Cheers!

Eray Özbek

(Cartoonists Association Ýzmir Office, July 1997 bulletin, “HERAY=Everymonth” Column)

 ***

Degerli dostlar, size on bir yil onceki bir yazimi tekrar sunuyorum: 

KARIKATURDE  “YAMUKCULUK”

Sevgili  karikatur  dostlari,

Zaman zaman, birbirine cok benzeyen, ama imzalari baska karikaturlere rastliyoruz. Bazilarina  ayri  yer  ve  zamanlarda,  bazilarina  da  ayni  albumde.  O  zaman, hemen  aklimiza bir hirsizlik ihtimali geliyor : ” – Acaba  hangisi ozgun, hangisi calinti ? “Hirsiz nasil cezalandirilmali?”
Bir  baskasinin  yapitini  asirip  imzalamasi, sanatcinin  kendi  kendine  yaptigi  oyle  bir  asagilamadir  ki,  ayrica  bir  ceza  verilmesine  bence  gerek  yok.  Onceden  yapilmis  bir  espriyi bilmeden  tekrarlamak  ise,  her  karikaturcunun  basina  rahatlikla  gelebilir,  ayni  soruna  ayni yontemle  yaklasmissaniz,  ortaya  elbette  ayni karikatur  cikar.  Tarih  boyunca,  sanatin  butun   dallarinda, baskasinin  yapitini  apartanlara rastlanmis. Osmanlica’da  “Intihal”  denen  bu  eyleme  bati  dillerinde  “Plagiarism”  deniyor.  Romalilar,  bir  baskasinin  esirini (eserini degil)  calip  satana “Plagiarius”  derlermis.  Bunun  da  yunanca “plagios”dan  geldigi  saniliyor: “egik-yamuk”  demek. Bizim  argo  “yamuk  yapmak”  deyimimizi  andiriyor.  Her  gun  dunyada   binlerce   gazete,  dergi  ve album ;  bunlarda  da,  onbinlerce  karikatur  yayinlaniyor. 
Hicbir  kairikaturcu,  yayinci,  ya  da  juri  uyesi,  bunlarin  tumunu  izleyemez, hele  aklinda  hic  tutamaz.  Dolayisi  ile  calintilarin  saptanmasi,  rastlantiya  baglidir.  ” – Bu karikatur, daha  once  yapilmisti,  gordum,  nasil  da  yakaladim ! ” diye heyecanlananlar  da,  minik  bir  yuzde  ile  avunduklarini  bilmeliler.  Ornegin  Turkiye’de ,  mezhebi  genis  bir  karikaturcunun  yalnizca  kopya  yapitlarla  meslegini (!)  surdurebilmesi  icin,  Guney   Amerika  ve  Uzakdogu’dan  birer  dergiye  abone olmasi  yeter. (Yazinin Yayim tarihinde, internet boylesine yayginlasmamisti.)

Gunumuz   karikatur hirsizlarinin  en  unlusu,  Alman  Peter  Kaste’dir.  Butun hosgorume  ragmen, bu  adi  duyurmayi  gorev  sayiyorum.  Peter  Kaste,  yamukculuk  aliskanliginda  oylesine azgindir  ki, bazi  karikaturlerin  yalniz  esprisini  degil,  cizgisini  de  yurutmekten  cekinmez.  Kaste, oyle  kiyida kosede  kalmis  (yakalanmasi  zor)  hirsizliklarla  da  yetinmez.  Quino’dan,  Serre’den, Aragones’den, en  unlu  yarismalarda 
odul  almis  karikaturlerden  caldigi,  defalarca  saptanmistir.  Bunlarla,  calistigi  dergilerden  para  kazanmis,  yarismalardan  oduller  almistir : Bu  alintilari “Kaste’n” yaptigini  da  itiraf ederek,   karikatur dunyasindan  ozur  dilemistir.  Peki, bu  konuda  alinacak  bir onlem  yok mu ?

Sartnamelere  soyle  bir  madde  konulabilir :

  “Bir karikaturun,  alinti-calinti  oldugu saptanirsa,  odenmis  telif  ucretleri  ve  oduller  geri  alinir;  fail,  teshir  edilir”. Bunun disinda, yinelenen  eylemler  icin ,yarismalardan,  meslekten  yasaklamalar  getirilebilir. Binlerce  karikatur dostu,  gececek  yillar  icinde,  bu  saptama  ve ihbarlari  yapmaya  yeterlidir. Anlasmazliklarda,  kural olarak, “Bir  karikaturun  gercek  sahibi,  onceki  tarihle  yayinlatandir. ” Calmaya  niyeti  olmadigi   halde ; yapilmis  bir  karikaturu  yinelemekten  korkan  durust  karikaturculer  ne  yapmali ?

1 – Bu korkunuzla  ovununuz, ama  onu  eylemsizlik  nedeni  yapmayiniz.
2 – Akliniza  cabucak  geliveren esprileri,  kusku  ile  karsilayiniz.  (Buyuk  ihtimalle  onceden  kullanilmistir).
3 – Kendi  yol  ve  yonteminizi  bulunuz.  (Nasil  ki,  baska  baska  irtifalarda  seyreden ucaklar,  asla  carpismazlar.)

Ayrica  pek  begendiginiz  fikirleriniz  varsa  bunlari  bekletmeden  cizip yayinlatiniz,  su  anda  bir  baskasi  ciziyor  olabilir. Cok  begendiginiz  bir  karikaturunuzun,  unlu  bir karikature  fazlaca  benzedigini  dusunuyorsaniz,  altina   bir  not   yazarak,  diger  muellife  gonderme yapabilirsiniz.  Ornegin:  “Turhan  Selcuk’un  bir  temasi  uzerine  cesitleme”  neden  olmasin ?  Yine  de gunun  birinde, “Tekrarci” durumuna  dustugunuzu  anlarsaniz,  sizden  once  davranan  muellife, “Kaste yanlisi  olmadiginizi”  yazar, ve  karikaturunuzu  bir  daha  kullanmazsiniz,  olur  biter.

Son  soz  olarak : Hicbir  sanatci: “Ben, yapitimi  yoktan  var  ettim”  diyemez.  Hepimiz, bilincli-bilincsiz  bir  yerlerden  yararlanir,  ya  da  etkileniriz. 
Ama  altina  imzamizi  atarken,  kendi degerimiz  hakkinda  verebilecegimiz  yargi ;  en  adil  yargi  olarak   kalacaktir.

Hoscakalin.

Eray  OzbeK

(K. D. Izmir  Temsilciligi,  Temmuz 1997  bulteni, HERAY  kosesi)