Someone Copied Your Art. Here Is the Ladder.

By Cassie Stone, Founder of REvisART · August 27, 2026

By Cassie Stone

You found your work on someone else's page, or on a product you never approved, and your stomach dropped. Before anything else: this is fixable more often than it feels in that first hot minute. Most artists believe their options are a lawyer or letting it go. There is a ladder of moves between those two, most of it is free, and most theft dies on the first two rungs.

Walk it in order. Every rung makes the next one stronger.

Rung one: document everything, before you do anything

The urge is to fire off a message immediately. Do not. Evidence first, because pages get deleted the moment someone knows you are looking.

• Screenshot the infringing page with the date visible, and save the exact URL, the account name, and the platform.

• If it is a product listing, capture the listing, the seller name, and the price.

• Gather your own proof of authorship: the original file, process photos, sketches, and the date you first posted or published the work. You have these. A thief does not.

• Keep it all in one dated folder. Boring, and decisive later.

Be angry if you need to be. Document while you are angry.

Rung two: the short, factual message

A direct message or email ends more infringement than anything else on this list, provided it is short, factual, and unemotional. You are not arguing. You are stating.

> "Hello. The artwork in this post [link] is my original work [link to your original]. I have not authorized this use. Please remove it within 48 hours. Thank you."

That is the whole message. No essay, no accusations, no legal theater. Many infringers are sloppy rather than malicious, and a clear request from the obvious owner is often enough. If it is ignored, you have now created a record that you asked, which strengthens everything that follows.

Rung three: the platform takedown

Every major platform is required to have a process for removing infringing content when the copyright owner reports it properly. That is the DMCA, the US law that makes platforms act on valid notices. You do not need a lawyer to use it.

Where to find the forms: search any platform's help center for "report copyright infringement." Instagram and Facebook run reports through Meta's IP reporting form. TikTok, Pinterest, and YouTube each have copyright report forms. Marketplaces have their own: Etsy has an intellectual property report, Amazon has a report infringement tool, and a copycat's standalone store is usually hosted by someone, Shopify for example, who accepts notices for the shops they host. When the copy lives on a random website, look up the site's hosting company and send the notice there.

The DMCA notice, line by line

A valid notice has six required parts. Here is a fill in template you can adapt:

> To the Designated Copyright Agent: > > 1. My original work: I am the copyright owner of the artwork titled "[title]," which can be seen at [link to your original, or registration number if you have one]. > 2. The infringing material: The unauthorized copy appears at [exact URL(s)]. > 3. My contact information: [Name, email, address, phone]. > 4. Good faith statement: I have a good faith belief that the use described above is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law. > 5. Accuracy statement: The information in this notice is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, I am the copyright owner or authorized to act on the owner's behalf. > 6. Signature: [Typed full legal name and date. A typed signature counts.]

Two cautions before you hit send, and I mean them:

• The perjury line is real. Be certain the work is yours and that you never licensed this use, to this party or through some agreement you have forgotten. If there is any real doubt, sort that out first.

• A counter notice can come back. The other side can respond claiming the material is not infringing, which can lead to the content being restored unless you escalate. Most thieves never bother. But know the mechanism exists so it does not surprise you.

Send a proper notice, and the platform is obligated to act on it. In my experience, watching artists do this from my gallery desk, a clean six part notice removes the copy in days, quietly, with no lawyer and no drama.

Rung four: escalate

If the platform route fails, the infringer is a business making real money on your work, or the copying is repeated and deliberate, it is time for an attorney. Two things make that conversation dramatically stronger:

• Registration. If the work was registered in time, statutory damages and attorney's fees are on the table, and a lawyer's letter stops being a request and starts being a problem. This is the payoff of the registration habit from the first article in this series.

• Your folder from rung one. Dated screenshots, the record of your removal request, your originals. You are handing counsel a case, not a story.

Look for a lawyer who works with artists or in intellectual property. Many offer a flat rate consultation, and some regions have volunteer lawyers for the arts programs worth searching for.

What not to do

Skip the public callout, at least at first. The mob feels powerful for an afternoon, but it warns the infringer to delete evidence, it can muddy your own clean record of handling it properly, and it occasionally aims at the wrong target. Quiet and procedural wins this game. You can always tell the story after the work comes down.

And an honest word: nothing on this ladder guarantees removal. Outcomes vary, some platforms are slower than others, and cross border cases are harder. But the ladder, walked in order, resolves the overwhelming majority of what a working artist will actually face.

If you are in it right now

If someone is using your work today and you want a second set of eyes before you act, bring the links and your evidence folder to a Power Hour: one hour, one to one with me, mapping exactly which rung you are on and what to send.

Keep reading in this series: Who Owns Your Art? · Licensing Your Art in Plain Language · Brand Protection for Artists · Before You Sign: Contracts and Consignment

A stronger disclaimer for this one, because the stakes are real: this article is education, not legal advice, and I am a gallery owner, not a lawyer. The DMCA is US law, platform processes change, and a genuine legal fight, a counter notice, a business infringer, anything cross border, needs an art lawyer. Use this to get oriented and to handle the simple cases. Escalate the rest.