Thanks to MSG, and a member who sent me a personal message (not disclosing who, as he/she may not like it..) we have(most probably) discovered the biggest scam in 10 years of microstock history..

Apparently they came up on MSG before: http://www.microstockgroup.com/shutterstock-com/who-is-high-leg-studio/
and today: http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/same-sales-with-400-images-and-4000-images-in-signelements/msg288079/?topicseen#new (lower down the page)

and the scam still continues, while they probably already made 100s of thousands of dollars stealing other people's works..

Here is my original image which made me %100 sure that they are thieves:
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-illustration-5965507-various-shapes-and-graphic-design-elements.php?st=931b75c
I can recognize my work from 1 million lightyears away.. There is no way I am wrong here..

and here are the ugly "warped" versions by these infringers:
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-26039425/stock-vector-logo-set.html?src=872305bcf7f5059bba0928db43dfe1cf-1-13

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-26039422/stock-vector-logo-set.html?src=872305bcf7f5059bba0928db43dfe1cf-1-7

Every vector artist reading this must take some time and check this portfolio here to see if they find their own work as well:
http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-146584p1.html

They obviously think, it is OK stealing as long as you disguise it with warps and distortions..

edit: I am adding it here (as well) for people who didn't see the links..

Site mail to SS. Sad, but that's the only thing you can do. Happen to me before and I mail to theft to remove the file and believe or not the answer was" Who the FYCK are you to tell me what to do"

ja that sounds nasty and big.

But please, can you explain to us photographers and laypeople, what a warped vector is.
I mean what have they done to the original files?

Does Shutterstock ever contact the buyers in cases like this to notify them that they must unuse the content they have bought ? Do they ever reimburse the original artists ? What happens to the money they collect for selling stolen content ?

Cidepix, it might be drastic measures, but you can sue Shutterstock if they dont take it down. Its weird tho that they dont follow their own copyright policies as soon as big bucks are involved. And can you imagine how much money you lost out on. I am really sorry for you dude.

Thanks but I think the industry suffers from this gigantic scam more than me as an individual.. If it's not taken down as soon as possible, it is also a message to all the thieves that as long as they camouflage the theft well, it is ok stealing.. When I look at the images, for example his santa and reindeers, I can see how the legs of the deers are chopped off, and the outlines simplified, so not many people will recognize it even if it's their own drawings:
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-22312423/stock-vector-vector-christmas-greeting-card.html?src=ab757b5cfb60e599e37b86c45171e87a-1-47
notice the simplification..

I suspect it is ripped off from this one:
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-120438004/stock-vector-beautiful-winter-landscape-with-background-of-night-sky-with-a-bright-moon-and-the-silhouette-of.html?src=1e29c0ee90241bee01bbaf36488dd5ec-1-0

but you can't tell because of the simplification.. this kind of sophisticated camouflage is all over the place..

Quote from: cidepix on January 03, 2013, 21:29

this is a very puzzling case..

what's the connection between this? http://www.pixel77.com/incredible-vector-packs-designiouscom-famous-cities/

and these:
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-77799412/stock-vector-new-york-doodles-vector-illustration.html?src=2ea83a4fb47bf6b5152b308a4aa876b2-1-1

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-77799361/stock-vector-london-doodles-vector-illustration.html?src=d088992e45925b7dbbccd24965e1b3c0-1-0

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-77799367/stock-vector-istanbul-doodles-vector-illustration.html?src=1e06e8971fc082d7ca5b47e78f11bfeb-1-0

http://www.vectorious.net/      600 Vectors for $30

I was just about to post that.. these images were either posted to SS directly by vectorious.net, or some thief got them for $30 and posted them on SS.. If it was directly by vectorious.net, why the need to steal mine as well? and why not post under your brand name: vectorious?
http://www.vectorious.net/img13076.search.htm
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-64823440/stock-vector-vector-abstract-illustration-with-colorful-butterfly.html?src=d57ff83b66fd73e0d4aad1a74198eec0-11-16

Yeap a lot of images from http://www.vectorious.net/

http://www.vectorious.net/      600 Vectors for $30

The future of Microstock?  SS are slack with stuff like this.

Can it get worse? How about the 2 x 70gig Torrents out there that contain high quality SS photos. Seems to be all new material as well. That's a huge security breach.

Clearly there is a lawsuit against both the copyright violator and the distributing agency.
BOTH.

I suggest you copyright owners gather up and file a lawsuit. There can be a lot of money there.
You are both being copied and redistributed.

And if you have informed the distributing agency, they cannot claim they were innocent.

The agency might be interested in setteling the matter with an agreement. Their problem will be if you represent all the copyright owners, or if there will be further demands in the future.
So settle, and they will have precedence. Which can limit and control the damages.

Here's a sister company to Vectorius:

http://www.designious.com/

im not afraid of posting in the thread, i just dont do vectors, so there wont be anything i can do about it. but i have found my images on torrent sites, so i know how it feels to get ripped off. i hope something can be done to stop the thieves, but i fear no one wants to spend the money.

So what's going on here? SS are normally very quick to deal with such violations and usually suspend the portfolio almost immediately. How come the High Leg Studio port is still available at SS?

Well, suspending 36k vectors, bringing you a massive amount of $$$ obviously is not something you want to do. Thats why I think you can sue Shutterstock for copyright violation, because they keep the account live.

What I find weird is that simple people's ports are suspended as soon as someone reports a (false) copyright claim against them, yet this port stays live regardless of massive violations. Simply put, Shutterstock is full of sh!t when they say they take copyright violations seriously. They only take it serious when it doesnt hurt them.