[11.27][Bad news to me]M8 is on the frontpage of 'dapreview.net'

Meizu adds Art Theft to their Shameful Repertoire
Piracy is nothing new in China. It's practically the country's middle name. You'd think established companies there would have a desire to break away from these stereotypes, but sadly this is not the case for Meizu. After all, the company has been riding the fame train since the M6, a player heavily "inspired" by Apple. Their newest rip-off, the Meizu M8 (aka miniOne) looks nearly identical to the iPhone in design, and interface. It's slated to debut at CES '08, and is said to be released a few months after. Sadly this news isn't about the player's release date, but about the company reaching an even greater low. They've now taken someones art without any sort of credit.

The photo on the right was created by Deviant Artist "`lithiumpicnic". The latest mock-ups released by Meizu shows this photo in the background, and as part of their theme. I think it's really a shame that they get away with such things. The M8 was one of the players I was looking forward to trying out, but after this I'm a bit turned off.

http://www.dapreview.net/news.php
http://www.dapreview.net/comment.php?comment.news.4161

Chinese Thieves and Questions

Journal Entry: Mon Nov 26, 2007, 8:09 AM A Chinese company that is making an I-Phone clone is using my work to promote and advertise.
here's a link to the company info: [link]
It even appears they have used the image of Apnea for a theme - if not a mockup for advertising and promotion.
Does anyone speak Chinese or have any ideas about Chinese law or how to go about contacting them? I wonder if I even have any chance of collecting any damages for unlicensed use of the image?
Is China a member or participant of Bourne Convention agreements on copyright?
Will someone make me a sandwich?



http://lithiumpicnic.deviantart.com/journal/15675907/

Meizu rips off artist to showcase iPhone ripoff

Why merely steal the entirety of your product's industrial design and user interface when you can gank so much more? Philip Warner of Lithium Picnic studios dropped us a line to let us know that the wallpaper being used on the latest rendering of Meizu's M8 MiniOne is his own work -- and surprise, surprise, Meizu hasn't licensed it, which ironically only serves to rip off Apple's own ripping off of artists. Yeah, you've gotta have stones to survive in this industry, but Meizu's chutzpah takes it to a whole new level, particularly if they makes good on their apparent intention to debut the M8 stateside at CES in a few weeks. Then again, when they said "CES," maybe they meant some knockoff tradeshow held in a vacant lot somewhere.

[Image via CNMO]
http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/26/m...iphone-ripoff/

It's really a shame that a simple misunderstanding has gone so far. The mockup was made by a fan.

Just think how that fan feels right now, his work attracted so much negative PR to Meizu.

http://en.meizu.com/userforum/forum_...?TID=1834&PN=1

It would appear that if anyone has any legal claim for damages in this debacle it is Meizu for the unsubstantiated defamatory articles by Endgadget (Which seems to have lost all credibility lately and become an Apple propaganda machine), Dapreview etc.

I can understand the artist’s confussion with this fan art but if I read correctly he started the misunderstanding by contacting Endgadget. I would think that after being informed by Meizu that this is the work of an avid fan he would inform the publishers so they could revise their articles. His "very fair onetime pre-attorney settlement offer" seems to be a quick grab for cash, perhaps to help pay for his other legal endeavours.

Please remember the source: Apple fanboi laden Engadget. This happens EVERY DAY, all over the earth. Remember that everything and anything that's posted on the web can (and will) be used and reused, legally or not. Maybe the artist in question should've used a Creative Commons license.

I'm not condoning copyright theft. As a matter of fact that's one of the reasons why I got an M6. It's not tied to any content provider (like the iPod or the Zune), it does not have proprietary interfaces and it can be used in any OS.

I wonder, if his art would've been used by Apple would he (and Engadget) been as vocal? Please. And let's not forget that Engadget is full of hypocrites. Every day there's a fake iPod blah-blah article, but on the back of the iPod there's a 'Made in China' engraving.

id say that artist should be glad some one used his/her/wot eva it is work
i never knew of him or his work before i heard of the meizu m8
he should thank them
and its not a iphone copy its an alternative
if it was a copy it will be the same
its not simple get over it

as for the artist
he should say thankyou if i was meizu i would say sorry ask someone and put someone's painting who are better than his on the phone
my god the world today
!!!

Ah... I think upon releasing the M8 Meizu is going to have to keep their heads low for a while. If this player gets released in the U.S. and Europe with a lot of fanfare and attention, Apple is going to crush them in the courts.
Man I wish this thing was running a full browser like the iPhone (Safari) or Archos 605 WiFi (Opera).

Of course there will be a full browser included ... internet explorer

im confused
isit a phone or not the (black design)

It's everything A phone, a music player, a video player, a digital camera, an organizer, an internet browser, maybe a navigation system, a portable tv device, ...

NOW there is one important fact I have to tell.
The pictures of M8 as above are not official design.They are just PSed images by M8 fans.
In my opinion ,MEIZU will design a brand new theme for M8.
Using ready-made pics as themes is stupid for every company.

kevkeisha, it'll be very bad press for Apple to start suing everyone in the music player market. Very bad, hard and very co$$tly. They'd have to sue Microsoft, Creative, Cowon, Samsung, etc. Because as the iPod has evolutionized, so most of the ideas from it has trickled, in some form or another, to other players.

There are no secrets in tech. And patent law is a joke that does not foster real innovation.

Originally Posted by Da_Vinci

In my opinion ,MEIZU will design a brand new theme for M8.
Using ready-made pics as themes is stupid for every company.

Come on Michelangelo... You are saying that Meizu didn't do this... so why Meizu have to design anything right now?... :D

Da_Vinci can you please provide me with the link to where these images were first provided by "M8 fans". That's what I'd like to see. To say this is fact, and then have it devolve into your opinion that they wouldn't use a ready-made pic in their theme seems contradicting to me.

Also Err0r, I've seen that post by ice-orange before writing up my newspost. I don't believe that is enough evidence to discount whether this was made by a fan or by Meizu since ice is not aware of everything that transpires at Meizu and thus can not truly confirm that this wasn't created somewhere by them. All I'm asking for is a simple source that will show that this was made by a fan. I mean, they would have posted it at the forum somewhere right?

Thanks,

Michael
DAPreview.net

Originally Posted by ssjmichael

Also Err0r, I've seen that post by ice-orange before writing up my newspost. I don't believe that is enough evidence to discount whether this was made by a fan or by Meizu since ice is not aware of everything that transpires at Meizu and thus can not truly confirm that this wasn't created somewhere by them. All I'm asking for is a simple source that will show that this was made by a fan. I mean, they would have posted it at the forum somewhere right?

Yeah, you're correct. The images were posted on the Meizu BBS, I remember seeing them there too before they were pasted on the mock-ups released by Jack. But have you ever checked their BBS? It's HUGE, and new posts are made literally every second. It will be very hard to find the original pictures.

Yeah, I understand. One thing I've been looking at is the EXIF data of the images. I don't understand all the technical crap in the data, but the controversial image has the same EXIF data source as images that have been confirmed to come directly from Meizu. Once I understand what the different things in the exif data refer to then I willl bring this point up at DAPreview.

This isn't really a big issue to me anyway. It's unfortunate if Meizu did take the photo without permission, but it's not really the type of thing that will sway people to not buy the player.

If the fan mock-up was based on the "official" image, won't it have the same EXIF data? Does photo editing change EXIF data? I'm not sure...

Guys...

Probably this is the thread of the Meizu fan who made the design http://babelfish.altavista.com/babel...76%26page%3d10
if I'm not wrong his nick is Siyingling

I don't think so DaremoS, those mock-ups look a lot less professional than the ones we're talking about. It's almost night and day really in terms of quality of work. Still, it's like a million times better than anything I could do, lol.

Originally Posted by madman

It would appear that if anyone has any legal claim for damages in this debacle it is Meizu for the unsubstantiated defamatory articles by Endgadget.

I also believe this way and more I am suspicous the problem has been distorted in purpuse....its A REAL WILD world out there and its easy to throw rocks to a window that has always been seen as a broken window...but...Be aware MEIZU is not one of those "chinky" copy low ended brands and they would not put so much efffort in risk because of such a marketing stupidity.

I just wish every touch screen phone wasn't regarded as an iPhone ripoff by Engadget...I love the blog but I hate the Apple fanboyism sometimes. Problem is that all of the writers own iPhones so its hard to convince them otherwise.