I read this article in the New York Times this weekend, on the discovery of the very recognizable "Fail Whale" image used on the site Twitter. Familiar, at least to those of us who use Twitter regularly.Did you know that the image was simply a computer generated birthday card by a graphic artist named Yiying Lu from Sydney, Australia? Something personal and private that she added to some of her portfolio online? And, beyond that, because it ended up on a shared image site, iStockPhoto, it was basically free for use by one of the Twitter founders who came across it. There may have been a fee, but it was a super small, AND, it went to iStockPhoto anyway because they owned the rights! That's what we joke that 'Twitterers' would call an 'Epic Fail'. There have since been T-shirts, coffee mugs and posters etc, created with the Fail Whale image. And, the sad thing is, is that up until recently, the artist/creator, Yiying, has gotten none of the proceeds.
So now, they are offering her the rights to create a plush little stuffed blue/orange fail whale to actually sell, as she has finally wizened up and personally copyrighted the image, therefore owning all rights and proceeds.
She was quoted as saying (about creating the stuffed toy) -"I'm thinking about it"
Is she crazy? Hunny, a little advice. TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
