Artist Fights Back After Retailers Steal Tom Brady Courtroom Sketch
BOSTON (CBS) - The courtroom artist made famous by her DeflateGate renderings of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady now has to deal with people stealing her sketches.
Jane Rosenberg's much-criticized drawings of Brady have developed a huge following – so much so, they are being reproduced on all sorts of items.
One of Rosenberg's friends spotted a "Free Brady" T-shirt featuring her drawing for sale for $20, hanging in the front window of a store called EmbroidMe in Newton. Then Rosenberg started hunting around online.
"I found other websites, and other ones, lots of them," she told WBZ Monday night. "And I was pretty shocked. You know, it's a really serious thing when artwork gets stolen. You can't just let people get away with that."
Online retailers are peddling a range of items featuring her iconic sketch: T-shirt and skirts, along with phone cases, coffee mugs, hand bags, laptop skins, and more. It's Rosenberg's work, and she's not getting a nickel.
"I didn't even have a clue about those," she said. "It's kind of ridiculous."
"Nobody contacted me to license these, so I'm having a lawyer send out a cease-and-desist tonight," Rosenberg added, calling the theft of her art "not fair, not right."
And while the digital age makes it easier to steal artwork – it also makes it easier to catch it. Rosenberg, it turns out, has eyes everywhere.
"I've gotten quite a few e-mails from strangers alerting me to the fact that my artwork was being used illegally," she said.
WBZ called the Newton store selling T-shirts featuring Rosenberg's sketch, but they were closed for the Labor Day holiday.
