We're not the only ones having to deal with wacky lawsuits by scam artists; Rob Rivera, who runs the PortoDiao website, has been told in all-caps to expect the judicial wrath of one Imel Bryan, a self-proclaimed graphic designer who unsuccessfully tried to make a living selling artwork he stole from others.
Imel Bryan and his artwork theft were extensively described on the PortoDiao site. The story included everything from his questionable resumes posted on different profiles to evidence of how he would steal photos and other artwork from real designers to offer it for sale on sites like DeviantArt. Plus a host of wacky Twitter posts and whatnot coming from Bryan. The whole story unfolded against the backdrop of the debate about Law 510, a draconian copyright protection vehicle imposed upon us by the gringos and their free trade agreement, which privatizes copyright enforcement for the benefit of the enforcers, who can pocket the fines.
These two sides of one issue made for interesting reading - you should really head over there and read the whole thing, here - but Imel Bryan obviously did not agree.
At first, three days after publication, he messaged PortoDiao that he did no longer want to be a graphic designer - as if he ever was:
"MADO LA DESCION DE RETIRARME DE LO QUE SERIA ESTA PROFESION COMO DISEÑADOR GRAFICO . YA EN VERDAD NO QUIERO BRONCA CON NADIE . ME RETIRO BUSCARE OTRA PROFESION EN REALIDAD QUE NO TENGA NADA Q VER CON EL MERCADEO NI LA PUBLICIDAD .. ADIOS GENTE BUENO CONSEJO LOS DE ALGUNAS PERSONAS EN ESTE BLOG LOS TOMARE COMO LEY DE VIDA Y GRACIAS POR TODO ME DESPIDO"
That was on October 1st, 2012. Case closed, you'd think.
Well, not quite. Because it appears that Mr. Bryan then missed his spot in the limelight, even though he got there only by preying on other people's talent. On January 3rd, he wrote another all-caps email to Rob Rivera, threatening to file criminal charges for "crimes against the honor", because, he said, the news about him was already "old" and thus Rivera had to remove the story. You can't beat that logic!
We do hope he takes acciones legales. And against us too, for writing old news about him. These people are always the gifts that keep on giving. And maybe Rob Rivera and your reporter will then also be included in the pathetic (and xenophobic) self-pity of La Prensa and company! Before Imel Bryan sues us, however, he might wanna get his web stuff in order - Hey, Imel! Your domain name expired!
as Panamanian i feel shame for him because he cant make a law suit for that, he can get a law suit for stealing work from others, i used to do some designs for my own webpages but i never stole a design from another person… thats ridiculous….