Pif made its big comeback in newsstands in December in the form of a quarterly, on the ashes of Pif gadget, missing for several years.
The famous gadgets that made it successful in the 70s and 80s are still there in this ambitious project led by former Secretary of State Frédéric Lefebvre.
But now, after only a few weeks of existence, the newborn is already experiencing his first controversy: Pif the mag and more particularly one of its designers are accused of plagiarism on social networks.
The story begins this Monday on the social network Twitter.
The graphic designer Boidin is moved that the new Pif le mag campaign did not report the failure of the crowdfunding of the previous attempt to relaunch Pif, by the editions of Pif, a satellite company of the Humanity group , owner of the rights to the laughing cabot.
In a thread (editor's note, a series of tweets), he urges his community to take a look at the work of one of the designers of the new team: the so-called Gotié, whose real name is Sébastien Gautié.
I strongly recommend the twitter of the designer of Pif https://t.co/Pg7riJkMKt
- 🍟Boidin🍟 (@boidin) December 27, 2020
This indication intrigued a young graphic design student who made a specialty of spotting plagiarism in graphic works.
Mimille-Chan, her nickname because she prefers to remain anonymous, quickly points to a "loan" that is at least obvious on a simple drawing relating to the "Pink October" operation.
Real copy and paste
Then, taking an interest in the recent work of the designer of the new adventures of "Herculotté", the cat acolyte of Pif, this designer discovers yet another "loan".
“Taking back already existing images from your own license is one thing.
Taking pictures on the Internet in open bar mode is another, ”ironically Mimille-Chan in a new tweet.
The drawing of the "Miss" in the little "cartoon" is indeed very similar to the manga drawing;
only a few color details and the character's facial features have changed very slightly.
Taking over already existing images from your own license is one thing.
Taking pictures on the internet in open bar mode is another.
https://t.co/MtoEFTn5Ip pic.twitter.com/vtLNHJAEXC
- Mimille Chan (@ChanMimille) December 28, 2020
"It was while strolling through the documentary space of the publication of Pif le mag for the election of Miss France that I saw that someone had found a first reuse of Hercules", explains the graphic designer to Parisien .
“It was while leaning out of curiosity on the designer that I then saw that he reused a lot of images that did not belong to him, such as backgrounds.
And one thing leading to another, I found a lot of plagiarized images ”, adds Mimille-Chan, who also runs an Instagram site (@ / brigade_crédits_et_anti_trace), which vilifies the plagiarists and other aces of the“ decal ”.
His motivations?
Simple: “I'm an art student and I've already had some illustrations stolen.
Defending my future domain as well as the community of amateurs of which I am a part is enough to motivate me ”, explains the young girl, who animates a kind of CopyComic of illustration.
No reaction from the magazine
His tweet about Miss and Hercules quickly snowballed and went viral.
And other enlightened amateurs then point the finger at the copied and pasted designer Gotié.
The news is spreading at the speed of light in the world of comics and illustration.
Yes the tree is an image on the internet pic.twitter.com/Sx8wEM3DTL
- Mimille Chan (@ChanMimille) December 29, 2020
Contacted, neither the press service of Pif le mag nor Frédéric Lefebvre, his new boss, replied to us at the time of writing.
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So who is Sébastien Gautié?
France Bleu Bourgogne lifted part of the mystery last Friday.
“Gotié”, from his stage name, mainly draws the character of the cat Hercules.
This forty-something would not live from his drawings, he is actually the manager of a company and it is thanks to social networks that he found himself in this Pif le Mag adventure.
He would have been directly contacted by Frédéric Lefebvre to participate in the adventure of the famous youth magazine, which was his child “madeleine de Proust”.
This Saturday, during an evening offered at Puy du Fou, beauty contests in France celebrate their 100 years with the coronation of # MissFrance2021 #Hercules tried to disrupt the ceremony @Pifofficiel @MissFrance pic.twitter.com/WHqNc8DrAl
- Gotié (@ SebGotie21) December 19, 2020
"I am an amateur cartoonist, as it appears on my Twitter account"
Contacted by Le Parisien, the designer wished to deliver his version of the facts by highlighting his "amateurism".
“I am an amateur cartoonist, as it appears on my Twitter account.
As such, I regularly make caricatures, always benevolent, of the world of the media, ”he explains by way of introduction.
"Pif le mag suggested to me, in the spirit of bringing out new authors, to create a new adventure called
Herculloté or Hercules seeks to disrupt major television shows,
" he adds.
"Amateur but above all passionate, I worked hard, drawing inspiration from my models of designers, obviously without imagining to equal them," he clears himself.
I kept attitudes or features on the final published plates, by dint of drawing and drawing again.
"
But what about the actual plagiarism accusation?
There too, he explains himself.
“I posted on Twitter a short cartoon of Herculotté, not published in the magazine, pushing Jean-Pierre Foucault during the Miss France ceremony.
When I published this caricature, I got an old drawing of a Miss made some time ago and today I realize with amazement that her dress and part of her body language, but not her face, had been transferred at the time from a drawing found on the Internet.
I discovered today that this drawing belongs to Mimille-Chan.
It is an amateur's fault that I deeply regret.
I sincerely regret this rookie mistake, ”insists the illustrator.
Sébastien Gautié, in a process of transparency, also evokes all the other borrowings made in his previous works published on his personal Instagram account.
"For years, I made caricatures without imagining publishing them one day, for my family and my relatives, I then paid tributes to so and so by posting from time to time on my Twitter account, sometimes picking up , here and there, elements on the Web ”, he answers us.
pic.twitter.com/wZ8WDj7tSc
- Mimille Chan (@ChanMimille) December 28, 2020
"I ask for indulgence"
“I ask for indulgence first of all from this author but also from all, by promising for my next boards to offer only original creations and this in the smallest details.
This episode will serve as a lesson for me, ”concludes Gotié.
To our knowledge, the case has not crossed the borders of social networks.
But in the eyes of the law, violating intellectual cleanliness is not without risk.
Because if the notion of "plagiarism" does not formally exist in the Intellectual Property Code, depending on its level of seriousness, it is considered to be counterfeiting.
However, article L122-4 of the Intellectual Property Code provides that “any representation or reproduction, in whole or in part, made without the consent of the author or his successors in title or successors in title is illegal.
It is the same for translation, adaptation or transformation, arrangement or reproduction by any art or process.
"
Articles L335-2 and L335-3 of the Intellectual Property Code provide that counterfeiting is punishable by three years' imprisonment and a fine of 300,000 euros.