Islands Souvenirs stole my art

On March 29th 2025, I was at Cebu airport in the Philippines. At the Islands Souvenir store at the domestic terminal, I found that one of their “Best Seller” T-shirts uses my design without my authorization.

I am a marine educator. Shark is my passion and I want to do my part in protecting them. In 2007, I started "Congratulafins" to promote shark conservation. I use my art to teach shark science. This whale shark is one of the many sharks I drew in 2014 for my shark education work. You can find a timeline of my conservation outreach work on my Facebook fan page.

In 2016, due to the high popularity of my sharks on my fan page, I uploaded my artwork to a print-on-demand shop and sold my work there. All the proceeds from there go back to supporting my shark conservation work.

As my online presence grew, I gained recognition from fellow conservation groups, a lot of them government agencies. I have partnered with many conservation groups to use my art to raise shark awareness.

In 2016, I created a pamphlet, wedding table cards and a postcard for Taipei City Animal Protection Agency to raise awareness for shark-fin-soup-free wedding banquets.

In 2017, I created sticky notes, masking tapes, ballpoint pens, a document holder and banners for the Taiwan Marine Education Center for their shark outreach program.

The whale shark is an iconic design reflecting my style. I have a collection of around 200 rays and sharks created in the same style. My style and collaborators can be found at my portfolio page and collaboration timeline on my graphic design website, Five Gills Design.Ｉcan give you the story behind every single piece of work you find there.

In contrast, Islands Souvenirs doesn’t have the same kind of consistency in their work, because their so-called “designer” just searches the internet and claims other people’s work as theirs.

As part of our shark awareness outreach, we encourage citizen scientist participation. In 2018, we picked some of the commonly sighted sharks in Taiwan to make stickers as a reward for reporting shark sightings. (Sadly, the other design in the photo was also stolen by a so-called scientist in Mexico)

I love travelling to the Philippines, but on this last trip I left with profound sadness. My work was disrespected and I was violated.

While still in transit, I immediately contacted the company. Michael Dispo, the company’s general manager, replied to my inquiry. He told me that it’s just a similar design, but out of respect, he has “ immediately instructed our team to halt the production of this design” and that he hopes ”this resolution is agreeable”.

Well, I do not find it acceptable at all. The whale shark on the T-shirts and tank tops they sell isn't just "similar" to mine, it is an exact copy of mine with no changes.
I have the original sketches and online publishing timeline to support my ownership.
Islands Souvenirs’ collections are inconsistent in style, and most of them are anatomically incorrect because they do not have the profound knowledge of sharks as I do with over 20 years of experience educating people about sharks.

After telling Islands Souvenirs their proposed solution is not acceptable to me, and I am seeking restitution, Islands Souvenirs manager told me they will investigate my claims and their lawyer has advised him not to have communication with me in the meantime.
I have not heard from Islands Souvenirs since. Our last communication was on April 4th, 2025.

Islands Souvenirs was called out for stealing my art, and their solution is to simply dodge responsibility by ceasing contact. However, as the true creator of the artwork, I will not stop until the wrongdoings have been righted. Plagiarizing is the most discouraging thing for an artist, it’s the kind of thing that makes creators want to stop creating beautiful things to share with the world.

Dearest fans, if you love my work, please boycott Islands Souvenirs and let them know why. Their business model is ripping off real designers and killing creativity. I have been discouraged from creating and sharing my art with the world because of the constant stealing online. Your support is the reason I keep creating art to protect sharks.

If you are ever at Cebu airport, or any airports in the Philippines, please check out the Islands Souvenirs shop and let me know if they have actually halted production as they claimed, or if they are still stealing from me.

I am still creating art, just reluctant to show it to the world at the moment. Thank you for your support, I look forward to the day when I can proudly and happily share my work online without fearing it being stolen.