Tosh Berman is a giant douche.

I earn my living working in a world that creates ideas, projects, and applications for money, on demand.  All of these products I produce are unique and highly custom.  You don’t see them anywhere else.  I contractually guarantee this usually.  Most of my clients want it that way.  They are paying for exclusive designs and one-of-a-kind solutions to their business identity or brand awareness.

Which brings me to my point:  My ideas are good and so people constantly attempt to reproduce them in their own way.  While I am aware of that fact, there isn’t anything I can do about my IDEAS being appropriated at will.  You simply can not copyright an idea.  Usually I reward myself with the satisfaction of knowing my idea was good enough that someone attempted a cheap knockoff – usually failing – and I move on to my next idea.  I don’t ever have a shortage of ideas.

What pisses me off is when someone blatantly takes the IMAGES of my work – which I have published freely on the web -  right-clicks on them, saves them to their computer, then uploads them to their website and claims it as their own work!

Ok, so you want an example of where this happened to me? Sure. Read on.

Years ago, I used to design restaurants and nightclubs.

If you go to my Flickr page, you can find lots of photos of my work.  These represent a cross-section of the type of work I’ve done over the years. I don’t post everything; it gets tiring not only for me to post, but for anyone who has to sift through all those photos.

I specifically will point to three images of an interior that I designed and built. This is a nightclub called Hush Lounge that was located at 1403 Larimer Street in Denver, Colorado:

Unisex Bathroom Sink – Hush Lounge, Denver, Colorado
©Patrick Ryan. All rights reserved.

Main Room, Hush Lounge, Denver Colorado
©Patrick Ryan. All rights reserved.

Main Room, Hush Lounge, Denver, Colorado
©Patrick Ryan. All rights reserved.

As most “successful” nightclubs tend to do, Hush was incredibly popular for a brief length of time and has since closed and re-opened as something else, every few years, wash, rinse and repeat.

But that doesn’t stop Hush from living on, as part of Denver nightclub history.

Now, just for fun, check out this guy’s website:

http://www.toshberman.com/restaurants-nightclubs-gallery

If you scroll through his cheese-ball image slider, you will notice something vaguely familiar about these same photos on his site: Oh yeah, that’s it… THEY’RE MINE!

Not only has Tosh Berman blatantly stolen these copyrighted images directly from my Flickr page and claimed this work as his own, he also is lying about the fact that he had anything to do with Hush Lounge. Again, Tosh had absolutely NOTHING to do with this nightclub. He owned two failed clubs that were completely unrelated to Hush. I could tell you about those shitholes as well but I digress…

Bottom line: This fuckchop couldn’t design the exit route out of a teepee. The guy is a putz, a douchebag and a liar.

By the way Tosh, if you read this – and I’m counting on the fact that the Internet will push it right into your face* as you Google yourself daily – feel free to explain HOW, exactly, you were involved in this project and WHY you are using these pictures on your website.  I will venture to say that toshberman.com is full of nothing BUT stolen design photos and images.  You fucking phoney mook.

*mission accomplished.

Many will recommend that I should legally stop Tosh Aenaes Berman from using these images.  I could.  But here is why I don’t bother:  Like I said, it’s incredibly easy for me to come up with new ideas.  Tosh, on the other hand, can’t do that. I’ll let Tosh continue to live his bullshit life through the work of others, never producing a single idea of his own, and looking foolish when he actually has to and fails.  Sometimes the best thing to do is sit back and watch someone become a victim of their own lies; falling flat on their face in front of the paparazzi they know they have absolutely no business being in front of. Thanks daddy.

This isn’t the first time this has happened to me nor am I the only designer this happens to.  It’s best to ignore stuff like this.  But in this case, here is one instance I just can’t let go unaddressed. People like Tosh ARE the assholes everyone complains about and who ruin the world for the rest of us.