This section covers:
  • how to take action on stolen content / copyright infringement
  • copyright infringement and court action - why people have to pay if they infringe copyright - and some examples of some cases concerning "appropriation" and famous artists
  • copyright infringement and content theft - some context in terms of informative articles and posts online

Take action on stolen content
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The threshold for taking action is:
  • IF it is more likely than not that copying occurred 
  • AND if the artwork which you think has infringed your copyright is substantially similar to your artwork.
For a copyright case to be valid, the infringer has to have taken a material amount of expression. While this varies from case to case, it is not negligible or de minimis. 
Attorney Scot - You thought we wouldn't notice
Here's what you need to do if your artwork is stolen / plagiarised and your copyright infringed.
Note: I'm not a lawyer and you should not rely on any assertions I make as legal advice. I'm just an ordinary artist and writer who is trying to make sense of copyright in relation to visual art - and what artists can do if their copyright is infringed and/or others act in such a way as to create orphan works from their copyright protected artwork. These pages organises links to what seem to me to be relevant websites. If you need the help of a lawyer you should engage a professional.
Notify the plagiariser
Whether or not you notify the plagiariser is a judgement call. Many copy in order to make contact with you. Beware of giving away an important email address. I use one used only for copyright notices.
REFERENCE:
Notify relevant third parties
All of the following assumes you are prepared to notify third parties AND create screen dumps and pdfs of the copied content AND complete copyright infringement or complaint forms online
  • notify Google (see below) and get the copied content removed from the index - make sure you use the right form. Removing Content From Google - Legal Help will help you get to the right place to report content that you would like removed from Google's services under applicable laws.
  • notify the company hosting the website that they are hosting a copyright infringement. That then makes them legally liable as well and often prompts action - such as stopping the hosting of the website.
  • do a Lookup using Who Is and notify the domain name registrar that a website is infringing the terms of registration due to the copyright infringement
REFERENCE:
SUBMIT A COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT NOTICE
Notify people who will record the infringement
Highlighting wrong-doing (if you are sure that this is what it is) on the Internet can be very effective, especially if it goes viral. The references can linger long.

Sometimes the most effective thing to do is to highlight what has happened on a third party website - such as the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse.

Sometimes people will record what has happened even if you don't ask them to.

It's always important to use the word alleged if you are unclear of the facts and want to write about a case of alleged infringement.
REFERENCE:
  • Chilling Effects Clearinghouse - The Chilling Effects database collects and analyzes legal complaints and requests for removal of online materials, helping Internet users to know their rights and understand the law.
  • You Thought We Wouldn't Notice… but we did… - A blog which is dedicated to pointing out those things that give you that feeling of haven’t I seen that somewhere before?”
  • Making a Mark: Art competitions and copyright - the AWS Gold Medal debate - This is a lengthy post highlighting issues relating to the use of reference photographs for artwork and is of relevance to art societies which have to deal with disputes about copyright and artists who enter art competitions. It also records the viral response to an alleged infringement.
Recover any financial losses
This can be expensive and, in general, you don't want to go there.

Sometimes it can be better to write off a copyright infringement to experience - and then take action to make sure it doesn't happen again.

​However if somebody is making money off your artwork you can seek recovery of all income made and punitive damages.
REFERENCE:
  • Intellectual Property Protection - Recover losses due to infringement of a photographer's work
  • ImageRights - ImageRights Get Paid for Your Work It's your image. You shot it. You created it. You own it. Now get paid for it.

Copyright Infringement and the Courts
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​Copyright infringement - why Courts make people pay | Making A Mark - If you infringe copyright you can be liable for financial damages relating to: 
  • the financial benefit you derived through the use of the images; 
  • the financial benefit lost by the copyright owners (e.g. licensing fees) and 
  • a penalty for the abuse of copyright

Appropriation of Art: Famous Case Studies
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Below are various definitions of appropriation in the context of art.

It's important to remember that the fact that it happens does not make it legitimate in terms of the law - as several contemporary artists have found to their cost.
Appropriation in art is the use of pre-existing objects or images with little or no transformation applied to them. The use of appropriation has played a significant role in the history of the arts (literary, visual, musical and performing arts).
Wikipedia 
Appropriation in art and art history refers to the practice of artists using pre-existing objects or images in their art with little transformation of the original
Tate Definition
Appropriation is the intentional borrowing, copying, and alteration of preexisting images and objects. It is a strategy that has been used by artists for millennia, but took on new significance in mid-20th-century America and Britain with the rise of consumerism and the proliferation of popular images through mass media outlets from magazines to television.
Museum of Modern Art, New York
REFERENCE:

Richard Prince

Richard Prince has been involved in a number of high profile legal cases related to appropriation of images by other artists
REFERENCE:

Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons is an appropriation artist and has been repeatedly cited in copyright infringements cases - and LOST.
REFERENCE:
An artist who reproduced a photograph as a three-dimensional sculpture for sale as high-priced art could not claim parody as a defense for copyright infringement, when the photograph itself was not the target of his parody.
​Rogers v. Koons | Wikipedia
The Paris District Court’s decision illustrates some of the specificities of French copyright law, and demonstrates the recent influence of the European Court of Human Rights (“ECHR”) on IP matters.
French Court Finds Jeff Koons Appropriated Copyrighted Photograph That “Saved Him Creative Work” 

Luc Tuymans

  • Plagiarise at your peril - the Luc Tuymans case | Making A Mark - Luc Tuymans (a famous artist) was found guilty of plagiarism by a Belgian Court. The court's decision calls into question a considerable body of work created from an unlicensed use of a photograph by Tuymans and others.

Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg

Copyright Infringement and Content Theft
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A variety of bloggers and others have provided useful posts about copyright and how to handle copyright theft.

Below are a number of useful posts categorised by their main topic of interest.  Do please let me know if you find any good new posts to add to this list!
freedom of expression is very much skin to freedom of speech. Both are absolutely NOT "absolute" - both are hedged in by a number of conventions expressed in law. 
Plagiarise at your peril - the Luc Tuymans case
Copyright and plagiarism in general
  • Dear Rich: Nolo's Intellectual Property Blog - The Dear Rich staff provides easy-to-understand answers to questions about copyright, trademarks and patents (and related law).
  • PlagiarismToday - An excellent blog by somebody who is not a lawyer but rather a legally-minded Webmaster/Writer frustrated with the plague of plagiarism online and doing something about it.
  • Why Your Copyright Protection is Second Rate - PlagiarismToday - the entire copyright system in the United States is tilted to favor big copyright.....This system ensures that individuals have almost no protection of their works while corporations are free to sue for massive amounts of money. 
Copyright Infringement: Artwork
Content theft: Hijacking, Spam and Splogs
Website Practices which cause concern
  • Artists Express Concern Over PhotoBucket - Plagiarism Today - PhotoBucket, the Web's largest image sharing service, has been drawing criticism from a growing number of artists over its practices regarding copyrighted material. At issue specifically are two elements of PhotoBucket's services. 
Websites with better practices

What to do if you are accused of copyright infringement
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It's Your Work: Prove It | The Blog Herald - What to do when a website accuses you of infringing copyright because somebody else has uploaded your work to their site. It also discusses non-repudiation services