Some years ago a tatter contacted me to ask permission to teach one of my patterns and I pointed out that it was far too long for a class. However, without any further contact with me she did take part of my pattern, repurposed it and offered that as a class. She re-wrote it (badly in my opinion) and the organisers recognised it as part of one of my patterns so added that her pattern was ‘inspired by’ myself.
Roll on to another occasion when I happened to be sitting in a room not far from this person and heard her complaining about ‘her’ pattern being stolen by another person on another continent who had had it published in a magazine. Here was I within hearing distance listening to MY pattern having been stolen by a thief. What did I do? Well, nothing.
Roll on another few years and this person is doing it again. This time she’s selling an item from my pattern site in her Etsy store. I have reported this to Etsy as I have a Creative Commons licence on my site.
Why do I have this licence? Think about it. Many months of work are spent on making a design and I don’t see why people should then take MY hard work (which I give freely) and make money from it without even mentioning their source either.
End of Monday moan.
9 comments:
I suppose the only way you can possibly stop it is to take all your patterns away, and that would be extremely sad. I don’t know how you control internet theft. It’s so upsetting for you, and for everyone who follows your website too.
You could, I suppose, publish the name of the person who is selling on Etsy, that might be enough to destroy her credibility
That’s a good point - naming and shaming but I’m hoping that Etsy’s action will be enough to stop her (and others who might think about doing it) in the future. Perhaps I should’ve tackled her when I heard her complaining that ‘her’ pattern had been stolen but it would’ve been hard on the organisers of the event to have it happen during an otherwise very happy meeting.
It saddens me that the respect for our designers has disappeared from the Tatting Community. I am so sorry it has happened again by the same perpetrator :-( I have met her on me travels and she should know better!!!
YouTube is getting just as bad with instructions for patterns and the original designer is neither mentioned nor asked for permission to use it...
I know saying I am sorry doesn't help fix the problem. Monique aka Noo Bear just went through this recently. The persons name was put on some sort of a list which Tammie Montgomery knows about.
Ouch, that's not very nice... I hope Etsy can do something about it. Have you tried talking to that person directly?
It’s always happening to me, Debra. The worst was when a pattern was reproduced by somebody else and published in an Italian magazine. Also had a pattern copied off the internet, my copyright removed and then published in a Russian book. At least Monique’s wasn’t a pattern theft.
No I haven’t Lavinia. As she’s done it to me before and then complained when others stole ‘her’ pattern off her then I thought I’d just take action. Etsy have removed the item now, thankfully. They’ve also contacted her. I doubt I’ll get an apology!!!
Glad that you reported this to Etsy. Talk about "stealing" and then brazenly bragging about it when the victim of your theft was sitting nearby. I doubt you'll get an apology either, but you certainly SHOULD! So appreciate all the generosity you have graciously shared with us over the years by allowing us to use your free patterns. Many times, I've made gifts using your patterns, and I always credit you as the designer! Thanks Jane!
Thanks, GoldenMom. Etsy have removed it now and she's heard from them about it too.
Post a Comment