The Competition is Wilde

January 6, 2007.

Last night I went to a good friend's 40th Birthday party, and I danced and partied like it was 1989 - because there was some wicked 80's music for us to rock out to.  Let's face it, I danced like an idiot, I am just glad there was no one video taping the event and yes I was sleepy, groggy and had soar feet this morning.  Anyhoo, after checking email I was wide awake and without even my first cup of coffee.  I woke up to not one but all kinds of interesting emails:

A Georgia Peach Can Make it All

It seems a very 'crafty' woman, based in Georgia had created a website and had tons of different products on her site.   This woman had not only the gall to list wooden door hangers, ceramic plates,  tiles, plaques, canvas reproductions, wooden waste baskets - she had it all.  She claimed she could paint everything on the site - I mean wow what a "Jack...er, uh Jill of All Trades" she claimed to be.  She claimed to make all of these designs on the site. 

Under closer inspection you see she had pulled images from a large number of artisans and designers from the children's industry.  She used our "images" our copyrighted images as um, samples, saying "Wilde Designs can Create or Design any designz you wish".  She claimed they were all her designs.  At a quick glance she had about ten or twelve other artists products that she could create for the customer....I think her exact wording was "we can copy any wall paper design", oh goody I will contact those wall paper companies, as I am sure they will be thrilled at that!

This would not be as big a deal had she just been trying to re-sell our designs.  I have had channels take orders without our consent, or without us approving them to re-sell our products.    Nice try, no really - maybe become a vendor of ours FIRST!

Rally The Troops

I sometimes claim that this industry I work in is interesting, I have met some real characters.  I hope I do not offend anyone, but there is not a lot of testosterone around these parts.....catchin' my drift?  Women makin', women sellin' and women buyin' - it is what it is! 

I have had the good fortune of meeting some wonderful women, and made some fabulous friends.  However, up until last November I only spoke with my re-sellers, never had I known other designers.  This past year with the blog, with a certain email, and me sending out a few emails I am happy to say I know many, many "of my peeps" out there.  It's nice, it's comforting, it's also a tad odd sometimes - I mean yes we are all competitors,  but, 99% of the time I commend it, I seek it out, and I am so happy for it - having worked in the corporate world, I do miss my officemates from time to time.  I mean, I love my employees, but I would love to dish with other business owners, it just helps out when times are tough.

Friends with Your Competition

As I stated earlier, I had many emails in my in box, other designers that wanted me to know about  this situation.  They took the time to let me know that my images were on the site - which I totally appreciate. 

I sat back and watched as the emails starting flying, from one website owner to another, to a ceramic artists, to a canvas artist, back to this woman.  Attorneys were contacted, emails were sent, threats were made....um our copyrights were shown to this little poor naive Southern Belle.  At the end I really did sort of feel sorry for her - she had no idea all these women would rally together and spread the word....oh and it spread fast.

I sometimes forget what a small world it is, and what a small industry I work in.  I really do forget that I am out there, on the web, for good or for bad I am also an open book.  I would like to pretend I am a big deal (ya, a legend in my own mind right?), but I usually just sit back nose to grind stone and forget everyone else.  This camaraderie, and looking out for others - is just awesome.  I don't think that Larry Ellison would call Bill Gates with a similar situation.  I am glad I work in an industry that I can get an email from another ceramic artist, letting me know that someone is claiming she can paint my designs, I am still sometimes shocked that anyone knows who I am.

The Wilde Wilde West

As I stated earlier, I feel sort of sorry for this girl, at first she played the ignorance card, then the I took the site down card, finally I am sorry what can I do?  People need to understand copyright infringement, stealing photographs, and um, well the power of our industry.  I heard of this happening to others, in the ceramic industry it is quite common (I have been lucky so far) but I don't think anyone ever had the gall, or um shall I say "balls" to claim to paint wood, canvas, and ceramics all at once - copying work, but using our images - not a tiny change?  This poor thing did not see us coming.  I really do not see her as a threat - but we can not let our guard down.

"Hell hath no furry like a woman scorned"

The Epilogue

Apparently, last check the site was down, but you can still find it when you do a search.  Some pages are still able to be seen.  She has a myspace page, and it claims she sold some platters, and had a physical store, a boutique if you will, even.  Hopefully she learned a valuable lesson - and hopefully the next Nimrod...oh sorry, person that tries to screw with us artisans in the children's industry will think twice about it. 

Thanks to everyone for keeping it real....I am proud to part of an honest industry!

Comments

[London E]

Okay, poor David Sloop for being thrown into this pot of estrogen. Let's not forget the one or two men out there that, well work with their wives, but still are surrounded by all of us PMS'ing women. HaHa!

Please note Jamie, it's 1:30 am and I'm still awake! Who loves ya baby? No, I'm too scared to sleep now, for fear of oversleeping and missing the boat. Geesh!

[Carrie Sommer]

This has happened to me more times than I'd like to admit to, and you're right, most times, I've been alerted by my competitors. It amazes me when they pull the ignorance card - telling me they had no idea they couldn't use my images or copy my text (verbatim) - even though it is clearly stated on every single page of my website that it is copyright protected, etc., etc.

A month ago, I had the text of one of my product pages lifted and plagiarized VERBATIM by a school teacher selling on Etsy. She claimed to have no idea she wasn't allowed to do that! This is beyond ignorance - this is just plain making excuses.

You can also use Google Alerts to set up key words that will be then emailed to you when those words are used in a web page or blog. I do this with my company name, my name and a few key words.

Also, www.copyscape.com - you can enter the web address of any page on your site, and it will search the net for those words/strings being used and show you where.

Thanks for bringing up this sticky issue.

[Carrie Sommer]

One more thing! You can also disable right-click to try to prevent image theft with a little bit of code from Dynamic Drive, found here: http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex9/noright.htm

Unfortunately, if the abuser has any idea about coding, they can just go into the source code for the image, but it does deter a good portion of the theives, because let's face it, most of them are just plain lazy anyway.

[Elizabeth Craig]

I had just put away the paints Saturday night but instead of heading straight to bed, I decided to do a little www surfing to wind down a bit and I am so glad that I did!

To say that I was gob smacked to see my designs on this web site, is an understatement. Some of the other designs featured there looked familiar to me and so, I started contacting everyone I could. By this time, I was just to wired (and angry) to sleep anyhow. I figured that if my stuff was lifted, the chances were pretty high that all the rest was stolen property as well.

I did manage to get a bit of shut eye and I woke to find so many lovely emails waiting for me. Wow .... imagine that, huh? - A group of super friendly competitors? I am so glad that we could all band together to put a stop to this. LOL Now then ..... when are we all going to go into business together and take over the net? *waaa haaa haaa haaaa haaa - she says rubbing her hands together*

Thanks for the tips Carrie. While there doesn't seem to be any foolproof or absolute solution, any little bit of techno help, helps!

[Mama Zen]

What nerve! I'm so glad all of you were able to rally together and address this!

[Jamie Risdon Lentzner]

Elzabeth - thank you, thank you! What would we do with our snoops? I have really never seen anyone try to rip off designs and photos so blatantly - wow! I guess the fool proof way is what we have - everybody looking out for each other, it seems to work now!

[Lea]

Eee gads! That's crazy! Wish I could see the site. I have had this happen to me as well. Friends on eBay are always on the lookout and there was one lady that stole the photos of a bunch of my wall letters and said they were hers. The funny part is that they werent my crappy photos, they were Poshtots catalog shots that they took. She had a bunch of other people's stuff as well. As soon as I contacted her, she took them off. But people have to be insane. Actually, I honestly think that they think no one will ever see it. Especially the eBay people. That's where Ive seen the blatant Shelly Kennedy knock offs. Or ATTEMPTS at knock offs. Not even close.

[Michelle Russell]

My questions is THIS. HOW can you copyright something that people make and sell at craft shows all over the COUNTRY??? This woman may have copied some of your pictures from your website, I don't know - but what I DO KNOW, is that YES, she CAN paint everything she says she can. You, my lady, are not the only "children's painter" in the world. She is just like you, trying to raise a family and run a business - just like all of us in America, trying to make a living. Why should she be a "VENDOR" of yours - when she can make the exact same things herself - I don't think you can keep the whole world from painting on tiles and wood, etc. There are many talented people in this world. Thats my 2 cents worth.

[Michelle Russell]

And by the way - she IS still in business.