It's a stunning print from Amy Blackwell. She's a local illustrator, big knitter and a friend who works bloody hard. You can buy it by clicking here.
See this?
It's a copy made by a shower of bastards and available here.
Why on earth anybody thinks it's acceptable to copy somebody, let alone a tiny independent illustrator, is absolutely beyond me. Absolutely. There's even the same number of flowers for pity's sake!
Amy posted it on facebook just about a minute after I'd watched this:
It's the official video for the FSB thing that I did. We're all talking about how important local trade is but what I think is missed out is how important the connections between us are. Amy is a customer of mine and if her trade is hit then my trade is hit, and perhaps the Bead Shop and perhaps Stones Hardware up the road or Plava Laguna next door or maybe the Golden Fleece or Lee Rosy's or any other little independent about the place.
It makes me so mad! Not only is it wrong on a legal, moral and personal level but it's just one of my many small ways that little businesses are affected by a bunch of selfish bastards.
/rant over
I'm going to do something productive now.
Love Eleanor.
Can't they be done for stealing intellectual property?
ReplyDeleteYes! I assume Amy's sorting that though. I'm just angry...
ReplyDeleteIt happens so much :-(
ReplyDeleteThat is awful, it makes you wonder how many of those other cushions have got stolen images on them - I bet it's all of them - in the shop blurb she says she "collects" visual arts. She also offers to put any image you like onto a cushion - you aren't allowed to do that without permission from the copyright holder! My husband had two cases of his photographs being illegally used and he threatened legal action. I'm not an expert on it but from our experience of that and my understanding of copyright issues is that you only have a case for suing for money if the offender has profited financially out of it. The offender doesn't seem to have sold any cushions with that design on it in the Etsy shop but whose to say they don't sell them in other venues as well such as shops and craft fairs? As far as I know, if you can't prove they have profited, all they have to do is say that they haven't sold any others and destroy the one that's been removed and that would have to be that. Not fair and not right at all. My husband had proof that they used his image in a company brochure and he got the cost of what he would've sold a licence to use the image for and he doubled his usual rate plus he charged them for his time in writing to them as if they had just purchased a licence he wouldn't have had to waste his time. Both paid up. It's so unfair. My sympathy to your customer (have liked their FB page!)
ReplyDelete