be honest with me- what would you do?
okay, so I was reading a blog of a photographer I admire, and there was a picture she had taken of a cute little baby in a gnome hat- very much like my pixie hats I had already made, but instead of a flower clip- like mine had, this one had a tree appliqued on it.
wow- super cute.
I can do that- so I did-
and this is what it looked like.
and I listed it on etsy,and there it sat for a couple of months. being viewed, but never bought.
until a couple of days ago, when I received a message on etsy.
from someone very crafty. and well known.
I am sure a bunch of you have heard of her- but I won't name names here. apparently her friend "worked hard to come up with an original and unique concept" and she thinks it is "such a shame as a fellow etsy artist to take advantage of that"
and "i just wish that when someone has a great and original idea, it wouldn't be stolen by others."
well. huh. I thought and thought.
what would I say to that.
what should I do.
so- I have said nothing. and changed my hat to this-
look- my very own idea.like 90% of what is on etsy is not a copy/version of something else somewhere.
like what this girl who wrote me makes is at all original, and tons of people haven't copied her.
I wonder if her friend even cares that I did that.
and I wonder if this girl has written this same letter to all the people who have copied her stuff she sells.
and those are my thoughts on the matter.
what are yours?
9 comments:
I agree with you. Almost everything is a copy of something. I appreciate those who welcome "copy cats" of their stuff and take it as a compliment. I then find it easy to give credit where credit is due. Seriously can anyone really prove it was their original idea and no one else in the world had ever thought of it first? I love the star on your hat by the way!!
Oh os i am in big trouble. I have printed off copies of your scrapbook pages so i can copy them. Please forgive me! lol
Please forgive my long post - first time commenting - but this kind of thing makes me a bit crazy, too.
I think that if you've copied something patented, that's wrong and unlawful and you should stop.
I think that if you've purchased a pattern from someone else and are now selling the items made from that pattern as your own, then you should stop - unless you've purchased it for commercial use and have permission from the seller.
I think that if you’re copying someone’s idea on etsy, and selling it again on etsy – kind of a grey area. Do you live in the same geographical area? Are you cutting into her sales because of this?
I think it's inevitable that even if you come up with something on your own, odds are that it's going to look like something someone else made. And I guarantee that you are not (nor is the original "artist") the first person to put a tree on something in the last 18 months or so. It's called a TREND, people. Just look at the scrapbooking industry. Every paper line looks like everyone else's. I could argue that the appliquéd trees look just like the chipboard trees from Maya Road. Just sayin’.
The person who sent you this letter, in my opinion, has NO business contacting you about this unless her friend expressly asked her to (and really, if I was the "artist" and had a problem with it, I would do the contacting myself).
I guess you just have to go with what you feel is right. And I think the star on the hat is super cute.
(And I may be just grasping here, but I can guess who the original "artist" is. I thought I might purchase that hat from her store at one point, until I realized this person lived halfway across the world from me, and the shipping would be astronomical and would take forever. So, essentially the reason I'm not buying her hat is not because someone else is "copying" and selling them out from under her... it's because she’s too darn far away!)
followed a link- if you happen to come back and read these comments- you stated so well how I feel. I got the pattern from a friends sister- for the hat. I would not buy a pattern on etsy then sell the item, that is not okay. - unless they said you could, of course. but yes, the seller does live far far away, and has sold a few hats- I have sold none, so obviously not taking any business away from her.
Oh, the humanity!!! Oh, the DRAMA!! Oooooohh...... PUHLEASE!
I say make 'em, sell 'em, enjoy! Who doesn't buy scrapbook magazines to lift ideas from them to use? Magazines even buy rights to publish layouts that are lifted from their own magazines! I may be out of it (wouldn't be the first time) but I just don't get it.
I too am wondering why the friend contacted you? If the person had a problem with it then she should have contacted you.
I guess you can be flattered that this person is looking at your etsy shop.
Craft stuff is a fine line because really most things are copied and changed.
I think the star is cute!
Amen. :)
Just found your blog...I too agree w/ everything said here. C'mon, are you really going to claim the fame to the original...there's always going to be someone else out there that came up with it first. That's just how creativity works. I second the notion...make'm, sell'm, and enjoy!
WOw! I seem to have missed a lot going on while I was away!
I say AMEN to your thoughts Kristi!
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