Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Copyright Infringement conclusion

First of all, let me tell you how grateful and surprised I am by your overwhelming support on this issue. When I wrote the post, I didn't think you (yes, YOU, lovely ladies) would leave me such supportive comments, do some digging, or contact Listia for me. I am such a blessed blogger to have so many awesome readers! So, thank you everyone!!

As many of you know, her auction was taken down. We filed a notice copyright infringement claim and sent it to Listia late last night, and they immediately removed it. We were having some technical issues and couldn't send it sooner.

There are few things I learned from this experience...

One of my lovely readers who is an attorney sent me an email with advice which I deeply appreciated:

"...There is no such thing as a copyright in a fashion design. Fashion, clothing, home goods (such as towels or bedding) are not protected by copyright law because they are considered functional goods. There is little to no protection for fashion designers under US copyright, trademark or patent law."

Ok, I didn't know that about the law. Although she also told me this;

"As long as the woman who is selling her own tutorial for a shirt similar to the one you created has not directly copied any pictures or substantially similar text or instructions from your blog tutorial, then she is perfectly within her rights to sell her tutorial."

Right, I don't think I didn't get offended if she was just making the shirt or selling it on the side or something. You see ruffle shirts at so many different boutiques, and shops. But she was using my picture and even after I nicely asked her to not to use my image, she switched the photo to a different ruffle shirt image of mine. If she was selling her own tutorial like she was saying, why is it so hard for her to take her own picture and use that instead of mine?

I also learned that everyone has different ideas about things like this. There are the people who don't care and steal peoples’ ideas, there are people who think it is wrong and take action, and there are people who think, “Why bother? “

I feel like there are so many gray areas in this society, and we are getting too afraid to say when something is wrong. Also, coming up with ideas and designs of my own, taking pictures while I am making something, and writing a post about it is very time consuming. I do it because I enjoy it, though when you find out that someone stole the content and is claiming it as theirs at the click of a button, gives me a really bad taste in my mouth. I think people who have creativeness in their blood would understand what I am trying to say. It's not just about getting credit or money.

Once things are on internet, it is hard to know what will happen to the content and this may not be the last time that I have to deal with something like this. Although, I am so grateful to the person who told me about this and my readers who supported me through this, I will keep creating and blog on. :)

Big thanks from me to you everyone!! (((big hug)))

Sachiko

17 comments :

  1. So glad you managed to get it all sorted! have to admit it's the first I've read about your issue as have not been very good at reading blogs lately, but still very happy :) Sadly I deal with this kind of issue every day in my work and I can never stop being amazed at what people say about content on the internet. Thank you for this uplifting news that copyright has once again prevailed!

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  2. Just curious, but do you happen to know if they removed her from the site entirely, or just took down the listing she copied from you? I only ask because I saw that she was stealing images from no fewer than 4 other sites. I definitely think that deserves a harsher punishment!

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  3. Hooray for taking down the listing, it's satisfying! This was a pretty simple lesson, let's hope it's understood :)

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  4. Good news. Her attitude was really appalling to say the least.

    Still intend to make stuffs out of the ruffle shirts tutorials myself and post on my site, but when I do, it's going to be with a link to the original, which is yours. I think thats the way to go.

    Good riddance.

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  5. I am glad that you found the solution for the problem. For myself, I started put watermarks on my pictures since the day someone stole my pix and even my writing for their own good.

    Keep blogging and sharing your creativities.

    hugs

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  6. Good to know what your lawyer friend told you. If this should ever happen again you will be able to very clearly state what you expect that person to do. And you have a lawyer's words to back it up. :-) I'm glad her auction got taken down. That was just ridiculous. Like you weren't going to pursue it? What a dumb thing for her to think. But I guess since she was stealing in the first place....well. Anyway I'm glad it all worked out.

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  7. Pleased the listing went and it is good news for you very interesting post about copyright..

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  8. I am so sorry that happened! i am so glad it is taken care of now, though, what a nightmare. People's attitudes these days in disheartening, to say the least.

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  9. I think it's so great that you share your tutorials with us and it irritates me that some would do this to you. Have you thought about putting a watermark on your photos? Here's a link:
    http://www.ehow.com/how_2106679_watermark-photo.html

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  10. Glad you were able to get this resolved. I just discovered your blog and love it. Please keep sharing...and don't let the negativity get to you. There is a lot of love for you out there!

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  11. So glad everything worked out! Your tutorials are awesome and I am so thankful that you offer them for free!

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  12. It's such an annoying situation and hugely upsetting, the use of someone else's images particularly just feels so horribly wrong. So sorry this all happened but am glad that you can rise above it all and carry on.

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  13. Hi Sachiko,

    I just stumbled upon your site when I was searching for pattern weights templates. I then saw this and read what happened.

    I know I'm "tardy for the part" if you will, but that's just horrible. And although it legally isn't copyright infringement it is still very morally and ethically wrong! Especially since you're providing these tutorials for free. It's unbelievable that some people have such gall to do such things.

    My students are required to cite, cite, cite! I'm an instructor at a university and I can attest to the fact that people do these things and maybe I shouldn't be as shocked as I am. But I think that says a lot about our society, and that's sad.

    The best of luck to you and I hope you continue to provide us with such great and useful tutorials. Especially since I'm a new sew-er and I just found your site!

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  14. Oh how awful! I'm so glad you were able to figure out a way for the product to be removed since she was promoting it with your photos!! Wow. Some people....I try very hard when I write tutorials on my blog to always give credit to the original inspiration be it a full tutorial on someone else's blog or just a photo from a store...

    Helen
    Blue Eyed Beauty Blog
    Exercise Encouragement Group Blog

    P.S. Following you on Bloglovin & GFC.

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  15. Hi,
    I had the very same idea as Millie, you could put a watermark or some kind of logo of yours on the photos, to make sure people with "low morals" cannot steal them.

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  16. This is definately a late comment, but since I’m finding it now, others will in the future as well, so I figured I’d put an idea out there for ANYONE who believes they are victims of copywrite issues.

    “Search by image” or photo recognition apps abound both on line, and on the web! Basically, you upload a photo, and search it. Depending on which site you use, depends on if that browser was able to locate any websites that have used that image. This is what they do on that show called “Catfished”, where people think that the person they talk to online isn’t quite who they say they are.
    But it IS a way to sort of keep tabs on some of your tutorials or creations.
    Google has a search by image tool, also yandex.
    There are plenty of others, simply do an internet search, or go to your phone’s “App Store”. It’s very easy!

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