So – she’s made all my designs, done her own photos of them, and is selling again. I probably can’t stop her doing that.
But i still need to leave her feedback, preferably in a way that will make it impossible to neg me back.
So – any suggestions?
by
So – she’s made all my designs, done her own photos of them, and is selling again. I probably can’t stop her doing that.
But i still need to leave her feedback, preferably in a way that will make it impossible to neg me back.
So – any suggestions?
Well if you neg her a couple of minutes before the feedback time limit expires she won’t have a chance to neg you back but that means waiting a long time!
can you not stop her doing that? I know that ppl who write free patterns for crochet and knit put conditions on that you can’t make money out of them, surely you can/ have done the same?
I’m going to make up a file of my own designs and then make it very clear in my listing what is going on.
I’d like to see what is in her new batch actually, but i suspect if i bought it, she wouldn’t send it to me in its entirety.
It is so cheeky, she must have no morals at all.
why don’t you put up your own ebay ads same description she uses only with your normal prices. 🙂
Have ebay anything to say about it?
Also, you should mark all your patterns with a copyright etc.
i would write to ebay and say it is still intellectual theft, and ask that it be investigated.
could you also send an email via ebay to those bidding on her auctions? and also those that have bidded in previous auctions?
Only way to do it is neg her at the 11th hour/minute but she can still leave a response I think.
other idea could a lot of us ask her through ask seller questions how come the look like yours and see if she puts any answers on her listings?
wow I dont have any solutions but that just isnt right! Grrr. That would bug me!
Hope you get it straightened out.
Debbie – you took the words out of my mouth 🙂
Why dont you ebay the designs, link her in the spiel and undercut her by giving them away at postage price only? THen let her know you are doing it 🙂
Well, AFAICS you have copyright on the designs (you don’t need to claim it etc., though that does clarify things). The fatc that she is making them up, photographying them etc. seems to be irrelvant here – it si the design she is selling – presenting it in another way should not matter. I woukld contnue to hassle Ebay about her.
ah yes, I see what she is trtying to do. She si trying to say the apttersn are free – you are jsut paying her for the compiling of it and thew sending of them (though as it is being emailed, this would seem to be dodgy ground….)
If the patterns are still obvisuly yours, I reckong she is still in breach of copyright.
Seems like you need to have something about the patterns not being free to use except for personal use and that they may not be distributed (or may not be distributed for a fee) or something as well as your copyright notice? Or put them on eBay yourself for free and free postage as well, completely undercutting her.
OK I have a better idea. Let’s beat her up. … … No??
Damn, that was my bestest idea too.
Why not forget it? She is only trying to make a few quid. What harm is it doing you? If people are stupid enough to buy patterns then let them. They all seem pleased with them.
Debs – whoever you are – actually, it is doing me harm, those are a resource on my website, intended to bring customers to my site and provide value for money for them, in return for their potential custom.
And in her previous listings shem ore than gave the impression that they were her designs, which potentially brought my business into disrepute if anyone who bought them from her thinks *I* stole them from her.
My business is my business and i have an absolute right to protect it. Just like anyone who has copies made of their merchandise does. Do copy CDs hurt the cd business? Yes. Do copy jeans hurt levis? Yes. Copies of my resources being sold elsewhere bring the nature of my business into question, not only because people might assume i am her, not only because it means that my personal work is being compromised, not only because people are being ripped off.
The main reason it damages my business is that it means that when i say on my site that i am providing unique pattern resources, i’m lying, because someone else is also providing them. And if anyone is going to make money out of them, it should be me.
I’m not sure what you can do about designs she’s already got, but you could do a “click-through” for designs that you put up on your site, so that anyone who wants to view a design must first click to agree with your terms and conditions.
You could also think about actually setting up a fee schedule, so that anyone who clicks “OK” agrees to pay you a certain amount if they re-distribute your designs. I think that might be taken more seriously than the current statement you use. Not that there’s anything wrong with the statement, iyswim, just that people often don’t really “believe” stuff like that unless there’s a monetary value attached :-/
That sounds highly technical!
http://www.intellectual-property.co.uk/copyrt-02.htm
I think (she says hesitantly) that this works in my favour, doesn’t it?
1. Levis are not giving jeans away free. People who buy her patterns may then go on to buy your beads.
2. It sounds like you are upset that you did not think of selling patterns on ebay first.
Yeah, whatever. Cos i’m such a useless business person that it never occurred to me. *rolls eyes*
Merry, with my legal work hat on I would say that her copying of your designs, making them up, photographing them and then selling them on eBay is a direct infringement of your copyright under UK law. It’s a pretty blatant breach actually. The designs belong to you – what she is doing *is* illegal. The avenue you could persue are informing eBay under their copyright infringement process (in report a listing) which will lead to their ending all the relevant listings, giving her a warning, and if she is stupid enough to persist in relisting then she risks her eBay account being closed.
Certainly with knitting patterns, (even ones I’ve paid for), I can’t then sell on the item I’ve knitted, if that makes sense. So I can give away the finished item, but not sell it,unless I make changes to it. That may be as simple as using a different yarn, with a different tension, but I can’t just knit something from someone elses pattern, and sell it, even though I will have put hours of work into producing the thing.
Goodnes,, really? That actually seems ridiculous in a way. i can see that you couldn’t photocopy the pattern but i am surprised a gmade up garment is trhe same.
I don’t think i’d mind someone maknig up something using my designs and sellnig it, i might even be flattered, but well… well..!!!!
Claire, thanks – that is helpful. perler seem suitably interested too, so hopefully she’ll get stopped. Ebay were a bit foggy, to say the least.
That’s what I was trying to say, really must put some effort into making myself clearer 😉
Yeah, what Clare said is my understanding of the law. Re Joyce’s knitting patterns. I assume that this is specific restrictions put on the patterns. I don’t see this as part of copyright law in general.
Sorry, don’t have anything helpful to offer at all, except my sympathies and a question…who is ‘debs’ who won’t reveal her identity? Is she the ebay seller herself?
Cx
I think ebay would not take kindly to someone selling at 1p but charging 1.24 postage for something they are emailing – looks like a direct attempt to circumvent ebay fees. And I also think that they will pull listings where there is any doubt over legitimacy, it says so in their rules and regs.
Hello seller person.
Oh yeah, that’s true too.