A productive (??) week

Wow, it's Friday afternoon!  Almost time for the weekend!

Thank you to all who wrote me about this rampant copyright infringement problem. Thanks to the efforts of a group of needleworkers we have been able to track down a couple of the copyright infringers.  Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

I've had a pretty productive week although I'm afraid way too much time was spent dealing with those nasty needlework pirates. I liken their stealing (or as they call it "sharing") to my going into a restaurant with a large group of friends and ordering one drink for myself knowing the restaurant offers free refills. Then I could let everyone in my group drink out of my glass so they won't have to pay the restaurant. I could then make them pay me for the drink, not the restaurant owner....tee hee, what is sharing among friends?  Who cares if the restaurant owner goes broke if enough of us do that?  We're just "sharing" so it must be okay, right?

Much to my surprise, and my delight, a couple of my readers mentioned my blog post on their own blogs. Thank you!  We definitely need to spread the word.  I've been wondering if perhaps we could pick a day that everyone in the needlework world (designers, shop owners, distributors, suppliers, and needleworkers) would mention the copyright problem on their blogs, websites, message boards, Facebook pages, etc.    That would certainly make a statement. 

On a positive note, things are pretty well lined up for teaching in Delaware in a couple of weeks. I'm just waiting for the linen to arrive. Also this week I've been lining up things for the premier of my new class, A Lady's Worke Box, in May. I've just finished putting together my class presentation on powerpoint. The charts have been reviewed and edited and are ready to be printed. The thread cards are printed and just need to be cut out and holes punched. Hanks and hanks of luscious silk thread arrived today so I guess I have my work cut out for me.

The other good news is that some shops are already selling out of the two newest designs and are placing re-orders.  Thank you for your enthusiasm.

After a busy week, I'm looking forward to spending some time this weekend stitching.  How about you?   I just hope I don't see any frogs.

Don't laugh, I brought this frog back from Florida when we cleaned out my father's place. Thanks to a battery, he makes noises when you he senses movement near him.  My family thought that our youngest grandson would enjoy him.  As crazy as it sounds, the frog now resides in our family room, but I have "silenced" him.  I think he needs a name.  Any ideas?  If you remember, I named my other frog Freida.  Here she is in our family room before I moved her upstairs to my office.



Enjoy your weekend!!

Sharing is not always a good thing....

I'm sorry to have taken so long between blog posts. Several disturbing things happened last week, and I've debated for days whether to write about them or not. Well, here goes...

A German designer telephoned me last week to report that some of my products had been scanned and uploaded to a particular website which is notorious for what its members call "sharing" of designs. This particular site has over 25,000 members and continues to grow. Although they claim that what they do is "sharing", the site provides coaching for its member contributors to hide their identities. (Why would you need to hide your identity unless you know what you are doing is illegal?) In addition to the postings of my retail products, there is also a request on this site offering a reward, a bounty if you will, for a copy of one of my teaching pieces! Egad!

If I understand the system correctly, whenever a member downloads a chart, the person who uploaded the chart is paid a reward in credits called Gold Coins that can be used to download something else. Yes, that's right! People are using these credits like currency to facilitate the distribution of illegally copied intellectual property. Downloading a copy of a product requires the user to spend Gold Coins, and if one doesn't have enough loot from piracy to complete the transaction, Gold Coins can buy purchased from the host for a dollar apiece. It looks like typical designs are around ten Gold Coins each. Now, not only am I denied income by illegal copying and sharing, the host of this piracy site is making money through the illegal acts of the members. I know you are shaking your head in disbelief. I know I was when I first learned about this. Even sadder is that there are other websites involved in distributing pirated intellectual property.

Within a few hours of the phone call from Germany, I learned that Kirstin, editor of the on-line magazine The Gift of Stitching, has decided to quit publishing. Kirstin's sales have been steadily declining due to the combined effects of the economy and on-line piracy. Ironically, postings on the piracy site about this closure say, "That is sad, such a beautiful magazine", "I wonder why", and "What a shame".

As a designer, I am very frustrated to see my work freely "shared", and I am outraged that other people are making money by illegally distributing my work. I find it very hard to get inspired to design under these circumstances.

The number of "needlework pirates" is huge and growing. Needlework design is mostly a cottage industry, and any one designer has little or no chance to change anything. Yet the entire industry will collapse if the designers disappear: there will be no new designs, and this will harm retailers, thread and linen producers, distributors, shippers, packaging suppliers...and stitchers...and even pirates. I'm sure that most of you agree that this so-called "sharing" is totally unacceptable! Perhaps the most ironic insult to our industry is that the homepage of the piracy website mentioned previously has a copyright statement!

I wonder what we as a needlework community can do to stop this before it is too late! I'd love to hear your suggestions, please!!

Here are some other articles on the subject that you might find interesting:

Little House Needlework

The Drawn Thread

My Mark Designs

Thank you to all of you who support the needlework business by buying your charts legally. Please help the needlework industry to survive and thrive by becoming actively intolerant of intellectual property piracy. Also, thank you for hearing me out with my frustration over what has become such a rampant and growing problem.

You won't believe your eyes!

I was getting ready to do a blog post when I received an email from Kim H.  You won't believe what she found on EBay!!

Someone had the nerve to make note cards  of my designs using my copyrighted photos!  Yikes!!  Can you believe that??

The four samplers on the left are mine.  In fact, one has my initials and another has my entire name!   The sampler in the upper right corner is one of Catherine Theron's teaching pieces.  I'm not sure about the one in the lower right corner; it looks like either a Joanne Harvey or Essamplaire reproduction sampler.

If the samplers look distorted, they are  indeed so that the culprit could get them to fit her note cards.

I think that everyone who reads my blog knows how wrong this is. 

Looks like as a designer I have a new battle to rage.  Not only do I need to stop pirated charts but now photographs that others are making into products.  Thank you very much, Kim, for making me aware of this.

If you should ever see any item which you think is illegal, please let the designer know so she can handle the situation.  Thank you on behalf of everyone!

I'll try to do another blog post once I cool down.  Please bear with me!

Pirates in the needlework industry?

A note from Tom

Several days ago, Ellen showed me an internet site with a scanned version of one of her products. This was a full-sized scan that even included the copyright declarations. A stitcher had found this site and had kindly notified Ellen. Clearly, the "pirate" was motivated to enable other stitchers, but such action is actually disabling.

The needlework industry is amazingly interdependent. Designs are created, produced, distributed, and offered for sale. Paper, printing, packaging, shipping, and retailing are required. Piracy hurts designers, but every owner, worker, and stitcher in this chain suffers when a chart is illegally copied.   Where will the chart pirates get their fibers and fabrics when the local shop closes? Where will the honest stitchers get their supplies when the local shop closes? Who will you talk to when your colonial knots or queen stitches don’t look just right? And what happens to the framers and finishers?

In some circumstances, it is permissible to reproduce a copyrighted document you purchased if the copy is for your personal use. For example, if you want to cut out a template or customize a chart for yourself then it makes sense to do this on a copy instead of destroying the original. If you are vision impaired or if you can’t quite see a detail in a chart you purchased, then making an enlargement would be helpful to you and does no harm. The key test is this: if you purchased the original and a copy will aid you personally in your work, then it’s fine to make a copy. But if it enables or aids someone who hasn’t purchased the product, then harm will be done and copying is not permitted. In no case is it permissible to copy a product to circumvent a sale.

So, please think again if you’re ever inclined to scan, copy, print, post, or distribute any copyrighted material. Please don’t accept copies offered to you by other people or download copyrighted material from the internet. And please report illegal postings of charts to the copyright owner.

A note from Ellen

Tom wrote the note above last week.  I have since learned that Cynthia of The Drawn Thread has posted a note on her blog about the same sort of thing.  Sadly, the posting of pirated charts has become rampant with more and more sites popping up.  Almost every designer I know has been affected.

Another issue that affects designers is the posting of photos that are so large and clear that you can see all the details on a piece.  Of course, it is so much fun to post photos of your stitching for your friends to see, but please take care as to how large and clear they are. Sometimes other stitchers are stitching from those photos.  I've even heard of a designer who mistakenly posted a very clear photo of an upcoming product on her website, and a needleworker stitched the project from the photo before the chart was released.  Can you imagine that?

Also, please don't post photos of the assembly process unless it is your own technique or a generic one.  We spend a lot of time developing what we consider to be excellent assembly directions, often with lots of figures.  All too often I've seen stitchers assemble my projects and show the step-by-step procedures in photos.  It makes me wonder why others would want to buy the chart if someone is showing them exactly what I did. I know a few other  designers of three-dimensional projects who have had the same experience.

Also, as Tom wrote, if you see any pirated copies on the internet or in person, please let the designer know so that she (or he) can handle the situation.  We all need to work together to keep the needlework industry strong so that it can successfully continue to thrive. 

Thank you.