Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Too close for comfort

Two friends have alerted me to this Made it seller. This fox cub brooch(below) has now crossed the line from "similar' to "copy" in my book.


Shall I do anything? I think I may.

P.S. I penned a nice note to the Made it folks who are great! They are going to notify the seller and have it taken off Made it.
P.S.S The Betty Jo Foxie in question is now featuring on a GIVEAWAY over at the Top notch Georgie Love blog. Giveaway Give a yay!

19 comments:

  1. I think you should. It's such a hard decision in my experience but this is way too close for comfort. Way to cheap too. I've had similar situations and haven't done anything but I think with my products (kids clothing) it's much harder to call. It always feels awful whatever you decide and in my experience the offending items are always way too cheap which seems to make it harder to take in some ways - especially if you are selling in the same venue as I was.

    Good luck and good on you for posting about it.

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  2. you're bloody joking! power to you for posting the two images side by side; it is indeed too close for comfort and i feel for every artist that has their work ripped off. cannot understand what goes on in the mind of the rippee, to be honest. i think you should definitely do something. but what? perhaps approach the seller themselves? alert them to the similarities? at least then they know you are 'onto them'? not sure, i have no doubt you will find a way to deal with this. please let us know how you go. x

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  3. um YES! and for $5 dollars? good lord woman, go get em:)

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  4. Quite a poor imitation too I might add. And I agree with Fi, $5...pfft.

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  5. Yes , I definitely think you should . I am not sure what actions you should take but yes .
    Your brooch is much more detailed then this seller .
    don't know if having a copyright might work ...

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  6. Wow, that's really shocking! The felt daisy and the owl are way to similar to Lupin's poppy and owl brooches on Etsy too: http://www.etsy.com/shop/lupin

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  7. Oh Lordy, I know we talked about this, but it's definitely time - that's not even too close to comfort, it's a design rip-off. Sic' em!

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  8. Yes, you should, definitely! I also see similarity of this sellers brooches to Sophie Isobel's brooches...not very good....

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  9. Absolutely. Go get 'em Betty Jo. This stuff is outrageous. What a damn cheek people have. And the copies, are always so second rate too.

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  10. or this fox, look familiar?
    http://www.madeit.com.au/detail.asp?id=91285
    It's a weird mix of 'handi crafts'. I agree the owl is also an almost exact rip off of Lupins.
    Cease and desist letter time I think.

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  11. Oh dear, that's no good, no good at all - and it's not even a nice copy, which adds insult to injury...!

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  12. I agree, that's a very cheeky rip-off of your lovely work. There's no way the seller could argue accidental similiarity. Good luck!

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  13. Liz, you must feel gutted.
    There is not way that can be anything but a copy !

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  14. That is such a blatant rip off! Not even the slightest attempt to change the design (...shakes head in disgust...)

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  15. wise decision
    youve got to protect yourself whereever you can. You have a very distinctive style despite the materials you use so its easy to see that it was a direct copy. PS I hope I win foxy Ill make sure he doesnt fall into fowl hands!

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  16. Thanks all for your response to this somewhat irritating issue. My main concern is that someone confuses it with my work in real life and gets confused as the price and detail are different to mine.
    I'm diplomatic about the fact that the made it seller just copied my original design as you leave your self wide open to annonymous copiers in the online world.
    Although I actually believe this seller didn't think she had done anything wrong!

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  17. argh!! where are the ethics of this seller. how can she have any satisfaction and pride in her products? And to be honest, for $5!! Why bother! Irritated, I'd be down right pissed off.

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  18. shame!!!! yours kicks arse over that other one, hands down... how embarassing for them!

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  19. I saw it and thought it was yours without the betty jo touch.
    Glad it's been removed.

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