Very disappointed.....

[crochetkim]

I'm posting this with a very heavy heart. I am a single mother of two. I'm trying very hard to support my kids, like any other mother.

 

Just two weeks' ago, I started selling the most darling little set of infant tank tops. But, no sooner did I fill the orders did I find out that someone took that leaflet and turned around an emailed it to someone. And, that someone has now emailed it to hundreds of people on the internet. Two weeks on the market and I've already been stolen from so many times that I'm not sure that anyone would want to buy the leaflet at this time.

 

I'm so sad. I'm an independent designer. It's not like someone has stolen from a big conglomerate like Time Warner or something. It's like money has been stolen directly from me. Women don't usually do this to other women. Women have hard jobs, trying to support families AND run their homes AND raise their children. We KNOW how hard it is to make it. So, why is this acceptable with crochet patterns?

 

Imagine yourself, working away at your job and you run out to the grocery store on payday and stock up your refrigerator and cabinets. Now, imagine me, sneaking into your home while you're sleeping and taking all that food and bringing it over to my house. It's the same thing!

 

Please, please don't steal from independent designers. Not only is it illegal, but it's just morally wrong.

 

I'm not saying that everyone does this. But, it just took that one person. That's all it takes! My business is dependent on sales, like any other business. Once those sales are taken away, I can't design any longer. If you like my patterns so much, you will respect copyright and not "share" the patterns. If you do, I will have to close my business and do something else.

 

Even copying and sharing leaflets from publishers like Annie's Attic hurts the designers. Did you know that the designers only make a royalty off the sales of the leaflets? Even then, the designer is dependent on the sales of the leaflet in order to get an income. So, if you think you're only hurting a big business, you're wrong. If no one buys the leaflet because it's been pirated all over the internet, the designer gets nothing.

 

I'm sorry to be venting like this. Honestly, I really am. But, I was devastated yesterday when I received the email saying that a couple of Yahoo groups had received my pattern leaflet illegally (after just two weeks of publication).

[theworm]

I'm so sorry, Kim!

I think that most crafters are good people and respect copyright laws. It only takes a few people to ruin things for designers like you and for other honest crafters.

I really don't know how you can protect yourself better - it would be almost impossible to set up a fool-proof system, but I'm so sorry this happened to you.

[Amy]

Pinkroses, I think you've misunderstood here. The problem is not that she doesn't have a copyright. She DOES have a copyright and that is the problem. People *violated* her copyright by distributing it through those yahoo lists for free. Multiply the purchase price of that pattern times the hundreds of people who received it for free through those lists, and you'll see why this is so important to Kim.

 

The *unauthorized* distribution of her patterns cost her lots of income. Granted, not all of those who received the pattern this way would have purchased it, but quite a few of those people might have if they hadn't received it for free. Now she'll never know.

 

And chances are it's only going to become even more heavily distributed illegally now, because it's made its way into the hands of groups of people who don't mind violating the copyrights of others.

 

This is a very serious issue, and one we take seriously here at Crochetville. We believe in supporting the designers so they can continue to spend their time and efforts creating even more new designs for us. That's why we have forum guidelines regarding copyright, and why we will very quickly remove any patterns that are posted here in violation of copyrights.

 

But as you can see, it doesn't take long for the damage to occur. If the wrong people saw a pattern posted here before I could delete it, then it could be copied, pasted, and emailed out to hundreds or thousands within *minutes.* That's why we stress our guidelines on copyright so heavily, to prevent this type of thing from occurring.

 

Kim, I hope you know we stand behind you on this.

[pinkroses]

I think I know how you feel. I am a writer. I wouldn't want someone to steal my poems. I get them copywritten for free now.

Maybe it would help you if you got a copyright to you designed work. There should be somewhere on the internet where you can do this with little cost.

It is very heartbreaking when people steal other people's work.

Try to do some reshearse in finding where to copyright you work. and make a point of saying you had your pattern copywritten and put the date down when you did your work. That way it belongs to you.PINKROSES

[Natasha]

Kim, I'm so sorry this has happened to you. You have such a great talent, and it stinks that someone didn't think you deserved to reap the benefits of it.

 

It really blows my mind that people can't see the harm in copying and distributing patterns that were not intended to be free.

[misssmaggie]

Kim...it is so sad there are such wicked people out there. It is not right...but...some people will do anything to hurt others.

"What goes around come around" and they will get back to them 10 fold what they have done to you.

[RachelG]

So sorry, Kim. I don't design much or make my living that way, but I understand the concepts and feel so bad when it happens to others.

 

[Vik]

Kim, I´m so sorry... I don´t know what to say, you must feel very angry and dissapointed

Hugs

[jobean]

Wow, that is so horrible. I can't believe this happens. I figured someone might share a pattern with a close friend but to post to an online forum is horrible. That the group intends for this to happen is basically organized crime. I would definitely let yahoo know about this.

[froggy]

I am very sorry this happened to you. Stealing is stealing! :hug

[crochetkim]

I want to thank each and everyone of you for your responses, both here and through private email. It makes me feel so much better knowing that I have the support of so many friends. It is only through education of the public that this issue can be resolved. And, hopefully, some of the current lawsuits against some of the infringers will actually help as well. Unfortunately, they aren't made very public. And, when it happens, the people disappear from the internet, having their computers confiscated as evidence. So, they're not even able to tell everyone about the huge fines that have been assessed to them because it's illegal for them to do so. But, I feel confident that, one day soon, everyone will have a clear picture of the damage they are doing.

 

Thank you again!

[ErinLindsey]

When it comes to the PDF patterns that some designers sell on the internet. I think it would be nice to somehow make a nice watermarked background that cannot be changed or erased, and also doesnt interfere with reading the text of the patterns, that would say:

 

"this pattern was sold to *buyer's name* by *seller's name*, if you see it posted for free anywhere on the internet please contact *seller's name*". (it would probably be a pain for the designer to set it up like that, but I'd love to see the face of a Pattern Piggie, opening up a crochet pattern she just bought and seeing that background)

 

and if someone posts it to the internet or emails it to a friend, it should release a virus that deletes all the crochet patterns on both offenders computers. (ok, that might be a bit harsh...)

 

I think they should also figure out how to publish pattern leaflets on paper that cannot be scanned.

 

If the Pattern Piggies had to resort to typing out the patterns themselves to "share" them, they might think twice. Right now they steal the patterns because technology has made so ridiculously easy to do.

[LadyintheMoon]

I can't imagine how that feels. I'm so sorry for you... and angry. I've actually had people email me privately and ask for patterns of items I've posted here... knowing not to ask me on the board for them. I've always just ignored the emails pretending like they don't exist. But it always made me angry, and these have been patterns by big companies. I hope you can find a way to beat it and make money to support your family.

[Ro]

Oh, Kim I am so sorry! I have seen a design of mine stolen and claimed to be original by someone and put up on their website, and then another was stolen and sold to a major publisher. It is truly heartbreaking.

 

Frankly, this is the reason that I am done designing patterns. It takes so many hours to do, there is so little profit in it and people just steal you blind. They do so with no remorse, feeling perfectly entitled and it ticks me off beyond belief. I won't even post pictures anymore of designs I've made unless I plan to make then available for free for charity (and even then, they still get stolen!)

 

I too have done the single mother thing, hocking jewelry to buy groceries at one point...believe me, I feel your pain ((((((Kim))))))

 

I'm so sorry

 

hugs

Ro

[MrsD]

So sorry to hear what happened, Kim; it serves as a sad warning to all designers. You are very talented and those tank tops really stood out in my mind from the first time I saw them.

[Katchkan]

I Truly sympathize with what you are going through. It must be devasting to have one's hard work stolen from you. A well written pattern is not easy to make, and you truly do deserve to reap the rewards for your hard work.

Every designer must now live with the fear that their hard work is going to be passed around on the internet. Our greatest tool is also one of our worst enemies as far as pattern theft goes. The very accessibility to so many different sites with patterns and that can be had in the time it takes to push a button is absolutely amazing. Patterns that the site owner has no more created than the birds outside my window have. We see copies of pattern books that are out of print and are supposedly in the public domain. Though I see so many that I question, that I refuse to use these sources on the off chance that something is not right and I never want to be that disrespectful of someone elses time and energy that I garner a pattern at their exspense. My rule is if I did't create it, It's not mine to give.

So how do we deal with this problem. I would like the answers myself. So please let me in on the forum information that is being set up to address this problem

I am new to the publishing game. Not designing. Been designing for more years than I care to mention. But up until now it has been just for my own personal use. It wasn't till I came here and realized that others might possibly want some of my ideas that I put my patterns to paper.

It is hard work to take a design and create the pattern where it is understandable by most people. I for one would like to know how we are supposed to go about protecting ourselves. Because a copyright statement is like the lock on my door. It keeps honest people honest, but a real thief will find a way in if they truly want to. I mean once I send a pattern off to some one, than I can't keep control of it any longer. Right or wrong if someone gets hold of my pattern and illegally copies it, what am I as designer supposed to do. They know most of us are small businesses and don't have the resourses to persue legal action. Even if I could trace it back to the person who originally copied it illegally. Nor do I have the time to check out every site that might offer one of my designs illegally. I would never get anything done if I did that.

We as designers and the yarn companies are partially to blame for the mind set that patterns should be free.

Yarn and thread company have offered free patterns for a long time in the hopes that people would use their product to make the items offered. Well we pay for it in reality, it's figured into the price of the yarn/ thread.

We designers give out free patterns to get people to come to our sites. Again hoping some one will see something while they are in there in the patterns For Sale they can't live without. doesn't happen very often though. Normally they take the freebie and run.

So people truly do get that idea that there should be a pattern out their for what they want to make for free, and they seem to spend hours searching for one instead of paying for one. They see nothing wrong with sharing what they seem to feel they own once they have purchased a pattern either.

I feel your pain and I wish people all were honest. All I can offer you at this point is sympathy and hugs. :hug :hug

[Amethyst Unycorn]

Kim, I'm so sorry this happened to you again. I wasn't sure if I was going to order that patten or not and was waiting to see how much time I'd have to make them. After I read this thread, I went and bought it immediately! Now let someone try to e mail me and ask for the pattern. They will get more than an earfull!

 

Once my DD and her lawyer husband get settled into their home in Houston, I'm going to talk to them about possibly finding you a law firm in the Chicago area who would take action for you pro bono (free.) Both DD and SIL have specialized in Intellectual Property, my DD for over 10 years in DC. She was at that time a senior managing paralegal, and handled cases for the some the biggest companies in the US (Hersheys, Pepsi and Phillip Morris.) I think there might be a way around the legal fees if you have a low income. I'm not sure if it's standard across the US, but in some states law firms are required to do a certain amount of pro bono work in a year. Pro bono work is for civil cases, Social Security, disability, emmigration cases, things like that. A person who steals things out of your house gets a public defender and the city or county DA prosecute the case. A homeowner doesn't have to come up a lawyer. I would think pro bono would cover something like this, where the individual designer cannot afford even $75 an hour to talk to someone like my DD, who isn't even a lawyer!

 

Over the years on the web, I've watched this happen to too many people on the internet. I've also seen too many people on forums who think taking patterns and passing them on everyone is just fine. These people who scan patterns and pass them around are criminals and need to be stopped. Kim, I'll see what I can find out for you, but it may take awhile. My DD is not working right now, so I might be able to find out from her all she knows about it.

 

By the way, I tried the pattern for the top, and I love the graphs! So easy to follow. Not sure when I will get this one done, since I'm on a mission to complete 5 afghans by Christmas!

[TamKing]

Kim,

I am so sorry to hear this!! I've been stolen from too and I know that not only how angry it made me but how much it hurt, too. It makes it really hard to trust. And if they aren't stealing hat way, they will steal another. I have been at shows where someone actually wanted to sketch out one of my items, get as much information as they could, so they could copy it. But there ARE good people out there and I'm glad someone at least let you know what was going on.

[ErinLindsey]

I am on a Yahoo Group that is trying to fight the Pattern Piggies from stealing from designers. (Kim, are you on that group already??)

 

I am so disgusted that there are people out there who think nothing of uploading someone's hard work to give away to their 500 closest friends for free. It's just as bad as shoplifting.

 

It's just as disgusting how they try to justify their stealing. They say "I'm on a fixed income and cant afford to buy them" (well, then just how are you paying for your internet access and printing supplies?) or, they post a quote from REAL copyright law, yet they've distorted the meaning of that particular law to make it appear as if they're just doing it for "educational purposes".

 

The one that gets me, I saw on eBay the other day. A seller had on one of her auctions (for cross stitch patterns) this saying: "It is not my intention to infringe on any copyright laws - all images used are obtained from the public domain. If you see an image which I have used and can prove copyright ownership, please let me know and the image will be removed immediately!"

 

Just what "public domain" did she get these images from? She had Thomas Kinkaide pictures, images of Spider-Man, Superman, Batman, Disney characters, The Simpsons...ect... When did these copyrighted and trademarked images get put into the "public domain"?? (the internet is NOT the "public domain".)

 

I emailed the seller, and she claimed that the internet is public domain, and she didnt think she was doing anything wrong. I told her she was, and that just in case she wasnt aware, she could end up having legal monetary judgements for each instance of theft. Last I heard, you can be fined up to $150,000 per theft!

 

Not surprisingly, this morning when I checked, she had removed ALL her auctions and is no longer a registered member of eBay. But, I'm sure she'll be back in a couple of days with a new name, selling more cross stitch patterns with images that she stole from the original creators and designers...at least when she cancelled her eBay account she lost all of her eBay feedback.

 

 

I've monitored groups and websites that are known to be Pattern Piggy friendly... I just checked one group yesterday and was just floored by the amount of scanned copyrighted material I saw on it. (I'm not mentioning the name of the site here because I dont want to encourage anyone to go there and steal)

 

When I last checked that site, dozens of Pattern Piggies had been scared into removing the copyrighted material from the photo pages. I hadnt checked it for about a month until yesterday. Not only were most of the illegal scans back, they'd added a bazillion more to it.

 

There has to be some way to stop this...too bad a lot of people consider copyright theft a victimless crime. It's not. It cost the designers, the publishers, and all the people who are involved in the publication process money.

 

Imagine this. A hypothetical pattern book costs $5. A person buys the book, takes it home. Scans it, and posts it to a website for 10 of her friends to "share".

 

(EDIT: btw, if I screwed up on the math, tell me. I think it's right, but I have a sinking suspicion I screwed up the math in the second example, and that screws up the math for the rest of the point I'm trying to make. I'm just not sure if it's screwed up...I really really suck at math...I flunked algebra 3 times in high school.)

 

5 scanned pattern books x 10 friends = $50. That's 10 sales the designer lost out on.

 

Now imagine that each of those 10 friends gives the link to 10 of their friends.

 

5 books x 10 friends x 10 more friends = $500.

 

At that point the costs to the designer and the publisher rises exponentially.

 

5 books x 10 friends x 10 more friends x 10 more friends = $5,000

 

This means that designers like Kim lose money, and since no one is buying their work because they'd rather steal it instead, Kim loses her job. A job that I am positive she loves to do. The publishers cut back on their publishing, the employees of the publisher lose their jobs. Eventually it will get to a point where it will become extremely difficult to find a crochet or knitting magazine in the stores.

 

The Pattern Piggies either dont realize the damage their doing, or they just dont care. I imagine it's the latter.

[belle7171]

I'm floored that this type of thing happens. My sentiments are with all of the designers out there who deal with this.

[cupcake]

gee wiz there is some low life out there. Kim my heart goes out to you.

 

After years of designing stuff for local use I have only just entered the global market so to speak. I had no idea such groups existed, but it is morally and legally wrong. And without sounding unsympathetic, it shouldnt matter if you are a single Mum or doing OK. The principle is it is still wrong.

 

I do worry that my e patterns can be easily flicked about. I do hope that people who I value as customers wouldnt do this to me.

 

Obviously the only way designing new stuff is sustainable is by seeing people are interested in it. If you think people like what you do then you will design more. If it is not selling, or you arent getting good feedback, then you stop. That's my theory any way.

 

I have recently started putting "free patterns" on my site as I like to share. I did notice that while I had about 500 hits in one day with a particular pattern, I got about 5 comments. This bothers me as I wonder how many trolls out there are now making, selling distributing without any regard what so ever. No acknowledgement, not even a "thanks I like it"

 

I also know that by sharing stuff freely you are open to exploitation. I have often enjoyed the free pattern, but it is starting to irk me how people expect everything for free when it does take quite a bit of effort and time and yarn to write things out, test, photograph etc.

 

Balance this with the fact that my crochet has enabled me to me so many good and genuine people who have strong values and whose online company I enjoy.

 

 

That my vent.... and Kim, you have my full support.

 

I am off now to wack labels on all of my photos... more time and effort, which could be used as valuable crochet time.

[Carol]

I'm a writer, so I know how I would feel if someone "stole" my work. Plus, I was a single mom for years, and I know what it's like to stand at the grocery store with two little children and wonder how you're ever going to pay for the food. I am sorry this is happening to you; I know exactly how you're feeling.

[NexStitch]

Kim, my heart is breaking for you. This is HORRID.I know what it's like to spend hours and hours and HOURS of time into just one single pattern, trying to make it the best if could be. It's a Herculaian effort! Just know that people like myself are there for you and whatever we can do to get these groups shut down, we will. You name it, you got it. Count me "in."

 

Etaria, I'm interested in your thoughts too. I'd love to hear your ideas.

 

This is SO not right....I'm furious.

[Hellbo]

I don't know anything about copyright & patterns etc but I know about humanity & I feel bad for you.

I used to work with a lot of single mum's & have the upmost respect for you working so hard to provide for your family, I'm sorry this is happening to you & hope things get better for you soon.

They may have stolen your pattern but they cannot steal your skills.

[KristieMN]

I had no idea these types of groups even exhisted... until I started designing patterns.

I am sorry this happend to you!