Fair warning: this post may offend you. It will no doubt offend some of my friends. I’m not aiming to offend, but to finally speak up about something that irks me deeply, to help people understand why it does and hopefully, change some minds in doing so.
With that, up to the soapbox I step.
As a creative person, one of the things I recognize and hold dear is that what I create is my own. My colorways, the pictures I take of my work/a landscape/friend/family/my cat, a pattern I write, the logo and images associated with my business, the name of my business, etc, are all mine and in the case of my business name and logo, the property of my business. It is my right as the creator of these things to share them with whom I choose. Anyone else who views these in person or online, purchases them, etc does not have the right to share them without my permission.
This is not a case of me being a nasty, selfish person – it relates to copyright and in some cases, trademark. I admit that I’m not an expert on either, having a pretty basic understanding of each, based on my experiences holding both copyrights and trademarks. Even someone with limited understanding of copyright should understand this – if you didn’t create it, you can’t give it to someone else unless the person who created it gave you explicit permission, preferably in writing.
The reason I’m writing this post and probably stepping on a landmine in doing so, is that I have seen repeated instances of copyright infringement recently, particularly as it relates to knitting patterns and photos. People have offered me patterns that they purchased, so that I didn’t have to buy it. I admit, I have taken a few of them. I have turned some down without explaining why I did so. In a couple of instances, I have even taken the pattern then quietly gone online and purchased my own copy in order to try to make things right, without saying anything to the person who gave it to me. What I largely haven’t done is spoken up. I’ve also seen more and more “borrowed” images online – photos shared that obviously didn’t belong to the person who’s site they were on, sometimes with no indication that they were not the poster’s photo, sometimes with a blatant reference to who it belonged to but no indication that permission to post it had been granted. In some cases, I’ve spoken up, even reported it to the owner, other times, said nothing and went on my way.
Why do I have such an issue with this? Because something similar happened to me. If you’ve been reading long enough, you might remember my announcement in 2009 that I had successfully trademarked The Painted Sheep and my logo. To keep a long and ugly story short: not long after I started The Painted Sheep, I was contacted by another independent dyer who had started using the same name for her business, informing me that she was doing so, asking me to change my name and telling me that she was filing an application for trademark on the name. Because I was using the name first, I successfully fought the trademark application, was able to get her to change her name and then proceeded with my trademark applications. (and no, I’m still not sharing her name, so don’t ask. She did what she needed to do and went on her way.) For another level of protection to my logo, I copyrighted it as well. The whole incident, over the course of 21 months, nearly caused me to shut down my business, caused me a huge amount of stress, took up huge amounts of time and effort in working with an attorney and a significant amount of money. I will openly admit that I was spared a huge amount of legal fees because one of UCONN Law School’s clinics took my case. If I had to pay a trademark attorney, I would have given up, closed my business and let her win, even though it was blatantly wrong.
With all of the protection to my logo and name, there is a level of risk I still contend with. The reality for me is that my logo or name could be out there on some other site, being used without my permission and I don’t yet know it. I feel lucky to not yet have had to deal with trademark or copyright infringement but recognize I more than likely will need to at some point. Its an ugly, not to mention expensive, possibility. What I have had are photos posted on other sites without my permission and had requests to use my logo that I denied, but then had to monitor to make sure they are not using it regardless. Anytime that I wholesale yarn or fiber to a yarn shop, I have to include a list of policies that includes things as ridiculous as a request to keep my labels on my product, out of concern that some shops will buy from an indie dyer then relabel the product as their own. Unfortunately, its is part of doing business in an atmosphere where some people don’t respect what is created by someone else and assume that if its on the internet or in their hands, they can share it.
Take it from me, its a shitty thing to deal with. Stories like mine are all too common. I get really irked when people say to me, “I’ll just give you the pattern. The designer makes plenty on it.” No, they don’t. Ever hear of a starving artist? It takes time and costs money to create a pattern, then distribute it online or print it. It takes money to run a business associated with your product. It takes money to fend off people insistent on sharing what’s not theirs to share. No one doing this sort of work is rolling in the money they’ve made from it, that I’m sure of.
My hope in sharing this is that it leaves you with an understanding of the other side of the coin. I really, really hope that you will reconsider the next time you think about sharing a pattern or re-posting a photo that you didn’t take, without getting permission. As for me, I’m simply not going to tolerate what I’ve tolerated in the past. It should go without saying that the R in the corner of my logo and name means something. I will pursue legal action against anyone that infringes on it, which is nothing new. What is new is that I can assure you that I won’t be taking another pattern from someone, whether its shared online or a copy handed to me. Similarly, don’t ask me to share one. If I see that you’ve made something from a copyrighted pattern and are selling it, I’ll report you; similarly if I see that you’ve posted a picture that’s not your own. As uncomfortable as it might be for me, I’ll speak up about it. You’ll likely get an earful from me. You don’t want that.
It sort of all comes down to playing nice. If its not yours to share, don’t. You probably wouldn’t want the same to happen to you.
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