Cannot chase Paperchase...

o here is the infinite problem: What do you do when a huge corporation like Paperchase sucks the blood of a small independent artist with a super long, thick and huge straw?

And talking more specifically, my lovely girl from the artwork most of you know “He says he can hear the Forest whisper” has been stolen, badly traced and stuck in front of a poor (and separately traced) mushroom that now decorates untold numbers of notebooks, albums and tote bags sold throughout the UK through Paperchase and Amazonco.uk!

You would naturally answer: You contact Paperchase, inform them and ask for the item to be removed from their shops and Amazon and not be sold any more. Pretty much you cut their straw, right?

….and you are right! That's exactly what I did but Paperchase is not the best buddy to be friends with!

They basically ignore me in my face and keep selling the eye sore of a design all around the world!

Moreover the lawyers ask me astronomical amounts of money to deal with this seriously in the courts and I suspect that is exactly the reason why Paperchase ignores me in the first place.

Since I have written to them, Paperchase made sure to put up even more items for sale with my plagiarised art! I'm sure Paperchase think that there is nothing that can make them stop. Proof is that the albums in the link above are actually freshly listed after the notebooks that I had written them about have apparently sold out!

So please, if you are any bit angry or frustrated with huge n ancient vampires sucking the creative juice of indie artists, a simple e-mail sent to them here might save me from having to raise $40000 for court expenses!

So thank you Paperchase for making a killing out of my hard work! And an especially strong, bone-crackling bear hug to the anonymous designer that badly traced my art and then denied it!

If there ever was any doubt that this design is copied from my artwork, my lovable partner made sure to dispel the mist through way of joyous animation!

Lots of love, lovely people and a sincere thank you to all the fans and fellow artists that recognised the copy and told me about it!

Bear hugs,

xxx Hidden Eloise xxx

**** Update ****

I couldn't thank each and every one of you enough for the support and for standing up for what you feel is right! I am in awe and have been working hard to deal with all the million things that are happening at the same time today!

I still have not heard from Paperchase though they deemed it right to make a public statement. Which is pretty much the same thing they told me back in December: we got the design from a designer, we are not telling you who that is. The difference is that now they are saying they will look into it at least.

The Amazon item has been removed without a word. Well, I heard that it didn't get any high reviews anyway.

I have been contacted by various journalists in national papers,  lawyers and oh so many other kind people that want to offer a helping hand one way or another. I will try to reply to each and every one of you as your generosity deserves but it will take some time. A huge thank you from my heart. I'm standing on the shoulders of giants so I will keep standing strong.

Comments

[Kimmy M]

I sent a letter for you on my behalf. So sorry this has happened to you.

[sandra cassidy]

You can be sure I will re-tweet this for you, if we can spread the word it may work, has done with others, good luck!

[Hidden Eloise]

oh!! A huge thank you to both of you dear Kimmy and Sandra for this!!!

I hope we can cut their fat straw!
Hugs to both :)
Eloise xx

[Diana]

I'm sending a letter. This is horrible!

[Hidden Eloise]

Thank you so much dear Diana! I really appreciate it :)
xx

[x vInTaGe VioLeT x]

have sent them a shame on you note - i hope it gets resolved - i can't believe how often this type of thing happens :0(

[Jaqueline]

I used to work for Paperchase and sadly they have a long history of doing this. Everyone knows that their design team scope the blogs and indie designers for "inspiration" and then completely rip-off the original.
I hate to say it but unless you have serious legal power behind you, Paperchase won't do squat. I'm sorry to say that but I really do hope at some point someone hits them where it hurts.
P.S. I'll be retweeting x

[Anna]

that is soooo horrible! i'll write them an email and retweet this. i hope they take these items off the shelves asap!

[Sarah W.]

I'm so sorry--this must be awful. I wrote them a letter too, in the hopes that it will make some small difference. At least the original (hanging on my wall) is way cooler...clearly.

[Hidden Eloise]

It is so amazing to receive your support!
Thank you thank you all!!!!

[Hidden Eloise]

Jaqueline, thank you so much deary for your shocking yet very helpful information!
It is disturbing to hear this, but i'm not surprised at all!
When they replied back to me they were almost mocking me with their silly comments of how the 2 artworks have different "feeling" so they'll keep selling them as a result!!!
arghhhh!! how annoying!

[Heidi]

Hi

Sorry to hear yet another company has stolen designs from an artist like this. Don't know if you saw the tweet I sent you with this link: http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3 also if Paperchase don't honour you as they should then they don't realise the power of the internet & handmade community. Perhaps you could write an article via Etsy about this kind of plagiarism and what to do?

[Heidi]

PS Just watched your little animation, HILARIOUS!! x

[Hidden Eloise]

oh that is so awful Heidi!! Your tweet didn't reach me but thank you for mentioning this here for all of us to see!
I have seen these designs and was thinking of buying one for myself!!!
Now i know where to buy from :)

Happy you enjoyed the animation too ! :D

[FishStikks]

How horrible for you!!

I hope that you are able to squash these bad copiers and get your art back.

Best of luck to you with your fight!

[Sarah P. in MI]

How awful that they can do this and get away with it! That is clearly your girl that they stole and reused in their own crap. I wonder how many others it has happened to, and they never knew? I hope they get what's coming to them!

[aemcdraw]

That's awful. The animation is clear proof that they plagiarized your work. Maybe enough bad advertising and word of mouth pressure to Paperchase will work. Evil.

[Harriet McAlonan]

Oh My God!!! That is terrible! I am soooo cross on your behalf! Off to write a letter and tweet this right now!

[Hidden Eloise]

Thank you guys! it is pretty obvious indeed but their representative had to spit out some silly excuses about how the feeling of the 2 artworks differs.... well DA it does...luckily!

[Liz of wool boutique]

I sent Paperchase an email on your behalf too. Told them that they are quickly ruining their own rep on twitter.

I retweeted to my followers for you as well.

[Polkadotsnbloom]

I am so sorry for you, it is truly disgusting. Won't be shopping at paperchase anylonger and tweet as well!

[Zoie @ BnBbyGilliauna]

How horrible. I've wrote them a letter as well on your behalf and also tweeted about this on twitter.

I'll be heading over to facebook to make a note of it there too.

[Christi]

Shame on Paperchase. You have my support and I sent them an email expressing my low opinion of the company and their plagerizing. I hope you will be duely compensated for their unauthorized use of your art work.

[Kaye Prince]

This is disgusting! I just wrote to Paperchase and told them what they are doing is not right, that I would never buy anything from them, and that I would be spreading the word about their questionable practices. I also just put the word out on Twitter and hopefully a few of my friends will write them too.

Hang in there! I love this print (I just bought it from you about a month or so ago) and it's a shame that someone could do something like this!

-Kaye xo

[Susan]

Oh this is sickening. I'm so sorry it is happening to you. I hope that in spreading the word about their despicable plagiarism, your rights will be upheld in the end. I will certainly email them.

With best wishes,
Susan x