his has possibly been the busiest day of my life. It still is. Bear with me as I am typing as fast as I can.
I have been in contact with newspaper and TV journalists and I have been writing to everyone I can manage. Importantly, Paperchase has made a public statement, without contacting me, so I think I will take the bait and make a public statement myself. :)
Thank you Paperchase for confirming in public that you bought the design in October 2008. I sold my first copy of "He says he can hear the Forest whisper" on March 2008.
I did indeed contact you in November and you did indeed answer dully in early December. It shouldn't be any surprise to you that I didn't contact you after your reply. You told me that you only see an "unfortunate" similarity between my artwork and your design and that you would not be pulling out the range of 2 items. After such a reply, one contacts her lawyer and doesn't answer back.
Paperchase seems to think that it is a great excuse that they bought the infringing design from an outside source. Paperchase ignores that they were the ones selling the products. It doesn't matter how you obtained them. What matters is that you had a chance to act upon this matter in November when I contacted you and you never did. Now you are blaming someone else and you are still denying what is in front of your very eyes. Plagiarism that is. Everybody but you seems to believe so.
Actually, let me correct myself in that Paperchase is not "denying" plagiarism. They are just saying that they would never knowingly sell plagiarised material. Which I'm sure is exactly what their expensive lawyers advised them to say so that Paperchse has plausible deniability in court.
All in all Paperchase neither accepts or denies anything regarding this matter. They just apologise to you for any ill-feelings caused.
I can also confirm that I have been contacted by the design company that sold the design to Paperchase. Right before they made a public statement at the Paperchase site. They're pretty much saying the same that their public statement says but more on that later. I'll write to them directly first.
Thank you again for all the support, lovely people around the world!
Bear hugs,
xxx Hidden Eloise xxx
You are a star! it seems copyright is only an important matter if your a multimillion pound music or film company. Many photographers, artists and even font makers are often in your position. Wish you all the best in getting paid for your work.
Posted by: sinisterpictures | February 11, 2010 at 08:18 PM
Poor you! it must be a nightmare day!
We thought the telegraph article was really nasty.
Hehe maybe our print hanging on the wall will be worth more after all this press though :p
We think you're great :o)
Posted by: Mr Tom | February 11, 2010 at 08:25 PM
So pleased to see the support you are getting on this. I'll be keeping a close eye.
It occurred to me as I read their statement that they apologise ti their customers and not to you.
I only bought something from Paperchase a few days ago. They are so convenient to buy from as they are in the station I pass through twice a day. I will no longer buy from them.
Best of luck, I hope you get the credit you deserve for the work, and I hope Paperchase and Gather No Moss go down the toilet!
Rowan xoxo
Posted by: Rowan | KitschenSink | February 11, 2010 at 08:26 PM
For me, this issue was to do with how Paperchase responded to you when you raised your concerns to them last year. They seemingly felt they were too big and that you were too little to be concerned about. How wrong they were.
Posted by: Cara | February 11, 2010 at 08:26 PM
It's flogging fake levis from the boot of a Mini Metro really, just on a much larger scale. It's disgraceful that they carried on selling in the first place, even having been made aware that the design had been ripped off and their current We didn't do it, nobody saw us do it, you can't prove anything stance is just pathetic along with what seem to be desperate attempts on their part to paint themselves as the victim in all of this is just scraping the bottom of the barrel. You stick to your guns girl, I'm pretty sure anybody to have ever picked up a pen at this stage is firmly behind you. I know I am:)
Posted by: Leanne | February 11, 2010 at 08:27 PM
Well done for outing this. Their 'statement' is not going the help their case with their customers at all, they missfired there as they did with trying to fob you off in the first place.
Posted by: Dudley | February 11, 2010 at 08:28 PM
Just dropped in to say I too will boycott Paperchase until you get a satisfactory response from them.All too often are artists robbed in this way.
Posted by: MrWednesday7 | February 11, 2010 at 08:31 PM
What makes me happy is that this is an excellent example how small people CAN actually make a difference. I'm glad I can't find that album nor the tote bag from Amazon any longer. It seems almost like a victory to me. Stay strong!
Posted by: karuski | February 11, 2010 at 08:49 PM
i posted this on twitter earlier, their response is the same as i get from my 4 year old son when he's been naughty 'it wasn't me, she did it'!
good luck with sorting it all out.
Posted by: lucykate crafts... | February 11, 2010 at 08:50 PM
Very well done!
Posted by: Polkadotsnbloom | February 11, 2010 at 08:50 PM
I'm sorry that this has happened to you, but I'm glad that I see you fighting ...and I'm even more glad that probably by now they already realized that small people are actually far from beeing small ... hopefully winning of good ones over the bad ones is not reserved just for fairytales...you go girl!!!
Posted by: Lali | February 11, 2010 at 09:23 PM
Just to say Good Luck! The paperchase item is sooo obviously a copy. All the best in your endeavour.
Posted by: Deborah | February 11, 2010 at 09:44 PM
Coming to the game late here...
I can understand them buying the design in the first place. Fine. But once you made them aware of your work -- and it is PLAINLY obvious that their design is derivative of yours -- the ball was in their court to rectify the situation, either by pulling these items entirely or negotiating with you to continue selling them.
Instead, they chose to brush you aside. And they freely admit to it too. And I hope that it will, as it looks to be doing, burn them.
On the upside, something tells me you've seen a LOT more traffic to your Etsy page in the last day. ;) I've seen your artwork before and loved it. Now I just might buy some!
Posted by: porlob | February 11, 2010 at 09:51 PM
Just a quick note to say we are all supporting you. Its very hard taking on giants and dealing with the media. I know, unfortunately, from painful experience. I'm an artist too and we need to help each other. We are all open to this kind of abuse. Sleep well tonight knowing that many are thinking of you. I doubt the PR team at Paperchase will! :D I'll continue to follow the story on here and twitter. Night night. Julia
Posted by: Julia Odell | February 11, 2010 at 09:55 PM
just wanted to say I am supporting you and I wish you good luck .
Posted by: sabine | February 11, 2010 at 10:30 PM
Hi there, I am another victim of this, I think the newspaper article will have a link to my blog entry about the same situation that happened to me last year with a large plush company in the US. Same scenario that they contracted a design company and took no responsibility, yadda yadda yadda....... Good on you for taking it further that I did!!!!! I got intimidated and couldn't handle the effect the negative energy was having on my work. So I let them off! I will be following!!!!!!! The best of luck in having a positive end, I am sick of these people thinking that us independents have no recourse and they can just steal our sweat and tears.
Posted by: Melly | February 11, 2010 at 10:31 PM
Sleep tight, safe in the knowledge that you have definitely won the battle. The war is still to come xx
Posted by: Vonnie | February 12, 2010 at 12:10 AM
Wonderful to hear all the support you're getting, my best wishes for you, and we're all here for you, xXx
Posted by: Aleximo Croissant | February 12, 2010 at 12:55 AM
You have my absolute sympathy on this whole affair. A bit of advice, though: I would be more worried about this 'reputable design studio' than Paperchase themselves. I've studied design at uni, where fellow students knowingly used images they pulled from the internet in their work, assuming they would never get caught. I could see though that even as a student, once the temptation and convenience is there, it would be so easy to plagarize for a living - it's an age of information, and people use Google Image as their own personal clipart gallery.
Designers should know better, but sadly, when there's money to be made, that temptation of convenience can be too great - obviously, someone thought they could personally benefit from the hard work you did.
I think both you and Paperchase should receive apologies and compensation from that design company, and that talentless greed-mongering so-called 'designer' should lose their job, as well as receiving a hard kick in the seat of their pants.
Posted by: Wai-Jing | February 12, 2010 at 01:32 AM
hang in there sweet girl! We are all on your side.
Posted by: tina | February 12, 2010 at 01:57 AM
Found a link to the two designs side by side. Paperchase would have done better to buy your design flat-out; your bit with the bear was so much nicer than the silly mushroom design.
Posted by: Literatewench | February 12, 2010 at 02:15 AM
Just keep pushing on - like the little engine that could! (I think I can...I think I can...). You are in the right, and many others are behind you!
Posted by: Sandie Russo | February 12, 2010 at 03:42 AM
Wow, this has really gotten out hasn't it? I'm so glad! As I mentioned yesterday, I sent them a message and twittered about this, and I'm happy (and relieved for you) that they noticed. Looks like you've got a lot of supporters on this one...I think we'll see a good ending to this yet!
Posted by: Kaye Prince | February 12, 2010 at 04:03 AM
really hope this all turns out well for you. no companies can be allowed to get away with plagiarism like this.
Posted by: Loquacia Loon | February 12, 2010 at 05:26 AM
It wasn't me miss, the other kids made me do it...
so glad everyone has formed ranks supporting you, hope it all ends well. Suspect you'll be out of stock any day!
Posted by: heather | February 12, 2010 at 08:52 AM