Paperchase plays tag...

et me try to give a quick update of the Paperchase situation. I am only one person here and I am up against a full PR team and lawyers and I have to deal with them and try to answer to and tell my story to the global media too!

Since my reply to Paperchase yesterday, Paperchase have not made any public statements or contacted me. However, unexpectedly, the design studio that supplied the design has contacted me seeking telephone communication and claiming they have evidence to share that alludes to the Paperchase design being original work.

Now, I do not need Paperchase's entire lawyer team to tell me that I shouldn't make any informal phone calls with them. So I tell them that we will stick to email.

GatherNoMoss have now sent their evidence to me through a new mail but it says at the bottom that no part of it can be reproduced and it is all subject to copyright. So I cannot present the images for you to decide and I am afraid to even quote them.

All in all, this is a great way for Papperchase to take the focus out of the real issue here. I do not care where they got the design from neither I care to throw blames on another freelance independent designer. The whole issue that seems to be sidetracked a lot is that Paperchase was informed and given proper evidence by me in November and they denied to pull out the infringing items.

As my reply to GatherNoMoss, I present this updated video. This time I took the image from Amazon and corrected it for perspective as the previous image of the tote was a photograph at a very strange angle.

Here is the link to the video as well.

Thank you so much to everyone and bear hugs to all,

xxx Hidden Eloise xxx

Comments

[Kaye Prince]

I really hope they step up to the plate and try to resolve this, instead of constantly sidetracking!

[Amanda Makepeace]

I love Paperchase, but this is disappointing. No reason for this sidestepping act.

[Steph]

Stay strong, persevere, keep calm and carry on. Even with yesterday's perspective it was EVIDENT that the design was a copy.

[Lorrie]

This is starting to sound very intimidatory. If someone has offered you free legal advice, then take it my love. They will use the full force of their legal against you, and try and frighten you.

We are all behind you.
Lorrie
x

[Seobelle]

Well done for sticking up for your self Paperchase should accept more responsibility and make amends I'm sure there are easier ways to nip this in the bud as you seem reasonable

[Diandra Mae]

I don't get how anyone could deny this. There are no "slight similarities" it's a copy! Keep up the good fight. Artists everywhere are watching to see what happens. :)

[paperchase forever]

Guys get a grip, Paperchase never Intestinally stole a design to make money and back stab a designer,

I worked for Paperchase for 3 years and i have never met another company who where so good with their staff and designers alike. Paperchase rely on the designer community to produce designs for their ranges and have done for years. Why would they damage that relationship by stealing someone's design.

I really don't understand why people are so angry with Paperchase, Clearly the fault lies with the design agency who produced the design. After all most of the big retailers use design agencies and buy in good faith. so any number of retailer could have the same problem.

Paperchase is caught up in all this bad publicity for doing what they always do buying designs from other designers and unfortunately it seems the design agency or designer have stolen the design.

I think you should all get a grip and give Paperchase a chance to sort out the problem with the designer and agency!

I for one will remain a Paperchase fan despite opinions about the company from people who distort the truth.

Paperchase forever! :D

[Luke]

Sounds like Paperchase's attitude in handling the issue just seems to be compounding the issue. Even their Contact Us page now says 'It is worrying that such an allegation can create such reaction' - it almost sounds like they're attempting to take the higher ground. Er, nice try! Plus that bit about 'not having heard from you since December' is hardly a defence if their reaction was to disregard your claim outright.

Since they've already sold many of these products, they could offer some form of voluntary financial compensation or % of profits (if that was to your satisfaction). After all your copied work is fairly central to the design. They know it's David vs Golliath, so it'd be fairer for them to seek compensation from the design agency through legal means. Then they might just save some face out of the whole thing.

Anyhow they've had plenty of bad PR and I for one will check the brand on any stationery products before I buy in future. Hopefully many people who've read about this will vote with their wallets unless Paperchase make a better effort to address the matter, instead of just shrugging their shoulders.

[Colin]

It sounds like Paperchase had every opportunity to make things right - and chose to be corporate tw*ts back, as clearly have the design agency.

I for one won't be shopping there again.

[MikeB]

I'm inclined to agree that the real guilt lies with either GatherNoMoss (if they produced the Wonderland design in-house) or the designer/artist who traced your drawing and sold it to them as an original.

Paperchase could indeed have made more of an effort to resolve this but if GatherNoMoss are claiming that the design they sold was original, they're the ones you need to go after. Have they at least given you the name of the human being who's responsible for this mess?

I'm very intrigued as to what "evidence" they've sent that proves that their copy is not a copy when it so obviously is. Perhaps you could trace it and change the colours so that it magically becomes public domain...

[Lisaseaurchin]

I don't think the issue here is that the illustration is copied, clearly it has been traced....with or without Paperchase's knowledge.
The issue is that Paperchase could have easily resolved this when Hidden Eloise first contacted them (I bet they wish they had now!) I'm sure some financial arrangement and an apology would have compensated the original artist and this whole thing wouldn't have exploded and damaged them so badly.
It is not Hidden Eloise that is damaging their reputation as millions of people on Twitter, the online handmade community, and now the newspaper readers, can clearly see that it is a rip. It is Paperchase that has handled this badly by denying it and trying to turn it back on Hidden Eloise.
Sorry Paperchase....you should have sorted this out months ago, and now you're only digging a bigger hole!

[Christina Brodersen]

@paperchase forever: you're missing the point completely. Paperchase was made aware of this problem in November and decided to call it "an unfortunate similarity" and then refused to take further action. I'm quite sure this made more money for them in the short run. If they had acknowledged the problem then, given Hidden Eloise a simple apology, withdrawn the products in question and had taken action against the design studio, this would never have happened.

Their new stance of "Not our problem - you solve this with the design team" is nothing but yet another distasteful attempt to avoid taking responsibility. This is their second opportunity of doing the right thing that they're throwing out the window and they're running out of chances to show they've got an iota of conscience.

Paperchase made their bed - now they get to lie in it.

[sinisterpictures]

Ahh perhaps that's the excuse a fence should use then.

"I didn't know all this gear was nicked constable, honest"

But you were told in November

"naa, naa, some over boys dun it and tried to blame me, honest"

All power to you with this.

[Witchynic]

Good Luck to you my dear. Regardless who stole the picture, you should get something back from it.

I only hope that your online sales have rocketed as a result of this publicity.

Nicky x

[sofia]

Paperchase had done better just to admit they were wrong here, a mistake has clearly been made and I don't see the problem with just apologizing to you. That the image was copied is clear to all of us. They should spend less time trying to intimidate you and more time trying to make up for this shocking behaviour. I do not trust Paperchase as a company after this and will never buy anything there again and that has everything to do with how they treated you after you discovered that they used your image.

I'm behind you on this!

[nelliejean]

Original work? Seriously? The copied girl's pose doesn't even make any sense, it looks like her neck is the only part of her that's leaning against the toadstool. Are the design company really saying that such an awkward pose is deliberate?

Good luck with this Eloise.

[Brother Tobias]

Paperchase is doing itself a serious disservice here. They may not originally have been aware that the artwork was plagiarised, but they did not respond constructively or morally when you first contacted them, and are now obfuscating and prevaricating. They still appear to be the receivers of stolen intellectual property, and should be working flat out, for themselves and for you, to probe their supplier and, for the sake of their own reputation, to apologise and reach an agreement with you about recompense or withdrawal of the products. Have they no commercial savvy?

[Down and Out Chic]

your video is awesome. freaking fantastic.

[Beeberbee]

I too am a designer & illustrator & once had a whole advertising campaign I'd devised & designed (whilst working for an agency) copied by another agency for a big High Street store. We were unable to do anything about it as they are such a big brand.
It's devastating, not just for financial reasons but mainly because someone else is taking the credit for your hard work of which I was immensely proud.
Mine was copied in the days long before Twitter, at least nowadays the word can easily be spread publicly.

Unfortunately this type of plagiarism happens all the time, so the best thing that will hopefully emerge from this episode is that inexperienced designers will take note and NOT COPY OTHER PEOPLE'S DESIGNS in an attempt to impress a client. I know that when under pressure to meet a deadline the designer thinks that they can 'alter it at a later stage' but the truth is, the clients buy into the designs as seen. I agree that Paperchase wouldn't have known that the design was copied but they should have brought a halt to the range as soon as they were made aware of this and dealt with the design agency who in turn should have dealt with the designer.

In the meantime I hope that Hidden Eloise receives payment for her design (surely at the very least Paperchase should get the money back that they paid to the agency for this range & pass it on to her!)and that sales of her beautiful work rocket due to the publicity.

[sinisterpictures]

http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3/

[Photolink Design]

Love this video!!