The designer apologises

his is the latest news and it is going to be a difficult post to write.

I replied this to the designer's first mail, whose identity I still chose to keep private since this war battle was never intended towards another indie artist. I wrote to her this:

"Hello there dear *redacted*,

Thank you for your mail. It is quite disappointing to hear, as a fellow artist that has created the Hidden Eloise girl from scratch, that you are denying any intentional imitation.

I would kindly ask that you allow me to mention your email and show your art to present you and your case, something I cannot do right now since your mail contains a protective footnote.

I have protected your name since the beginning even though I had full knowledge. People found your name on their own but I have never verified it. Please do verify if I can go public with your statements and/or identity and be sure that as I have not bad mouthed you until now, I still will not in the future.

Thanks again and wish you all the best.
Bear hugs,
Hidden Eloise"

I received a reply later and this time she decided to admit the fact. She has allowed me to publish her statement and the series of designs that the infringing work belongs to. I have added to her images my own artwork, the rest images are hers.

In her own words:

"Dear Hidden Eloise,

I am happy for you to post this statement on your blog in its entirety.Please use all the images attached.

Im doing this off my own back in the hope that you will understand I have made a genuine mistake.

When creating the group of designs bellow I used the outline pose of your Hidden Eloise Girl in one of the designs to create a new pose for my princess. I did not intend to copy your character but use its pose to create a new design for my own character, my intention was not to copy your character, I now realise the pose was too close to your Eloise and apologise to you for this, I also apologise to paperchase for the trouble this has caused."

Here are all the images attached plus the one of mine. I should note that these same images are the evidence Gathernomoss sent me earlier today as proof that the design was not a copy but a natural part of a set. Now the designer sent me the same images to explain the context in which the copying was made.

 

So there you have it... An admission and an apology and Paperchase gets the apology they always deserved too...

I know that the designer stops shy of mentioning tracing and copying but she says she used the outline pose so I will not ask for more.

So thank you Paperchase for throwing an independent designer under the bus to cover for your mistakes. You supported her when you wanted to keep selling the infringing designs but now that you are losing money you let her take the blame. You must be very pleased with getting your apology.

But I would hope you also regret, Paperchase, saying this to an international newspaper:

“If we had been plagiarising, I completely understand why we would have received so many emails and Twitter posts concerning our business but we haven’t”

And this:

...raised serious concerns about the “powers, and there in the danger of Twitter”.

“I am sure it can be beneficial but if you get an untruth (on it) it can be very dangerous,” he said

So: Paperchase was selling plagiarised items..... Check!

I informed them back in November.....Check!

Paperchase continued selling the items even after my mail.....Check!

Oh but wait! There is more! Gathernomoss also contacted me again after I verified to the designer that I will be publishing her mail and this time they allow me to publish their email as well. However, even though they are just a company of "2 designers that represent 7 other designers... have no legal team, no PR people", I am just one person and am tired of working hard for them.  They can publish their own statements in their own website.

Briefly, Gathernomoss are saying that they believe everything the designer wrote on her mail (as in that she copied the character? they don't say) and that they know Paperchase doesn't have a PR or legal department (?). Gathernomoss "would like to state that Paperchase are completely blameless in this situation and bought the design in good faith, [they] would like to apologise to [me] and to Paperchase."

So there you have it. Another (possible?) admission and another apology to me and of course a second one to Paperchase.

Everybody is under the bus except Paperchase.

I never asked for anything from Gathernomoss or the designer and their reputations have only been tarnished because they either lied or withheld information since the moment of my first contact with Paperchase. Yet at least these two parties attempted to come clean, hurt as it may.

Come on Paperchase, your turn.

Bear hugs,

xxx Hidden Eloise xxx

Comments

[Matt]

The Comedian is lifted from Peacemaker, not the Punisher.

God, I'm a geek...

[Matthew]

Well, there go - Peacemaker, also owned by DC.

From a creative point of view, there's nothing necessarily wrong with including an exact copy as part of your work. The point is that you have to have permission, if the work is still in copyright (and that will usually involve paying a fee).

See: any number of tracks that use sampling. Also: The Limey*, which includes scenes from Poor Cow.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Limey

[Bonita]

Gosh! I have just stumbled across this, how aweful. I can't believe that one artist could do this to another. I am glad you now have your apology but surely you deserve more - a cut of the profit from their ilgotten gains may be?

Urrrr!
B x

[Rep_online]

Hi Eloise

Vikki Chowney here, editor of Reputation Online (thank you for your comments on our story about the Paperchase issues by the way!)

As you know, we covered this as it was unfolding and at the time, I was concerned about the somewhat over-dramatic focus by some on Twitter's role in this whole debacle. I'm saddened to now hear that Paperchase has a) as you say, passed the buck entirely onto this second designer and b) has chosen to use this as an example of the 'evils' of social media.

I can't tell you how frustrating that is. I do my job and write about brand/business use of the online world in an attempt to make it more accessible. To educate and help people trying to work out to use social media and the like properly.

I wrote my column on Friday (for new media age, I'll ping you a link when it goes out tomorrow) about the real problem here. It's customer service. It's the basic principles of dealing with a complaint. They did it badly, and you've blogged it. The real issue is Paperchase not just holding its hands up and admitting it.

The sad thing is that it all could have been turned around in five minutes, instead of it blowing up to become a case study that I will inevitably have rammed down my throat to highlight how 'things can go wrong' at various conferences over the next six months.

Well done for getting that apology in the end and sticking to your guns.

VC

[Matthew]

Just read some more about the genesis of Watchmen, it's quite interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen#Background_and_creation

Just reinforces the idea here that the issue isn't originality vs non-originality, it's about having the value of the work you've done recognized.

[sofia]

I really feel for you Eloise. This must be a nightmare and I want you to know that you have handled this in the best possible way. You've shown your anger and upset about having your original artwork copied but at the same time you have had the grace not to publicly lash out at the artist who copied your image. I think the email you sent her was incredibly kind and shows your true character. You have put the blame where it really should be put; at Paperchase. Of course the designer is not innocent here, the image is obviously traced and even if ref material is widely used when creating I think everyone knows when a line has been crossed. It creeped me out when I read the designers comment here, she seemed to be so so very scared of Paperchase. Her anxiety was there for everyone to see. Paperchase should be ashamed for the way they've handled this situation.

[laura]

Former Attorney misses the point. Paperchase was made aware of a potential problem and they ignored Eloise completely---as they can ignore most people who make claims such as hers. It was only when they began to feel the pressure from the twitter and email campaigns that they investigated and offered up their design company---they may not have made the original mistake, but they certainly only removed the product after the intense pressure was applied---they would never have done so if they weren't essentially forced...this is what makes it so frustrating---we know that Eloise got lucky...many designers wouldn't have.

[Zohaib]

So basically someone else has copied your design and sold it and yet you still blame paperchase (?!) seriously?! I dont understand why you think they should apologise for someone else's mistake. If anyone should be apologising its the people sending hate mail and angry tweets to paperchase, who as far as i can see are the innocent victims. You should be ashamed of yourself.

[Matt]

Zohaib = reading comprehension fail.

[Tina]

I admire the way you've handled the situation, and I'm sorry for all the anger directed at you. Unfortunately there are too many naive "artists" that think they can just grab in image off the internet, do a little something to it in photoshop and call it they're own. On the other hand, it's also through the internet that the plagiary is caught by other fellow artists. We artists and designers need to stick together! Drawing inspiration from other artists is one thing, but to blatantly copy without the artists' permission or knowledge is not proper. I doubt the offending artist would have had the gall to copy/trace a Disney character and call it her own. I trust she's learned her lesson. I love your work by the way! As soon as I find a home (I'm traveling through the year), I'll be visiting your shop!

[Josie]

Sounds like Paperchase are a victim in all of this. If they purchase a design it is up to the artist to ensure they have not copied anything, it would be impsosible for Paperchase to check if a design is a rip off!!

They would have lost sales for any products taken off sale which they have paid to produce, ship and get into store.