I don't like to write about negative things but this has made me quite cross. Marie from France kindly brought to my attention that Monoprix (major retailer in France) have taken one of my designs, flipped it over and are selling on a cushion as part of their Christmas range. Bird motifs and folksy patterns are of course a very common trend but to me this one looks just a bit too similar. I'm not sure what to do - has any one had a similar experience?
Oh! That's terrible. I have another creative blog which I follow ... http://kltworks.blogspot.com/ who had a very similar problem some time back.
ReplyDeleteShe may follow you and read this ... you may want to talk to her. She's in America. She was quite upset, you may want to contact her for her thoughts.
I'd be a damn sight cranky too! People can be so lazy and unimaginative and shameless!
This is really bad! I would go look for a lawyer to help you out! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI've not had any experience with this, but i just want to support you with my annoyance! I actually can't quite believe a major retailer would do that...and so obviously copied too! Hmph.
ReplyDeleteThat is beyond obvious!
ReplyDeleteA good person to contact may be Hidden Eloise. She had a similar case with Paperchase.
http://hidenseek.typepad.com/come_out_come_out/2010/02/cannot-chase-paperchase.html
On a separate note....I know you are a South-East London resident, and wondered if you could shed any light on Forest Hill or any of the below? We are about to make a big move from Devon, and have been looking around there/Dulwich/Sydenham/Blackheath as potential areas. It seems schools in FH are generally pretty good. Any info gratefully received if you get a chance theseventytree@yahoo.co.uk
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely day, and good luck with sorting out the above issue.
Theres comoon trends and theres just outright copying - and what they'll probably say is that they got it from a design company that they have complete faith in :(
ReplyDeleteI think you should still contact them and ask them to take it off their shelves.
Have you seen this?
http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/
Maybe you can post it there - better exposure - and ask if anyone knows how to go about dealing with this kind of thing.
On the positive site - immitation is the sincerest form of flattery!
Have a look at http://isakisak.blogspot.com/2010/10/more-kokka-rip-offs.html. Hope this helps.
ReplyDeletehow shameless! i have only had small fry rip me off so can't offer tested advice but maybe start with a letter to monoprix from your lawyer!
ReplyDeleteTotal rip off if you ask me. I think you should contact them to see if you can find out who has designed them. Sadly, I see similar things happening to artists nearly every week - why can't people think of their own ideas? Makes me angry too. Monoprix is huge, as I'm sure you know.
ReplyDeleteTry talking to Sandra Issakson (Isak) or BoyGirlParty seems to happen to them quite a lot.
ReplyDeleteDo you have European Design Registration on your designs? If so you can contact them with details of your registration and a request that they remove them from sale.
ReplyDeleteExact copy if you ask me!! I'd be very cross too!
ReplyDeleteI'd contact them first, they will have more than likely employed a freelance design company
Hidden Eloise had a similar thing with paperchase last year
http://hidenseek.typepad.com/come_out_come_out/
Good luck and the handmade community will be right behind you!
No doubt that this is yours ... I remember that I heard about a similar misuse from an illustrator a year ago. A big company took an illustration and made many products based on it. I'm not sure what happened, but illustrator Internet communities stopped it by telling and spreading it by Facebook and blogs. And that is no good advertising for the company. In that case the company had booked an illustrator to make them their products, - and it was that illustrator who had stolen a pattern.
ReplyDelete- Maybe you should go to www.illustrationmundo.com and write your question to illustrator Nate Williams. Show him your illlustration and the copy one. He's got an enormous community. And I think he was the one starting the other group. Good luck to you on the process.
Have tweeted and am more than happy to write and complain for you:)
ReplyDeleteOMG! I am so sorry to hear that! It seems to me they totally used your design... I think you should at least write them a letter or I don't know... :(( what they did is totally illegal!
ReplyDeletethat kind of things make me really angry and sad at the same time. I really hope you will find a solution!
Am wishing them bad karma virginia....they are definitely on the naughty list. Hope you get somewhere with pursuing it!
ReplyDeleteYes, sadly I've passed through a similar experience...few years ago.
ReplyDeleteThis is an offense, very difficult to fight, and a shame to the company that allows and sells the copy.
I feel sorry for you...and I hope you'll find a solution for this abuse.
That's obscene. It is clearly copied. Protect your work by copyrighting. It costs nothing just date and use the copyright symbol. The design council website has info on this. If you have dated photos of the work give this as evidence that you created the image first and contact Monoprix to ask them to withdraw the work.
ReplyDeleteThank-you for all your comments - they were really kind and supportive and immensely useful.
ReplyDeleteI am now deciding what to do, first thing will probably be a letter/email to Monoprix. Will keep you posted.
Hilary at Wee Wonderfuls had something similar a while ago. An Australian firm was selling a copy of one of her soft toys. http://www.weewonderfuls.com/2008/04/definitely-not.html Perhaps she would have some advice for you. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteIt is worth trying to contact the retailer - however getting to the right person will be really difficult - contact their legal team. It is not the retailers fault the agency they use have obviously been over inspired by your bird - therefore they are the ones to blame. The retailer would probably not even be aware of your design and will hopefully act if you contact them. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteHey,
ReplyDeleteI stumbled across this from Twitter. These guys may be able to point you in the right direction:
http://www.own-it.org/
Good luck!
Helen
Hi Virginia,
ReplyDeleteIt's Helen here from Helen Gordon who exhibited next to you at Kids Modern. That's really bad and you must take action. Do you belong to Acid? Theya re very helpful.
I have some experience of this and could recommend you a lawyer. Email me at helen@helengordon.co.uk. They cannot be allowed to get away with this!
What a wind up! I had a similar experience several years ago. A design company asked me for a quote and I never heard any more. Then by pure chance I spotted the project in a newspaper. The agency had got somebody to copy a previous (published) artwork of mine-exactly. I got advice from the Association of Illustrators and managed to get the design withdrawn and also compensation. Wishing you good luck. Jane
ReplyDeleteHonte à Monoprix!
ReplyDeleteJe suis absolument choquée!
J'adore pourtant ce magasin mais je ne vais pas leur faire une bonne publicité autour de moi, sur mon blog et facebook!
Ca me dégoute!
Je suis de tout coeur avec toi!
Not me, but check out Sandra's latest post.
ReplyDeletehttp://herzensart.blogspot.com/2010/11/theres-fine-line-between.html
You can't beat the original. I love your work:)
you have to take legal action straight away ... first a letter from your lawyer telling them to stop at once to sell this cushion and if nothing is done you sue them. If you can prove that your "dessin" (that's the legal term for your desing in french) is yours you will win. If you need help i was a lawyer specialised in that kind of things.
ReplyDeletegood luck but it's worth it and if your start to let it go ths way...
kiss
It's a complete rip-off as far as I can see. I did have a similar thing happen to me once when some wrapping paper designs I'd done ended up being used by Monsoon on some beach ware. The greetings card company that had commissioned the design got on to it. Monsoon claimed they'd bought the design in good faith from some Italian textile designers. It's really hard to do much about it unless you have vast sums of money to spend on lawyers. In the end Monsoon withdrew the stock and donated the unsold items to charity, but by then it was the end of the season and the damage had been done.
ReplyDeleteMy argument with monsoon was that although they may have bought the design in "good faith" they should have got whoever sold it to them to verify that the design was original. Its not hard to do and if they had done that there may have been some comeback. When I do illustrations for books I always have to sign a contract which says that the designs are original. If I were you, I'd get in touch with them and see what they have got to say for themselves. Its a shame some people have no idea about copyright. I managed to get an article in Time Out about it at the time. Getting bad publicity for them is a good idea and hopefully it'll put off others from trying the same thing.
ah oui, là c'est flagrant !
ReplyDeleteHi Virgina
ReplyDeleteI was trying to find an email address to send you this direct but could not find one so hope you get this. There is this organisation which may help:
http://www.dacs.org.uk/
Also I notice that this blog:
http://www.raspberry.co.uk/
has this on it - I should look into it too for my work:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/deed.en_GB
Hope you find a good solution - keep us posted.
Jacqui
Hi there! Carmel (Make mine mid-century) just told me about you. I had the same thing happen with some of my images. It was a large designer (Ellen Tracy) for a big chain store (Macy's in US). It was a definite rip of off my thread drawings that they flipped and watered down. It was really poorly done! Anyway, it made me flippin' mad too. If you ever need to vent... feel free to contact me, I understand. You have beautiful work btw. As my husband and I always say- it's better to be the one thinking of the ideas than the one that needs to rip others off. You are in the better spot. :) Sorry you have to deal with it. But... it really is a compliment.
ReplyDeleteTry to get as much exposure online as possible, tweets, blogs etc and share that with monoprix, they dont like the bad publicity. It is truly horrible for you!! I will tweet and announce this on bloesem if you like?
ReplyDeleteThat's really bad. And yes, no doubt, it's a clear rip off. Will be tweeting this. Best of luck to you.
ReplyDeleteOh my god! It's clearly a complete rip-off and copy. I don't see how they'd be able to deny it at all.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!