A friend went to
Do we buy from jewelry supply websites who can't come up with their own projects?
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from Marilee J. Layman :
]Do we buy from websites who steal other people's projects and present ]them as their own?
i'm going to have to assume that you mean the actual written instructions, since 2/3 of the earrings i make look something like those, and are done in exactly the same way.
how - unless i happened to have seen BOTH somehow, would i know that the second artist had copied the instructions of the first? for that matter, those instructions look very like the ones i get out of WAJ all the time - even to the layout.
]Do we buy from jewelry supply websites who can't come up with their ]own projects?
it depends on whether we KNOW or not. it's not like they are going to post "these are stolen from . . . " at the top of the page. nor am i likely to be able to find EVERY site that has instructions, compare them, and figure out who came first.
of course, posting someone else's instructions is wrong. but you also have to have a frame of reference. all anyone can do is IF they see duplicated instructions to try and find out whose was original. and that might be harder than you think.
----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)
Oh wow... I just spent a few minutes matching up the beading-frenzy projects with the original sources, and it's ridiculous! I can't believe that anyone would do that, much less think they could get away with it.
Thanks for pointing this out, Marilee...
It looks like most of the instructions and images were snagged from about.com and Rings 'n Things.
Okay, let's try this one:
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Mj" :
]Just because Rings & Things has given out the directions for these projects ]free doesn't mean someone else can list the EXACT same project on their ]website using the exactly worded instructions and the same illustrations as ]their own. It's called copyright violation and I've just notified Rings & ]Things of the theft.
i'm not arguing with that at all. but as a user, unless *I* had seen both, i wouldn't know that. there are literally thousands of sites out there. all i'm saying is that _I_ [as a relatively new person surfing sites] have no way to know who came up with the directions first.
i agree about copyright infringement of printed directions. i'm not arguing that in the slightest. but if i had never seen either site before, how would i know which one was in violation - if you see what i mean?
----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)
Geez - can't they make up their own web site content? They are using the projects and information to draw in customers to get them to buy beads from them. ***sigh*** And their website is awful as well. Looks like someone just decided to whip up a shoddy website and sell some beads and needed some content. It's craptacular.
Oh Marilee - I've missed you on the AOL board where we've been living our own 'Mutiny on the Bounty!" - I heard you left AOL though.
Diane
Marjean, I'm not getting the original post below, so I'm replying to your post (but not to you, LOL ;-)
This happened to me before (and in fact I think Rings and Things projects were also lifted in that instance). I got no relief from the website owner, who refuse to respond at first. Marilee helped me track down their ISP and after writing to *them*, my materials were removed within 24 hours. Usually, part of a provider's TOS is that their customers won't violate copyright, and their web content can be removed more or less at will. That did get me the resolution I was seeking. In that situation, the website owner even sent phony lawyer emails full of misspellings, LOLOL (
They are not only stealing the projects, but also stealing bandwidth from the original owners. All of the graphics are still linked to their original homes, so they are lifting more than just words they are taking money out of the pockets of the original sites. On the internet, bandwidth theft is a greater sin than the copyright infringement because bandwidth can be very expensive.
And to those who were wondering "how can you tell who did it first when you don't know either of them," there's one answer. Of course, this only works when the thief is both lazy and stupid -- but that description applies to a *lot* of ethically challenged people.
We had someone swipe one of our bumper-sticker graphics once -- had a link from his site back to our picture without asking, just as you describe. My partner's response was... unique. Instead of getting bent out of shape about it, he simply changed the image to an 8-second loop between the sticker graphic and an ad for our site!
Celine
heck, i'd switch out the graphic to one that showed the pic and text that said "This graphic stolen w/o permission from
Oh geez...talk about NOT thinking when I posted that reply below. DO NOT CLICK ON THE URL!!! Icky....
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Karen_AZ" :
]By relying on the good judgement and experience of other members. If Marilee ]says it's a duck, then I'll cheerfully bet money on an subsequent quack.
okay - do we have a "do not patronize" list i don't know about?
because i'm too new to much of it to know the difference.
----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from mary snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Mary Tafoya) :
]This happened to me before (and in fact I think Rings and Things ]projects were also lifted in that instance). I got no relief from the ]website owner, who refuse to respond at first. Marilee helped me track ]down their ISP and after writing to *them*, my materials were removed ]within 24 hours. Usually, part of a provider's TOS is that their ]customers won't violate copyright, and their web content can be ]removed more or less at will. That did get me the resolution I was ]seeking. In that situation, the website owner even sent phony lawyer ]emails full of misspellings, LOLOL (
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Diane Villano" :
]And in some of the project instructions, competitors names are mentioned.
okay - in that case, you'd be able to tell that it wasn't theirs.
also, as i've been thinking about it - one reason i can be pretty sure Mary's instructions are her own is that all the graphics [from page to page] match.
----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)
On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 16:08:40 -0400, vj wrote (in message ):
Another way is to look at the style of writing. If it's all written by one person, the style should be similar from item to item, page to page.
Think about it: most of you guys can tell my writing style even before you see the name at the top of the post. Same with a lot of people here. I'd know if I were reading the pages on a web site if the "voice" changed from page to page. With the Rings-Things projects, they're pretty distinctive in their verbay layout, tone and order of doing things. Obviously written by one person or if it's more than one, they're using the same style sheet. Same as when I read the new and improved "Bead Notes:" I can tell which instructions are ones I wrote, even without attributions.
I took a cursory look at the site in question: something about the whole site shrieks "something's wrong." The beads shown are garbage, for the most part, IMO. It's laid out horribly, and then there is the matter of project instructions which are clearly lifted from other's work. I'd run away from this site, as quickly as I could, and wouldn't buy from them on a bet.
Kathy N-V
And here's the response I got from Rings & Things today:
Hello Marjean,
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. The site had not informed us they were going to use that project, nor the two others the heisted. Plus they have the images pointing to our site, so not only are they "borrowing" our work but our bandwidth. My manager has e-mailed them about taking it down.
Thanks again!
--Todd Webmaster Rings-things.com
I'll let you all know if I hear anything else...
Mj
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Jalynne" :
]What I've ended up doing with photos on my site of quilts that I've designed myself ]is imbed them with a copyright notice. It is part of the photo, and i put it in such ]a place where they can't even crop it out, and it would be incredibly difficult to ]edit out, unless they really want to take hours and hours to mess with it. I've had ]one quilt design stolen, and i never want it to happen again. Nothing's foolproof, ]but this has worked well for me so far.
VERY good idea!
----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)
Yes, I've been getting reports in email. Things have clearly changed since even *I* was never banned from posting for a week.
I miss some of the people on the AOL boards, but not AOL.
InspirePoint website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.