I haven’t ranted for a while so I guess this is due….I have a reputation for telling it like it is so here goes.
Every designer of patterns hopes that the occasional lecture about copyright will inform and educate, but there is another side to this topic that isn’t mentioned often and that’s how copying hurts a business, especially a craft businesses that has little mark-up on product and depends on every dollar to survive.
It was brought to my attention recently that yet another one of my designs had been copied and hooked. I have a photo of this rug to prove it but I won’t post it. It isn’t my intention to humiliate this person, and after the last egg on my face for being too quick to judge, I’m just going to put this out into the universe and if I touch and educate on more person I’ll be happy.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to rant about copyright infringement again today, once a year will be enough and 2019 is already covered. What I am going to chat about is an old saying that used to float around, I’ve even said it a few times as a lay person, but now that I’m a professional hooker with a studio, it has ramifications.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON said “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. I beg to differ. Is it flattery when someone has an original thought and everyone else jumps on the accolade trail? Is it a compliment to copy someone’s work or style to claim it as your own, because the message you relay is, “Look what I did!”
On the flip side, it’s an incredible rush when a customer buys one of my designs and hooks it. Now that’s tenfold, mega dose, flattery! My chest pumps out, my mouth forms a toothy smile and that in a nutshell is the reason why I do this! Why I spend hours and sometimes days penciling out a design, with you, my valued customers in mind! Hell yes I’m flattered, I almost choke over the lump that forms in my throat and turn my head to hide my leaking eyes. You talented rug hookers make my day, week, month and year!! And after a purchase of a pattern, I have income to forge ahead and make more designs and offer more products for you to peruse and incorporate into your precious rugs; that’s how business works.
There are cases where flattery is legitimate and wanted. The clothing industry for instance. If someone is sporting a gorgeous scarf that’s a ‘must have’ you go out and purchase one exactly like it, the original wearer may or may not be flattered, but the designer would be most gracious to have another sale. Of course in this scenario copying a style is wanted and expected, so the designer and the middle man can make money, support their families and pay their mortgage. If someone wishes to own that beautiful scarf they don’t try to create one like it or go to the store and steal a copy (well, some do but for this scenario we’re concentrating on the honest folks), they go out and pay for one. It’s a rule, it’s a no brainer, it’s the way of the world, it’s proper and expected. So why should rug hooking be any different?
So some believe that people who copy patterns don’t really understand what they are doing and I say bullshite to that. We are supposed to be civilized; we walk erect and have an evolved, modern day brain so we have no excuse taking something that doesn’t belong to us! Period! I’m told all the time that it’s okay to do one copy for personal use, and if you change the title, or alter the design say 10%, by taking something out or adding something in, it’s acceptable. NO IT’S NOT, but I do digress. This rant isn’t about copyright rules, this is about the ramifications of copying and how it affects a shop owner/designer.
Seeing my pattern copied and changed slightly, I didn’t feel flattered at all. Angry, sad and violated was the bag of emotions than ran rampant through my mind. To me the rug represented money lost that could have paid one of my employees for the day, helped buy supplies, kept the lights on and cover some of that expensive overhead a legitimate, registered business creates. This loss came directly out of MY pocket because I have to make it up.
Through the disappointment of seeing this rug, my dark sense of humour brought forth a cynical laugh. Although 99% of it was an exact duplicate, the copier added a few bits and bobs. An improvement? I think not. This particular design was one of my more clever ones and was a great source of pride for me, so it came off as a lame attempt to make it their own and in my opinion they ruined the entire balance of the pattern. I’ve got this steel trap of a brain that forgets nothing and now every time I look at that design I will see their rendition and it’s going to feel tainted.
Ignorance is no defense. If you drink and drive and hit someone, is it the fault of the alcohol or the willingness to drink and get behind the wheel? I didn’t know what I was doing is no longer acceptable. When copying a pattern, somewhere there has to be a little niggling in the pit of your stomach telling you this is wrong and Sista, it’s not gas, it’s guilt causing that flutter! And if for some reason you truly didn’t know, once you read this that excuse is out the window, and if you continue to offend that makes you an out’n out thief, no different than if you walked into my shop and stuffed a pattern in your purse. In this day and age when social media screams about Copyright infringement, magazines write about it, the Guild advocates for it and it’s a regular conversation between rug hookers, we can no longer claim that we live in a cocoon.
So the person that prompted this rant and anyone else that has done it in the past and seemingly gotten away with it, you are the kinds of people that help cause the demise of shops. Every pattern stolen is money out of the owner’s pocket that is needed to buy supplies and produce more beautiful things for you to purchase. Bank accounts don’t fund themselves, its money in for money out. My shop in particular is large and has a lot of overhead and most of the time we struggle to keep our heads above water. Perhaps if I let Shane and Deborah go and do all the work myself or sell under the table and cheat the government by not reporting actual income like some, I could reap a bit of financial reward from my hard work, but most of the time, especially now with our dollar so poor and the US exchange being so high we lose close to 40% right off the top so there is little or no profit left. We can never afford to be copied but in this economy it is even worse! You can’t take flattery to the bank, so no, Mr. Colton, imitation is not a form of flattery….sincerely!
Every designer of patterns hopes that the occasional lecture about copyright will inform and educate, but there is another side to this topic that isn’t mentioned often and that’s how copying hurts a business, especially a craft businesses that has little mark-up on product and depends on every dollar to survive.
It was brought to my attention recently that yet another one of my designs had been copied and hooked. I have a photo of this rug to prove it but I won’t post it. It isn’t my intention to humiliate this person, and after the last egg on my face for being too quick to judge, I’m just going to put this out into the universe and if I touch and educate on more person I’ll be happy.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to rant about copyright infringement again today, once a year will be enough and 2019 is already covered. What I am going to chat about is an old saying that used to float around, I’ve even said it a few times as a lay person, but now that I’m a professional hooker with a studio, it has ramifications.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON said “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. I beg to differ. Is it flattery when someone has an original thought and everyone else jumps on the accolade trail? Is it a compliment to copy someone’s work or style to claim it as your own, because the message you relay is, “Look what I did!”
On the flip side, it’s an incredible rush when a customer buys one of my designs and hooks it. Now that’s tenfold, mega dose, flattery! My chest pumps out, my mouth forms a toothy smile and that in a nutshell is the reason why I do this! Why I spend hours and sometimes days penciling out a design, with you, my valued customers in mind! Hell yes I’m flattered, I almost choke over the lump that forms in my throat and turn my head to hide my leaking eyes. You talented rug hookers make my day, week, month and year!! And after a purchase of a pattern, I have income to forge ahead and make more designs and offer more products for you to peruse and incorporate into your precious rugs; that’s how business works.
There are cases where flattery is legitimate and wanted. The clothing industry for instance. If someone is sporting a gorgeous scarf that’s a ‘must have’ you go out and purchase one exactly like it, the original wearer may or may not be flattered, but the designer would be most gracious to have another sale. Of course in this scenario copying a style is wanted and expected, so the designer and the middle man can make money, support their families and pay their mortgage. If someone wishes to own that beautiful scarf they don’t try to create one like it or go to the store and steal a copy (well, some do but for this scenario we’re concentrating on the honest folks), they go out and pay for one. It’s a rule, it’s a no brainer, it’s the way of the world, it’s proper and expected. So why should rug hooking be any different?
So some believe that people who copy patterns don’t really understand what they are doing and I say bullshite to that. We are supposed to be civilized; we walk erect and have an evolved, modern day brain so we have no excuse taking something that doesn’t belong to us! Period! I’m told all the time that it’s okay to do one copy for personal use, and if you change the title, or alter the design say 10%, by taking something out or adding something in, it’s acceptable. NO IT’S NOT, but I do digress. This rant isn’t about copyright rules, this is about the ramifications of copying and how it affects a shop owner/designer.
Seeing my pattern copied and changed slightly, I didn’t feel flattered at all. Angry, sad and violated was the bag of emotions than ran rampant through my mind. To me the rug represented money lost that could have paid one of my employees for the day, helped buy supplies, kept the lights on and cover some of that expensive overhead a legitimate, registered business creates. This loss came directly out of MY pocket because I have to make it up.
Through the disappointment of seeing this rug, my dark sense of humour brought forth a cynical laugh. Although 99% of it was an exact duplicate, the copier added a few bits and bobs. An improvement? I think not. This particular design was one of my more clever ones and was a great source of pride for me, so it came off as a lame attempt to make it their own and in my opinion they ruined the entire balance of the pattern. I’ve got this steel trap of a brain that forgets nothing and now every time I look at that design I will see their rendition and it’s going to feel tainted.
Ignorance is no defense. If you drink and drive and hit someone, is it the fault of the alcohol or the willingness to drink and get behind the wheel? I didn’t know what I was doing is no longer acceptable. When copying a pattern, somewhere there has to be a little niggling in the pit of your stomach telling you this is wrong and Sista, it’s not gas, it’s guilt causing that flutter! And if for some reason you truly didn’t know, once you read this that excuse is out the window, and if you continue to offend that makes you an out’n out thief, no different than if you walked into my shop and stuffed a pattern in your purse. In this day and age when social media screams about Copyright infringement, magazines write about it, the Guild advocates for it and it’s a regular conversation between rug hookers, we can no longer claim that we live in a cocoon.
So the person that prompted this rant and anyone else that has done it in the past and seemingly gotten away with it, you are the kinds of people that help cause the demise of shops. Every pattern stolen is money out of the owner’s pocket that is needed to buy supplies and produce more beautiful things for you to purchase. Bank accounts don’t fund themselves, its money in for money out. My shop in particular is large and has a lot of overhead and most of the time we struggle to keep our heads above water. Perhaps if I let Shane and Deborah go and do all the work myself or sell under the table and cheat the government by not reporting actual income like some, I could reap a bit of financial reward from my hard work, but most of the time, especially now with our dollar so poor and the US exchange being so high we lose close to 40% right off the top so there is little or no profit left. We can never afford to be copied but in this economy it is even worse! You can’t take flattery to the bank, so no, Mr. Colton, imitation is not a form of flattery….sincerely!
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