NEWS: Craft Seller Magazine
Is it just me or is the concept of a magazine full of patterns for people to make things to someone else’s design and then SELL them TOTALLY at odds with the whole idea of being a designer-maker?
As a jewellery designer-maker myself, I know first hand the sheer amount of time and effort it takes to design and make something original, but that is part of the beauty of products produced by designer-makers: the originality of the design, time and attention to detail, the connection with the designer, the materials, the story and process you are privy to (which you don’t get from mass-produced stuff…not sure how that would go anyway “machine 1 adds rivet”….”machine 2 sews first seam” the mind boggles). Surely, all the above is totally lost if you are essentially a human sewing machine with no design or creative input making something to someone else’s design?
With regard to the “selling” bit I find it strange that any designer-maker who makes a living from doing what they do would AGREE to have their pattern published in a magazine which advocates their readers making and then SELLING that design to make money. Ah but here lies the crux of the issue, did the designer-maker actually agree or even know that the pattern would be published in this manner? It seems the answer is a resounding “NO“. Copyright is a tricky issue for many designer-makers particularly with the internet making it difficult to police protecting your images/designs etc. but I’d say this would be left of field for any designer-maker….I certainly never imagined a scenario like this! Disgraceful is the only word that springs to mind.
Anyway one of the actual designers who has found herself in this situation shares her point of view HERE go have a read; FOREWARNED is FOREARMED!!
Anyone affected by copyright issues might want to go and check out ACID “ACID (Anti Copying in Design) is a membership organisation, committed to raising awareness and encouraging respect for intellectual property within corporate social responsibility. The ACID logo is recognised as a strong symbol of deterrence. ACID accredited law firms have achieved £3million+ in costs and damages in 400+ settlements for members.“
10 Responses to NEWS: Craft Seller Magazine
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About
Anna Stassen
Jewellery Designer
Surrey, UK
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Thank you very much for spreading the word. You’re right forewarned is forearmed!
Laura so sorry this is happening to you it really sucks
I do recommend contacting ACID, I know that membership costs but it’s times like these when a bit of legal clout works wonders!
Axx
Thanks for sharing Anna, that is shocking !!! I have posted the link onto Frit Happens too as I think people should be made aware of this !
Thanks for that Becky the more we cam make designer-makers aware of these things the better…as I said in the post Forewarned really is Forearmed!
Anna x
I’ve been following @cupcakesforclara posts since this morning and was about to tweet back when i saw this post. (No 140 charc. limit here!)
I only own craftseller #1 and what i can see is that most of their articles are extracts of selected craft books (they also offer some of these at the end of each article for a reduced price). Don’t know about #2 but it seems the same. What i mean here is that all these articles could be violating copyright laws somehow -if the owners/designers were not contacted, understood exactly what mag publishers wanted and given written permittion.
This whole matter surely needs clarification from the publishers or its the whole concept of this magazine that is in danger, in my oppinion.
Helena yes the only way they can continue without infringing the designer-maker’s copyright is to get permission from the designer-makers themselves, who retain the copyright to their designs regardless of whether they have been featured in a craft book, to the concept of people making and then selling their designs (can’t imagine anyone agreeing to this); OR they provide the tutorials to be made for personal use only (which sort of undermines the idea of the magazine). Looks like the legal team seriously cocked up in my opinion!
Anna x
Hi Anna,
What if the designer-maker has transfered his/her rights ? Let me explain.
In CraftSeller #1 pages 50-52 we have “Babushka babies” extracted from Rob Merrets book SEW IT, STUFF IT (ISBN 907030604). I own this book and its says “Text copyright Rob Merrett 2010, Design, illustration and photography copyright CICO books 2010 (the publisher)
So, if i am getting it right, in this case, has the desginer Rob Merrett transfered his design rights to the publisher ? If true CS still had to have permission from the publisher…
Tricky copyright business
In the example you mention it sounds like they are just clarifying that the designer-maker still has copyright over the text provided in the craft book but perhaps the images were shot by the publisher hence the images in the book are copyright of the publisher. That still doesn’t mean that the publisher then owns the copyright to the design itself, just the copyright to the images that are in the book showing the tutorial…does that make sense? So if someone wants to make a copy of the design and then sell it they would still need to get a license to do that from the designer-maker. Ax
yes, it makes sense -the copyright over the text *also* applies the patterns included with the book meaning one cannot make and sell from them just like that…like most craft books we know, of course.
This also means that if the designer-maker wants to make and sell his own creations he has to make his own photos, he is not allowed to use the pictures taken by the book publisher for that matter. It is a wierd arrangement though lol
But yes, again we get back to the point. We *hope* CS has the right permissions.
Helena
Craftseller magazine is a joke. I bought issue 2 (only just released in Australia) and immediately recognised the bluebird fattie from Little Birds (I own a copy of the book). If the book Little Birds states that the patterns are purely for personal use the magazine totally breached copyright by suggesting the readers that they could sell quantities of the item. And don’t tell me the editors were unaware of the this legality – you cannot work in the publishing industry without being completely aware of copyright infringement. I think the editors simply hoped no one would call them on it and get away with producing an extremely cheap magazine since they don’t seem to have many original articles for which they would have had to pay. I is seriously awesome to know that the crafting community is alert and willing to call big corporations out on this sort of thing otherwise the home crafter trying to make a living would be stamped out.