Showing posts with label copyright infringement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label copyright infringement. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Interesting and Informative Article
This is an older article on copyright violations in the needlework industry (quilting, cross stitch, needlepoint, etc etc.) that has lots of great information. This article was written in (I think) 1999 or 2000. The issues it talks about now are even worse. Many designers have closed up shop, magazines have gone out of business or changed their business focus to stop publishing the magazine due to piracy (most recently The Gift Of Stitching), and local stores are closing. Piracy has reached huge levels within the needlework community and it is hurting the entire industry. Read the article here: http://www.caron-net.com/nov00files/nov00fea.html
Friday, March 23, 2012
Stitchers lose another resource
A magazine that I have greatly enjoyed over the past years, The Gift Of Stitching Magazine, is stopping publication with their May issue. One of their main reasons is internet piracy (copyright violations). It is so very sad that yet another resource for stitchers is being lost due to people who just can't grasp the concept that they are stealing. It frustrates and angers me a great deal.
I've seen how these people defend themselves. They say things like they only use the stolen patterns that they download to discover new designers and then purchase real copies of the charts for designers they like. This might be true for a few of them, but it is NOT true for the majority of them. Far too many people download charts for free and refuse to see that by doing this they are crippling designers' businesses, thus causing them to stop designing as they can't earn a living wage with their designs. For this magazine specifically it has been horrendous to see that within 30 minutes of the new issue becoming available, the file is uploaded on at least 3 different major infringement sites. Then the issues are downloaded hundreds of times within a few days. Then the people who download the files argue that it doesn't hurt the business of the publisher of the magazine (it is a small business that publishes this magazine, not a large publishing company). I don't understand how they can believe that their stealing doesn't effect the publisher when hundreds of downloads do equal hundreds of lost sales to the publisher. If it were true that downloading these illegal copies do not impact designers, then TGOSM would NOT have seen such a loss in sales that just gets worse every quarter. The fact remains that designers who are being infringed upon do see major drops in their income/sales, the more frequently they are infringed the greater the drop in their sales.
These drops in sales would NOT occur if it were true that everyone who downloads a pattern just to "see if it is a good pattern" then goes and actually buys that same pattern. Since designers are seeing drops in sales, some to a point where their designing business is constantly running at a loss (in other words it costs them money to continue to design, rather than breaking even or making a small profit), it is obvious that the theft of their designs is negatively impacting their businesses.
Sadly it is true that human beings will convince themselves of whatever they need to so they can continue their behavior when they know that behavior is wrong. Many of these thieves convince themselves that stealing these designs doesn't hurt the designers and is "ok", in order to feel that it is okay for them to continue to download stolen charts. They deny the harm they are doing.
I truly am saddened that the stitching community is losing yet another great resource due to internet thieves. I loved TGOSM as it introduced me to many designers I had not seen before. It had many interesting ways of finishing stitching beyond the usual framing, pillows, needlebooks etc. It had some wonderful articles. I will treasure all the issues I have.
Kirsten, thank you for all the work you put in to publishing The Gift Of Stitching Magazine. I enjoyed it tremendously!
I've seen how these people defend themselves. They say things like they only use the stolen patterns that they download to discover new designers and then purchase real copies of the charts for designers they like. This might be true for a few of them, but it is NOT true for the majority of them. Far too many people download charts for free and refuse to see that by doing this they are crippling designers' businesses, thus causing them to stop designing as they can't earn a living wage with their designs. For this magazine specifically it has been horrendous to see that within 30 minutes of the new issue becoming available, the file is uploaded on at least 3 different major infringement sites. Then the issues are downloaded hundreds of times within a few days. Then the people who download the files argue that it doesn't hurt the business of the publisher of the magazine (it is a small business that publishes this magazine, not a large publishing company). I don't understand how they can believe that their stealing doesn't effect the publisher when hundreds of downloads do equal hundreds of lost sales to the publisher. If it were true that downloading these illegal copies do not impact designers, then TGOSM would NOT have seen such a loss in sales that just gets worse every quarter. The fact remains that designers who are being infringed upon do see major drops in their income/sales, the more frequently they are infringed the greater the drop in their sales.
These drops in sales would NOT occur if it were true that everyone who downloads a pattern just to "see if it is a good pattern" then goes and actually buys that same pattern. Since designers are seeing drops in sales, some to a point where their designing business is constantly running at a loss (in other words it costs them money to continue to design, rather than breaking even or making a small profit), it is obvious that the theft of their designs is negatively impacting their businesses.
Sadly it is true that human beings will convince themselves of whatever they need to so they can continue their behavior when they know that behavior is wrong. Many of these thieves convince themselves that stealing these designs doesn't hurt the designers and is "ok", in order to feel that it is okay for them to continue to download stolen charts. They deny the harm they are doing.
I truly am saddened that the stitching community is losing yet another great resource due to internet thieves. I loved TGOSM as it introduced me to many designers I had not seen before. It had many interesting ways of finishing stitching beyond the usual framing, pillows, needlebooks etc. It had some wonderful articles. I will treasure all the issues I have.
Kirsten, thank you for all the work you put in to publishing The Gift Of Stitching Magazine. I enjoyed it tremendously!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
An Honest Look At The Size Of Copyright Problem
For the last 3 days, I have been making a list so I can do some math as an example of the scope of the copyright infringement problem. This is in response to the opinions I have been told (via email etc.) that this is blown out of proportion, exaggerated, or in some manner made-up to hide a loss of interest in the needlework industry as a whole.
I went through the 2009 posts for the site located at http://acspontocruz.blogspot.com to give a clearer picture of just how large copyright infringement has become and to show that it is not being exaggerated as some would like to believe it is.
I made a list (available as a word document upon email request) of every entry from Feb 7, 2009 to Dec 30, 2009, that counted the number of charts, or magazine pages full of charts posted on those dates. I would continue for 2010 but this has already taken me enough time (3 days) and I think it makes my point quite nicely the way it is.
On the pages where entire pages of magazines, leaflets etc were posted I counted the pages rather than the individual motifs found on each page when those pages had more than 4 motifs to the page. Otherwise I counted individual charts. I noted the copyright holders if I recognized them, or the copyright statement was part of the scan (as it is on many of the scans posted)
Here are some facts about that site:
This site has 213 followers as of 10:14AM (Central US Time) Aug. 4, 2010.
The site counter shows over 900,000 hits.
It links to 36 other blogs on its front page, left-side column. Of those 36 links: 20 have copyrighted cross stitch charts posted for free download within the first two pages of their blog. 2 have knitting and crocheting patterns, including full copies of magazines (copyrighted) available for download (not counted in those 20) and 1 needs to be logged into before it can be read (also not counted in those 20).
So 20 out of 36, that is over 50% of her links are also stealing copyrighted charts. So right there you have 21 blogs (counting the original) and 21 separate people providing cross stitch charts for illegal download. The 50 people that MyMark Designs used as a figure isn’t looking so “made-up” now.
The site owner links to a second blog (on the right side of blog, not in list of 36 links) that she runs which also lists copyrighted charts for download. So this one person has 2 blogs providing stolen copyrighted charts.
Of the 5 commenter’s whose blogs I loaded, 4 also provide copyrighted charts for free download. Most comments are “Anonymous”. So that brings us up to 25 separate people providing charts, all associated with this first site in one way or another.
Total charts on offer during that time: 2242
Following copyright Holders that I recognized: DMC, Anchor, Rico Designs, Beatrix Potter, Disney, EMS (31 of her animal baby charts are on this blog), Brittercup Designs, Leisure Arts, Cross Stitch Card Shop (UK Magazine), Cross Stitch Crazy (UK Magazine), a Russian Magazine and a Spanish Magazine, Hello Kitty, Garfield (paws, Inc), Vervaco, Lanarte, and others.
Now let’s do some math. For the sake of argument, and to allow for errors I will use the following numbers for my math:
Instead of all 213 followers, I will assume that only half (213 divide by 2 = 106.5) or 106 people downloaded charts.
Also to allow for not every chart appealing to every stitcher, I will use only half of the available charts for the year 2009. 2242 divide by 2 = 1121
I will use an average of $5.00 (USD) per chart because magazines cost about that much, most of the charts I recognized were at least 10.00 (or more) each so we’ll use a slightly smaller number to allow for variations.
106 people downloaded 1121 charts each: total downloaded 118,826 charts downloaded in 1 year
118,826 times $5.00 each equals $594,130 dollars lost to the needlework industry if they were only downloaded by those 106 people and only downloaded once in the entire year.
This is just 1 site, using half of the followers and half of the charts available for the year 2009. My guess is that the actual figures lost (if they could be accurately calculated) would be a lot higher because I doubt that only half the followers downloaded these charts and I doubt only half of them were downloaded. I am quite sure many people who are not listed as followers also downloaded charts without making their presence known via following or commenting. Since those pages are all still visible, and the charts are still available, people are still downloading them even though they were posted a year ago. Due to these unknowns there really is no way of figuring out the exact amount of money lost, but even the conservative estimate I have created is far too much money.
Since 1 person with just one site can cost this much to the needlework industry, it is not exaggerated that 50 people can cause over 800,000 dollars to be lost on a single $7.00 chart.
Remember this one person also links to a second blog she offers additional charts on, plus 20 more people’s blogs that also offer charts. That’s 20 more people off this single site, plus the 5 commenter I loaded making a total of 25 additional blogs and people with stolen charts. If you follow the links on all 25 of those sites, you’ll find even more people providing even more copyrighted charts.
As you can see this is not being exaggerated, made up, or in any other manner lied about in order to cover up a loss of interest in the needlework industry. This is an actual, major problem that costs the needlework industry a lot of money per year.
I wish that I could just turn away and justify it to myself as being exaggerated, made up, or a lie to cover-up a loss of interest in the needlework industry, but I can’t because I have seen it for myself. What I have given here truly is a SMALL sample of the sites that are available out there.
There are sites out there that offer charts and magazines literally within a few hours of them first being published. Those sites have thousands of charts and magazines available for download with thousands of users downloading daily. Some of those sites even require the users to PAY for the privilege of uploading and downloading pirated charts and NONE of that money goes to the needlework industry, it goes to the site owner who provides the space for the pirated charts to be accessed.
Copyright infringement is a major problem and the figures I have provided here, based solely on 1 site, are not exaggerated. In fact, the numbers are conservative and in actuality are probably much higher.
You can continue to believe that the problem is not this large if you wish, but you can no longer believe that the problem does not exist at all. It does.
Now for something to smile about, a WIP update:
This is where I am at on Quaker Welcome and I think it is coming along very well!
I went through the 2009 posts for the site located at http://acspontocruz.blogspot.com to give a clearer picture of just how large copyright infringement has become and to show that it is not being exaggerated as some would like to believe it is.
I made a list (available as a word document upon email request) of every entry from Feb 7, 2009 to Dec 30, 2009, that counted the number of charts, or magazine pages full of charts posted on those dates. I would continue for 2010 but this has already taken me enough time (3 days) and I think it makes my point quite nicely the way it is.
On the pages where entire pages of magazines, leaflets etc were posted I counted the pages rather than the individual motifs found on each page when those pages had more than 4 motifs to the page. Otherwise I counted individual charts. I noted the copyright holders if I recognized them, or the copyright statement was part of the scan (as it is on many of the scans posted)
Here are some facts about that site:
This site has 213 followers as of 10:14AM (Central US Time) Aug. 4, 2010.
The site counter shows over 900,000 hits.
It links to 36 other blogs on its front page, left-side column. Of those 36 links: 20 have copyrighted cross stitch charts posted for free download within the first two pages of their blog. 2 have knitting and crocheting patterns, including full copies of magazines (copyrighted) available for download (not counted in those 20) and 1 needs to be logged into before it can be read (also not counted in those 20).
So 20 out of 36, that is over 50% of her links are also stealing copyrighted charts. So right there you have 21 blogs (counting the original) and 21 separate people providing cross stitch charts for illegal download. The 50 people that MyMark Designs used as a figure isn’t looking so “made-up” now.
The site owner links to a second blog (on the right side of blog, not in list of 36 links) that she runs which also lists copyrighted charts for download. So this one person has 2 blogs providing stolen copyrighted charts.
Of the 5 commenter’s whose blogs I loaded, 4 also provide copyrighted charts for free download. Most comments are “Anonymous”. So that brings us up to 25 separate people providing charts, all associated with this first site in one way or another.
Total charts on offer during that time: 2242
Following copyright Holders that I recognized: DMC, Anchor, Rico Designs, Beatrix Potter, Disney, EMS (31 of her animal baby charts are on this blog), Brittercup Designs, Leisure Arts, Cross Stitch Card Shop (UK Magazine), Cross Stitch Crazy (UK Magazine), a Russian Magazine and a Spanish Magazine, Hello Kitty, Garfield (paws, Inc), Vervaco, Lanarte, and others.
Now let’s do some math. For the sake of argument, and to allow for errors I will use the following numbers for my math:
Instead of all 213 followers, I will assume that only half (213 divide by 2 = 106.5) or 106 people downloaded charts.
Also to allow for not every chart appealing to every stitcher, I will use only half of the available charts for the year 2009. 2242 divide by 2 = 1121
I will use an average of $5.00 (USD) per chart because magazines cost about that much, most of the charts I recognized were at least 10.00 (or more) each so we’ll use a slightly smaller number to allow for variations.
106 people downloaded 1121 charts each: total downloaded 118,826 charts downloaded in 1 year
118,826 times $5.00 each equals $594,130 dollars lost to the needlework industry if they were only downloaded by those 106 people and only downloaded once in the entire year.
This is just 1 site, using half of the followers and half of the charts available for the year 2009. My guess is that the actual figures lost (if they could be accurately calculated) would be a lot higher because I doubt that only half the followers downloaded these charts and I doubt only half of them were downloaded. I am quite sure many people who are not listed as followers also downloaded charts without making their presence known via following or commenting. Since those pages are all still visible, and the charts are still available, people are still downloading them even though they were posted a year ago. Due to these unknowns there really is no way of figuring out the exact amount of money lost, but even the conservative estimate I have created is far too much money.
Since 1 person with just one site can cost this much to the needlework industry, it is not exaggerated that 50 people can cause over 800,000 dollars to be lost on a single $7.00 chart.
Remember this one person also links to a second blog she offers additional charts on, plus 20 more people’s blogs that also offer charts. That’s 20 more people off this single site, plus the 5 commenter I loaded making a total of 25 additional blogs and people with stolen charts. If you follow the links on all 25 of those sites, you’ll find even more people providing even more copyrighted charts.
As you can see this is not being exaggerated, made up, or in any other manner lied about in order to cover up a loss of interest in the needlework industry. This is an actual, major problem that costs the needlework industry a lot of money per year.
I wish that I could just turn away and justify it to myself as being exaggerated, made up, or a lie to cover-up a loss of interest in the needlework industry, but I can’t because I have seen it for myself. What I have given here truly is a SMALL sample of the sites that are available out there.
There are sites out there that offer charts and magazines literally within a few hours of them first being published. Those sites have thousands of charts and magazines available for download with thousands of users downloading daily. Some of those sites even require the users to PAY for the privilege of uploading and downloading pirated charts and NONE of that money goes to the needlework industry, it goes to the site owner who provides the space for the pirated charts to be accessed.
Copyright infringement is a major problem and the figures I have provided here, based solely on 1 site, are not exaggerated. In fact, the numbers are conservative and in actuality are probably much higher.
You can continue to believe that the problem is not this large if you wish, but you can no longer believe that the problem does not exist at all. It does.
Now for something to smile about, a WIP update:
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| Quaker Welcome © The Stitcherhood 28ct Jobelen |
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Another Loss to Needlework and Stitchers
Many people believe that designers aren't affected very much by piracy of their charts. This is not true. In my last post I did some math with very basic numbers to show a few different things, one that cross stitch charts are reasonably priced and do not reflect the hours put into producing them, and two to show how much money is actually lost through theft of the charts.
Well a designer, Monique of My Mark designs, posted a blog entry where she did the math surrounding actual piracy of just one of her charts. I feel it is quite an eye opener if people actually read it. Her figures show a loss of over 800,000 dollars in a single year for the needlework industry. This loss takes into consideration 50 people providing a single chart which is normally priced at $7.00 and uses the actual number of downloads from a single person in one year (2,470). It is utterly amazing! I would say that $800,000 dollars is a MASSIVE loss to the needlework industry!
See for yourself how seriously stealing cross stitch charts does affect the needlework industry.Go here and read it: http://mymarkdesigns.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/do-the-math-2/
Sadly another designer is closing her doors as a direct result of internet piracy crippling sales for her business. As of October 31, 2010 Lavender Wings will close and the charts will no longer be available for purchase. Ms. Hinckley makes it very clear on the first page of her website that internet piracy is the reason for closing her company. Her charts are beautiful and due to piracy the needlework industry is losing yet another wonderful designer. You can read her words here: http://www.lavenderwings.com/
Out of curiosity I started following the links that these thieves put in their emails to pirate groups. Each link leads to a blog or posting board that contains even more links. All of these links lead to yet another web site, posting board, email group, or blog that "shares" stolen charts for free. Thousands of people are doing this every day. The money lost has to be somewhere in the millions per year! These same people profess to love needlework yet they happily continue to steal charts and cripple the industry they say they love. To me, that is not love.
I have also noticed that not many people respond to posts about copyright infringement (either on blogs or facebook or emails). I hope that this does not mean that the majority of people do not care, but I suppose it could mean that. Heck, it could mean many different things. But if more people spoke out against copyright infringement, if more people notified designers when they find a site that steals charts, and if more people refused to share copies of charts then we could put a major dent in the number of thefts occurring every day. We can't keep waiting for "someone else" to work against piracy. It only takes a moment to fire off an email about a web site or email group that is sharing charts. That one moment could be the one that keeps a favorite designer from closing their doors and quitting.
This web page answers many of the common misconceptions about copyright of needlework and other craft patterns. http://www.skinnersisters.com/copyright/not_innocent.html
If we continue to turn a blind eye to piracy, and continue to think "someone else" will handle it, then we will continue to lose designers and the hobby we love so much will suffer.
Well a designer, Monique of My Mark designs, posted a blog entry where she did the math surrounding actual piracy of just one of her charts. I feel it is quite an eye opener if people actually read it. Her figures show a loss of over 800,000 dollars in a single year for the needlework industry. This loss takes into consideration 50 people providing a single chart which is normally priced at $7.00 and uses the actual number of downloads from a single person in one year (2,470). It is utterly amazing! I would say that $800,000 dollars is a MASSIVE loss to the needlework industry!
See for yourself how seriously stealing cross stitch charts does affect the needlework industry.Go here and read it: http://mymarkdesigns.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/do-the-math-2/
Sadly another designer is closing her doors as a direct result of internet piracy crippling sales for her business. As of October 31, 2010 Lavender Wings will close and the charts will no longer be available for purchase. Ms. Hinckley makes it very clear on the first page of her website that internet piracy is the reason for closing her company. Her charts are beautiful and due to piracy the needlework industry is losing yet another wonderful designer. You can read her words here: http://www.lavenderwings.com/
Out of curiosity I started following the links that these thieves put in their emails to pirate groups. Each link leads to a blog or posting board that contains even more links. All of these links lead to yet another web site, posting board, email group, or blog that "shares" stolen charts for free. Thousands of people are doing this every day. The money lost has to be somewhere in the millions per year! These same people profess to love needlework yet they happily continue to steal charts and cripple the industry they say they love. To me, that is not love.
I have also noticed that not many people respond to posts about copyright infringement (either on blogs or facebook or emails). I hope that this does not mean that the majority of people do not care, but I suppose it could mean that. Heck, it could mean many different things. But if more people spoke out against copyright infringement, if more people notified designers when they find a site that steals charts, and if more people refused to share copies of charts then we could put a major dent in the number of thefts occurring every day. We can't keep waiting for "someone else" to work against piracy. It only takes a moment to fire off an email about a web site or email group that is sharing charts. That one moment could be the one that keeps a favorite designer from closing their doors and quitting.
This web page answers many of the common misconceptions about copyright of needlework and other craft patterns. http://www.skinnersisters.com/copyright/not_innocent.html
If we continue to turn a blind eye to piracy, and continue to think "someone else" will handle it, then we will continue to lose designers and the hobby we love so much will suffer.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Apology and Update to Yesterday's Post
Yesterday I posted about copyright infringement. Sadly I posted some erroneous information. Since I know not everyone goes back and re-reads an old post, I am posting the corrected information as a new post as well. The additions and new information to this (now) essay are in italics.
Thank you for taking a few moments to read this plea.
Earlier today I came across a web site. It is a Chinese posting forum that people have to spend money to get fake cyber money that they call "gold coins". The rate is 1 US dollar buys 100 gold coins. You then spend this cyber money to download stolen charts. I recognized many of the designers and made lists of their designs. I then emailed those companies and provided them the list with direct URL's to the files. I also created a fake log in and password so that I could access the "subscribers only" areas to get as complete a list as possible. I provided this log in information to the designers as well, so they could search for more of their charts. The site was just too large for me to find every chart. As it was I spent 4 hours getting that list. I was so sad by this. The Gift Of Stitching magazine and Heaven and Earth Designs recently made public comments about copyright and copyright infringement. I was sad to find that this site must be one of the sites they meant as many issues of the magazine and many HAED designs are illegally posted for download. Little House Needleworks, Country Cottage Needleworks, Lizzie*Kate, Tam's Creations, Barbara Ana, Bothy Threads, Brittercup Designs, Brooks Books Publishing, Casey Buonaugurio, EMS, Golden Kite, Mystic Stitch, TGOSM, UK mags like Cross Stitch Card Shop, Cross Stitch Gold, and so so many more all had their charts stolen. This site requires that individual people scan in the charts and upload them so that others can download the files.
Don't people realize that doing this takes money from their favorite designers? That doing this will eventually cause those designers to stop designing charts? It is written on every chart and magazine that they are copyrighted and can NOT be copied or redistributed in any manner without written consent of the copyright holder, yet people still insist they did not know this. How can they not know it in this day and age? Especially after the massive news stories that arose when Napster (the music file sharing program) was sued and found to be breaking copyright laws? That was all over the news for weeks!
Think about it, if the designers can no longer support themselves and have to stop designing, then the demand for such luxury threads as over-dyed flosses and silks and hand-dyed fabrics will also drop and as a side effect we'll lose those also; we'll lose the different magazines that are currently available. Every aspect of stitching that we currently enjoy will be affected. Stitching will go back to only those designs that the larger companies (such as Leisure Arts) provide us. People who run their own companies have many reasons for doing so and one of those reasons has to include profit. If a company loses money (such as occurs when their product is stolen) then eventually that company will no longer be able to afford to stay open.
Edited to add: Considering the number of hours it takes a designer to create a cross stitch chart, compared to the price those charts are sold for, their profit comes from the total number of charts sold, not from the price of a single chart.
If charts were priced based on an hourly wage, they would be a lot more expensive. For example (using small easy number for this example only):
small design/drawing/idea takes 10 hours..
charting the idea takes additional 10 hours..
model stitching takes 10 hours..
corrections to chart found during model stitching takes 5 hours
that small chart required 35 hours to create.
At minimum wage (USA minimum wage $6.55/hr) that would be worth $229.25 (35 hours X $6.55=$229.25). That's just the man hours required to produce a single small chart. The larger and more detailed the chart, the more hours and materials it takes and even a small chart probably takes more than 35 hours to create.
Now add in cost of printing the chart, materials with which to stitch the model, postage, and hours required to put it all together and the price goes even higher. Many charts are sold through a distributor, who takes a cut from each chart sold thus lowering the revenue that the designer receives from the sale of their charts. Yet charts remain at reasonable prices and selling a single chart of any design does NOT come close to even breaking even for the designer's time spent. Kits, of course, cost more as materials are included in the pack. For ease of understanding I am speaking solely of a chart, not a kit.
So every chart that is stolen and given to someone for free, directly affects the income of that designer's company and even a few such thefts are devastating. The more thefts which occur, the more damaging it is to the business. The less income that business generates until eventually the business can no longer stay open as there is no profit. A business can not operate if their costs are higher than their income same as a person's household budget will not work if they spend more money than they make.
Please, fellow stitchers, if you come across a person or a web site that is violating the copyright of a cross stitch designer (or other copyright holder such as an author), send an e-mail with the URL to that designer. If we don't all band together and fight copyright violations more of our favorite designers will be forced to stop designing or severely reduce the number of charts they put out per year like Dragon Dreams had to do. Some of these designers are running small businesses and thus can't afford to hire an attorney to fight this, but if stitchers band together, pass the word and refuse to tolerate the theft of a designer's hard work we can put quite a dent in such theft! If we don't, if we just sit by and think that it is no big deal, we will eventually find ourselves losing many of our favorite designers and the wonderful variations that are currently found in the stitching world.
So please, do not tolerate such theft when or if you come across it and help preserve the wonderful variations that are currently available in our favorite hobby! If you have copied patterns to pass along to your friends in the past, please stop doing so! It is stealing. It is illegal and it does take a toll, one that every stitcher including yourself will pay for when those companies have to close their doors.
If it makes a difference to hear this directly from a designer then go to Jennifer Aikman-Smith's old blog and read about how copyright infringement affected her business "Dragon Dreams" and how it forced her tostop severely curtail the number of cross stitch charts she designs in a year. She had to turn her focus to other areas (such as her beautiful illustrations) in order to keep her business open. designing cross-stitch charts. The entries are all still visible at this link: http://dragondreamsjen.multiply.com/journal
**edited to add: The above link is to Mrs. Aikman-Smith's old blog. I provide that link as it gives her specific story of her battles against copyright infringement in her own words, and clearly states the major impact this had on her business including the percentage of income lost to such theft. To see what Mrs. Aikman-Smith is currently involved in please visit her current web-site at http://www.dragondreams.ca and be aware that she is still producing the occasional cross stitch chart through Patterns Online.
This is not a joke and we can no longer sit back and assume someone else will take care of it, or that it doesn't affect us, or that it can't be that bad.
It does affect us and it is that bad!
We all need to do our best to preserve our favorite hobby!
Edited to add: Mrs. Aikman-Smith, I am very sorry for posting that Dragon Dreams had closed. I went back and re-read your older blog and realized that I had misread it. I am sorry and have corrected the post.
I am *very* glad to hear that you are still designing, even though it is not as many charts as in the past. I love your work and have many of your charts in my stash and on my to do list. Thank you for taking the time to correct me, I greatly appreciate it.
Thank you for taking a few moments to read this plea.
An Honest Plea For Help
Edited to add: I made an error, Dragon Dreams has not closed its doors completely! Please re-read for correct information. Mrs. Aikman-Smith, thank you for correcting me and again I am sorry that I posted inaccurate information about your company.
Edited to add: I made an error, Dragon Dreams has not closed its doors completely! Please re-read for correct information. Mrs. Aikman-Smith, thank you for correcting me and again I am sorry that I posted inaccurate information about your company.
Earlier today I came across a web site. It is a Chinese posting forum that people have to spend money to get fake cyber money that they call "gold coins". The rate is 1 US dollar buys 100 gold coins. You then spend this cyber money to download stolen charts. I recognized many of the designers and made lists of their designs. I then emailed those companies and provided them the list with direct URL's to the files. I also created a fake log in and password so that I could access the "subscribers only" areas to get as complete a list as possible. I provided this log in information to the designers as well, so they could search for more of their charts. The site was just too large for me to find every chart. As it was I spent 4 hours getting that list. I was so sad by this. The Gift Of Stitching magazine and Heaven and Earth Designs recently made public comments about copyright and copyright infringement. I was sad to find that this site must be one of the sites they meant as many issues of the magazine and many HAED designs are illegally posted for download. Little House Needleworks, Country Cottage Needleworks, Lizzie*Kate, Tam's Creations, Barbara Ana, Bothy Threads, Brittercup Designs, Brooks Books Publishing, Casey Buonaugurio, EMS, Golden Kite, Mystic Stitch, TGOSM, UK mags like Cross Stitch Card Shop, Cross Stitch Gold, and so so many more all had their charts stolen. This site requires that individual people scan in the charts and upload them so that others can download the files.
Don't people realize that doing this takes money from their favorite designers? That doing this will eventually cause those designers to stop designing charts? It is written on every chart and magazine that they are copyrighted and can NOT be copied or redistributed in any manner without written consent of the copyright holder, yet people still insist they did not know this. How can they not know it in this day and age? Especially after the massive news stories that arose when Napster (the music file sharing program) was sued and found to be breaking copyright laws? That was all over the news for weeks!
Think about it, if the designers can no longer support themselves and have to stop designing, then the demand for such luxury threads as over-dyed flosses and silks and hand-dyed fabrics will also drop and as a side effect we'll lose those also; we'll lose the different magazines that are currently available. Every aspect of stitching that we currently enjoy will be affected. Stitching will go back to only those designs that the larger companies (such as Leisure Arts) provide us. People who run their own companies have many reasons for doing so and one of those reasons has to include profit. If a company loses money (such as occurs when their product is stolen) then eventually that company will no longer be able to afford to stay open.
Edited to add: Considering the number of hours it takes a designer to create a cross stitch chart, compared to the price those charts are sold for, their profit comes from the total number of charts sold, not from the price of a single chart.
If charts were priced based on an hourly wage, they would be a lot more expensive. For example (using small easy number for this example only):
small design/drawing/idea takes 10 hours..
charting the idea takes additional 10 hours..
model stitching takes 10 hours..
corrections to chart found during model stitching takes 5 hours
that small chart required 35 hours to create.
At minimum wage (USA minimum wage $6.55/hr) that would be worth $229.25 (35 hours X $6.55=$229.25). That's just the man hours required to produce a single small chart. The larger and more detailed the chart, the more hours and materials it takes and even a small chart probably takes more than 35 hours to create.
Now add in cost of printing the chart, materials with which to stitch the model, postage, and hours required to put it all together and the price goes even higher. Many charts are sold through a distributor, who takes a cut from each chart sold thus lowering the revenue that the designer receives from the sale of their charts. Yet charts remain at reasonable prices and selling a single chart of any design does NOT come close to even breaking even for the designer's time spent. Kits, of course, cost more as materials are included in the pack. For ease of understanding I am speaking solely of a chart, not a kit.
So every chart that is stolen and given to someone for free, directly affects the income of that designer's company and even a few such thefts are devastating. The more thefts which occur, the more damaging it is to the business. The less income that business generates until eventually the business can no longer stay open as there is no profit. A business can not operate if their costs are higher than their income same as a person's household budget will not work if they spend more money than they make.
Please, fellow stitchers, if you come across a person or a web site that is violating the copyright of a cross stitch designer (or other copyright holder such as an author), send an e-mail with the URL to that designer. If we don't all band together and fight copyright violations more of our favorite designers will be forced to stop designing or severely reduce the number of charts they put out per year like Dragon Dreams had to do. Some of these designers are running small businesses and thus can't afford to hire an attorney to fight this, but if stitchers band together, pass the word and refuse to tolerate the theft of a designer's hard work we can put quite a dent in such theft! If we don't, if we just sit by and think that it is no big deal, we will eventually find ourselves losing many of our favorite designers and the wonderful variations that are currently found in the stitching world.
So please, do not tolerate such theft when or if you come across it and help preserve the wonderful variations that are currently available in our favorite hobby! If you have copied patterns to pass along to your friends in the past, please stop doing so! It is stealing. It is illegal and it does take a toll, one that every stitcher including yourself will pay for when those companies have to close their doors.
If it makes a difference to hear this directly from a designer then go to Jennifer Aikman-Smith's old blog and read about how copyright infringement affected her business "Dragon Dreams" and how it forced her to
**edited to add: The above link is to Mrs. Aikman-Smith's old blog. I provide that link as it gives her specific story of her battles against copyright infringement in her own words, and clearly states the major impact this had on her business including the percentage of income lost to such theft. To see what Mrs. Aikman-Smith is currently involved in please visit her current web-site at http://www.dragondreams.ca and be aware that she is still producing the occasional cross stitch chart through Patterns Online.
This is not a joke and we can no longer sit back and assume someone else will take care of it, or that it doesn't affect us, or that it can't be that bad.
It does affect us and it is that bad!
We all need to do our best to preserve our favorite hobby!
Edited to add: Mrs. Aikman-Smith, I am very sorry for posting that Dragon Dreams had closed. I went back and re-read your older blog and realized that I had misread it. I am sorry and have corrected the post.
I am *very* glad to hear that you are still designing, even though it is not as many charts as in the past. I love your work and have many of your charts in my stash and on my to do list. Thank you for taking the time to correct me, I greatly appreciate it.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Un-neat Back and More Copyright Infringement
To show that not all my backs come out neatly here are some pictures of the backside of The Guardian by Teresa Wentzler. This is a large design with many blended threads and lots of color changes in small areas, specially the dragon's scales and wings. I couldn't do the knotwork border as I damaged the fabric right where one of the corners was supposed to go, so I had to leave it off. I cried for hours when I realized I had damaged the fabric and since I was three-quarters done with this at the time, I refused to start over.
Here is the full picture of the front:
Full size picture of the back:
Closeup of the head front:
Closeup of the head back:
Closeup of the wings front:
Closeup of the wings Back
Closeup of stitching to show the color blends and changes in the wings:
So as you can see, my backs are not always neat. The longer carried threads show where I got tired of trying to hide them by running them under already placed stitches and just focused on getting the stitches done. lol
Earlier today I came across a web site. It is a Chinese posting forum that people have to spend money to get fake cyber money that they call "gold coins". The rate is 1 US dollar buys 100 gold coins. You then spend this cyber money to download stolen charts. I recognized many of the designers and made lists of their designs. I then emailed those companies and provided them the list with direct URL's to the files. I also created a fake log in and password so that I could access the "subscribers only" areas to get as complete a list as possible. I provided this log in information to the designers as well, so they could search for more of their charts. The site was just too large for me to find every chart. As it was I spent 4 hours getting that list. I was so sad by this. The Gift Of Stitching magazine and Heaven and Earth Designs recently made public comments about copyright and copyright infringement. I was sad to find that this site must be one of the sites they meant as many issues of the magazine and many HAED designs are illegally posted for download. Little House Needleworks, Country Cottage Needleworks, Lizzie*Kate, Tam's Creations, Barbara Ana, Bothy Threads, Brittercup Designs, Brooks Books Publishing, Casey Buonaugurio, EMS, Golden Kite, Mystic Stitch, TGOSM, UK mags like Cross Stitch Card Shop, Cross Stitch Gold, and so so many more all had their charts stolen. This site requires that individual people scan in the charts and upload them so that others can download the files.
Don't people realize that doing this takes money from their favorite designers? That doing this will eventually cause those designers to stop designing charts? It is written on every chart and magazine that they are copyrighted and can NOT be copied or redistributed in any manner without written consent of the copyright holder, yet people still insist they did not know this. How can they not know it in this day and age? Especially after the massive news stories that arose when Napster (the music file sharing program) was sued and found to be breaking copyright laws? That was all over the news for weeks!
Please, my friends, if you come across a person or a web site that is violating the copyright laws of a cross stitch designer (or other copyright holder such as an author), send an e-mail with the URL to that designer. If we don't all band together and fight copyright violations more of our favorite designers will be forced to stop designing or severely reduce the number of charts they put out per year like Dragon Dreams had to do. Some of these designers are running small businesses and thus can't afford to hire an attorney to fight this, but if stitchers band together, pass the word and refuse to tolerate the theft of a designer's hard work we can put quite a dent in such theft! If we don't, if we just sit by and think that it is no big deal, we will eventually find ourselves losing many of our favorite designers and the wonderful variations that are currently found in the stitching world.
Think about it, if the designers can no longer support themselves and have to stop designing, then the demand for such luxury threads as over-dyed flosses and silks and hand-dyed fabrics will also drop and as a side effect we'll lose those also; we'll lose the different magazines that are currently available. Every aspect of stitching that we currently enjoy will be affected. Stitching will go back to only those designs that the larger companies (such as Leisure Arts) provide us. People who run their own companies have many reasons for doing so and one of those reasons has to include profit. If a company loses money (such as occurs when their product is stolen) then eventually that company will no longer be able to afford to stay open.
Edited to add: Considering the number of hours it takes a designer to create a cross stitch chart, compared to the price those charts are sold for, their profit comes from the total number of charts sold, not from the price of a single chart.
If charts were priced based on an hourly wage, they would be a lot more expensive. For example (using small easy number for this example only):
small design/drawing/idea takes 10 hours..
charting the idea takes additional 10 hours..
model stitching takes 10 hours..
corrections to chart found during model stitching takes 5 hours
that small chart required 35 hours to create.
At minimum wage (USA minimum wage $6.55/hr) that would be worth $229.25 (35 hours X $6.55=$229.25). That's just the man hours required to produce the chart. The larger and more detailed the chart, the more hours and materials it takes and even a small chart probably takes more than 35 hours to create.
Now add in cost of printing the chart, materials with which to stitch the model, postage, and hours required to put it all together and the price goes even higher. Yet charts remain at reasonable prices and selling a single chart of any design does NOT come close to even breaking even for the designer's time spent.
So every chart that is stolen and given to someone for free, directly affects the income of that designer's company and even a few such thefts are devestating. The more thefts which occur, the more damaging it is to the business.
So please, do not tolerate such theft when or if you come across it and help preserve the wonderful variations that are currently available in our favorite hobby! If you have copied patterns to pass along to your friends in the past, please stop doing so! It is stealing. It is illegal and it does take a toll, one that every stitcher including yourself will pay for when those companies have to close their doors.
If it makes a difference to hear this directly from a designer then go to Jennifer Aikman-Smith's old blog and read about how copyright infringement affected her business "Dragon Dreams" and how it forced her tostop severely curtail the number of cross stitch charts she designs in a year. She had to turn her focus to other areas (such as her beautiful illustrations) in order to keep her business open. designing cross-stitch charts. The entries are all still visible at this link: http://dragondreamsjen.multiply.com/journal
**edited to add: The above link is to Mrs. Aikman-Smith's old blog. I provide that link as it gives her specific story of her battles against copyright infringement in her own words, and clearly states the major impact this had on her business including the percentage of income lost to such theft. To see what Mrs. Aikman-Smith is currently involved in please visit her current web-site at http://www.dragondreams.ca
This is not a joke and we can no longer sit back and assume someone else will take care of it, or that it doesn't affect us, or that it can't be that bad. It does affect us and it is that bad!
We all need to do our best to preserve our favorite hobby!
Edited to add: Mrs. Aikman-Smith, I am very sorry for posting that Dragon Dreams had closed. I went back and re-read your older blog and realized that I had misread it. I am sorry and have corrected the post.
I am *very* glad to hear that you are still designing, even though it is not as many charts as in the past. I love your work and have many of your charts in my stash and on my to do list. Thank you for taking the time to correct me, I greatly appreciate it.
Here is the full picture of the front:
 | |||||||||||
| The Guardian © Teresa Wentzler Front Side Full View |
 |
| The Guardian © Teresa Wentzler Full Size View Of Back |
Closeup of the head front:
 |
| The Guardian Teresa Wentzler Close-up of dragon's head front side view |
Closeup of the head back:
 |
| The Guardian © Teresa Wentzler Close up of the head back side view |
Closeup of the wings front:
 |
| The Guardian © Teresa Wentzler Close up view of wings, front side |
Closeup of the wings Back
 |
| The Guardian © Teresa Wentzler Close up view of wings, back side |
Closeup of stitching to show the color blends and changes in the wings:
 | ||
| The Guardian © Teresa Wentzler Close up of wings to show stitching detail |
An Honest Plea For Help
Edited to add: I made an error, Dragon Dreams has not closed its doors completely! Please re-read for correct information. Mrs. Aikman-Smith, thank you for correcting me and again I am sorry that I posted inaccurate information about your company.
Edited to add: I made an error, Dragon Dreams has not closed its doors completely! Please re-read for correct information. Mrs. Aikman-Smith, thank you for correcting me and again I am sorry that I posted inaccurate information about your company.
Earlier today I came across a web site. It is a Chinese posting forum that people have to spend money to get fake cyber money that they call "gold coins". The rate is 1 US dollar buys 100 gold coins. You then spend this cyber money to download stolen charts. I recognized many of the designers and made lists of their designs. I then emailed those companies and provided them the list with direct URL's to the files. I also created a fake log in and password so that I could access the "subscribers only" areas to get as complete a list as possible. I provided this log in information to the designers as well, so they could search for more of their charts. The site was just too large for me to find every chart. As it was I spent 4 hours getting that list. I was so sad by this. The Gift Of Stitching magazine and Heaven and Earth Designs recently made public comments about copyright and copyright infringement. I was sad to find that this site must be one of the sites they meant as many issues of the magazine and many HAED designs are illegally posted for download. Little House Needleworks, Country Cottage Needleworks, Lizzie*Kate, Tam's Creations, Barbara Ana, Bothy Threads, Brittercup Designs, Brooks Books Publishing, Casey Buonaugurio, EMS, Golden Kite, Mystic Stitch, TGOSM, UK mags like Cross Stitch Card Shop, Cross Stitch Gold, and so so many more all had their charts stolen. This site requires that individual people scan in the charts and upload them so that others can download the files.
Don't people realize that doing this takes money from their favorite designers? That doing this will eventually cause those designers to stop designing charts? It is written on every chart and magazine that they are copyrighted and can NOT be copied or redistributed in any manner without written consent of the copyright holder, yet people still insist they did not know this. How can they not know it in this day and age? Especially after the massive news stories that arose when Napster (the music file sharing program) was sued and found to be breaking copyright laws? That was all over the news for weeks!
Please, my friends, if you come across a person or a web site that is violating the copyright laws of a cross stitch designer (or other copyright holder such as an author), send an e-mail with the URL to that designer. If we don't all band together and fight copyright violations more of our favorite designers will be forced to stop designing or severely reduce the number of charts they put out per year like Dragon Dreams had to do. Some of these designers are running small businesses and thus can't afford to hire an attorney to fight this, but if stitchers band together, pass the word and refuse to tolerate the theft of a designer's hard work we can put quite a dent in such theft! If we don't, if we just sit by and think that it is no big deal, we will eventually find ourselves losing many of our favorite designers and the wonderful variations that are currently found in the stitching world.
Think about it, if the designers can no longer support themselves and have to stop designing, then the demand for such luxury threads as over-dyed flosses and silks and hand-dyed fabrics will also drop and as a side effect we'll lose those also; we'll lose the different magazines that are currently available. Every aspect of stitching that we currently enjoy will be affected. Stitching will go back to only those designs that the larger companies (such as Leisure Arts) provide us. People who run their own companies have many reasons for doing so and one of those reasons has to include profit. If a company loses money (such as occurs when their product is stolen) then eventually that company will no longer be able to afford to stay open.
Edited to add: Considering the number of hours it takes a designer to create a cross stitch chart, compared to the price those charts are sold for, their profit comes from the total number of charts sold, not from the price of a single chart.
If charts were priced based on an hourly wage, they would be a lot more expensive. For example (using small easy number for this example only):
small design/drawing/idea takes 10 hours..
charting the idea takes additional 10 hours..
model stitching takes 10 hours..
corrections to chart found during model stitching takes 5 hours
that small chart required 35 hours to create.
At minimum wage (USA minimum wage $6.55/hr) that would be worth $229.25 (35 hours X $6.55=$229.25). That's just the man hours required to produce the chart. The larger and more detailed the chart, the more hours and materials it takes and even a small chart probably takes more than 35 hours to create.
Now add in cost of printing the chart, materials with which to stitch the model, postage, and hours required to put it all together and the price goes even higher. Yet charts remain at reasonable prices and selling a single chart of any design does NOT come close to even breaking even for the designer's time spent.
So every chart that is stolen and given to someone for free, directly affects the income of that designer's company and even a few such thefts are devestating. The more thefts which occur, the more damaging it is to the business.
So please, do not tolerate such theft when or if you come across it and help preserve the wonderful variations that are currently available in our favorite hobby! If you have copied patterns to pass along to your friends in the past, please stop doing so! It is stealing. It is illegal and it does take a toll, one that every stitcher including yourself will pay for when those companies have to close their doors.
If it makes a difference to hear this directly from a designer then go to Jennifer Aikman-Smith's old blog and read about how copyright infringement affected her business "Dragon Dreams" and how it forced her to
**edited to add: The above link is to Mrs. Aikman-Smith's old blog. I provide that link as it gives her specific story of her battles against copyright infringement in her own words, and clearly states the major impact this had on her business including the percentage of income lost to such theft. To see what Mrs. Aikman-Smith is currently involved in please visit her current web-site at http://www.dragondreams.ca
This is not a joke and we can no longer sit back and assume someone else will take care of it, or that it doesn't affect us, or that it can't be that bad. It does affect us and it is that bad!
We all need to do our best to preserve our favorite hobby!
Edited to add: Mrs. Aikman-Smith, I am very sorry for posting that Dragon Dreams had closed. I went back and re-read your older blog and realized that I had misread it. I am sorry and have corrected the post.
I am *very* glad to hear that you are still designing, even though it is not as many charts as in the past. I love your work and have many of your charts in my stash and on my to do list. Thank you for taking the time to correct me, I greatly appreciate it.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Exchange Completed YAY
I put the cow together. I turned it into a card that can stand up, similar to a flat fold. I just hope Rose likes it!
This is the front and it is sitting between the snowmen salt and pepper shakers I got for her as an "extra". She loves snowmen. The chart is Snowmen Cow designed by me and based on the generic cow shape of Les Marottes.
This is the back. It says "For Rose, From Raven. Cross Stitch Forum ATC Round 5, Mar 2009, Snowmen Cow by Raven". I added a pink crystal heart charm from Mill Hill treasures for a bit of "bling" on the back.
I have been working on my Blackwork Winter Sampler by Tam's Creations again. I have the center and one of the 4 corners done and am working on the upper left corner now. I will try to put pictures up tomorrow since I am not done stitching today.
I found a site last night that had over a thousand files on it which were all illegal copies of cross stitch charts for download. The site is similar to webshots in that it is supposed to be a picture hosting site, but a few people used it to list illegal scans of charts from many different companies, some of which included Dimensions, Dimensions Gold, Teresa Wentzler, Passione Ricamo, Mirabilia, Cross My Heart, RICO, PINN, and many more. I couldn't believe it when I saw how many charts were up there. So I made a list of each chart I could identify, arranged by company and then used the list to send emails to each company that included the name of the stolen chart and a direct link to the files. I am hoping to see that site disappear by the end of the week. It really annoys me to see people continuing to steal from designers. In total it was 35 emails.
Well I am off to watch a movie with my beautiful neice!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
The Effects Of Copyright Infringement On Needlework Designers
A friend of mine sent me this link to Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams' blog where she talks about how badly her business has been affected by people copying her charts. She also discusses how many incidents of copyright violations she has seen. Here is the link so you can read it for yourself.
http://dragondreamsjen.multiply.com/journal
There is also a link on that blog to something written by a Business attorney that explains why the "fair use" clause of the copyright laws in the US do NOT apply to needlework charts. It explains what fair use actually is and what it is not. Copying a needlework chart does NOT fall under the fair use clause of the copyright laws.
http://dragondreamsjen.multiply.com/journal
There is also a link on that blog to something written by a Business attorney that explains why the "fair use" clause of the copyright laws in the US do NOT apply to needlework charts. It explains what fair use actually is and what it is not. Copying a needlework chart does NOT fall under the fair use clause of the copyright laws.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Copyright Infringement 2
I got an email from a designer regarding my older post on Copyright Infringement. They really liked it and said it was well written (however I re-read it and see quite a few errors...ahhh that's what I get for being a writer LOL) The designer also included 2 logo pictures for me, 1 large and 1 small that are being launched to help make people aware of the repercussions of copyright infringement within the needlework industry. Here are the designer's words about this logo and what it will be used for.
"You will see this popping up in various places very soon – it is part of an international designers copyright awareness movement with over 90 designers and copyright agents. People can report suspected infringements to specific designers and/or if it involves various designers to needleworkdesigners@gmail.com where it will be investigated.
Thanks again for your support,
I like how this logo gives the viewer a list of ways to help ensure copyright is not infringed. Specially how it talks about posting pictures of finished pieces as I had wondered if people could (and would) copy the pictures to turn into charts, rather than buy the chart themselves. (The above picture as well as the one on the right hand side are linked to the email address I was given) I know that some people do not consider copyright infringement that big of a deal, but I do. I think it comes from being a writer and having many of my works stolen and presented as someone else's work. I am quite happy to post this logo on my blog to help others learn more about copyright infringement and ways to help combat it so that they may continue to enjoy the vast array of designs that are currently available in the needlework industry.
I really appreciate the offer of a free chart as a present. Part of me would just love to say YES! (OK I am human, so sue me LOL). But as before, I did not report the violations I found in order to receive presents. I did not post on this blog before and now this post, nor did I add the logos to receive presents. So I replied with the same words I gave Mr. Saastad from Silver Lining "If you wish to send a free pattern I would be very grateful, but it is not necessary in any way. I did not do this in the hopes of receiving free things, or in the hopes of getting some kind of compensation. I did it because I dislike people who do things like this as I know how negatively it affects the cross stitch design business which is already competitive enough without having people deliberately making it harder."
Monday, May 5, 2008
Exchanges and A Present!
Sonya (sonictomb) took a picture of the seasonal exchange peice I sent her so I downloaded it. I really appreciate her taking the picture because I totally forgot. I was in such a rush to get it in the mail as it was 1 day late that taking a picture never crossed my mind until it was too late. LOL I am so glad she liked it :)
This is my package for the Freebie Exchange on the WOCS yahoo group. This is being sent to Julia. I really hope she likes it. She loves angels so I chose a Teresa Wentlzer freebie called Jeanne Love's Angel. I included both aida fabric and 28ct hand-dyed jobelen. As this chart does not have any over 1 sections and very few half stitches it will work on Aida fabric but I included the 28ct jobelen in case Julia would like to try over 2 stitching. It is late due to my stupid broken toes but I hope Julia likes it when she gets it.
This is the lovely package I received from Barb on the WOCS yahoo group's Freebie Exchange. This is a Count Your Blessings, Inc design called "Love Begins At Home #5". She included a wonderful card, aida fabric, DMC floss and needles. I am really looking forward to stitching this. Thank you so much Barb, I love it!
A few weeks ago I notified The Silver Lining (among about 10 other companies) when I came accross a web site that was violating copyright by posting full charts. Marc Saastad was very grateful and wanted to send me a free chart to show his appreciation. I was hesitant to accept it because I did not do it in the hopes of getting free items. this is the chart that Mr. Saastad sent me. It has the most gorgeous purple colors in it and I am looking forward to stitching it. Thank you very much for your generosity Mr. Saastad, I do appreciate it!
I notified the designers because, as a writer, I know a lot of work goes into creating anything and I believe that creating a cross stitch chart has to take time, effort and a great deal of creativity. I believe that the creator should be compensated for their work through people purchasing the charts that the creator offers for sale. I do not agree with copyright infringement. That is why I notified as many of the companies as I could find when I came accross the site that had literaly hundreds of designs posted in violation of copyright laws. It really bothered me to see a site that had designs posted that came from so many different companies. I did not hear back from every designer that I contacted, but I did hear back from some of them. They were all grateful to be informed of the copyright infringement and I am glad that I could help them in this way. I did get a few emails from some of the people that contributed to that site (it was a posting board in a different language where members could post charts) who were very angry with me. I explained to them that they should think of it this way: "Stitching an item takes a great deal of time and effort on the part of the stitcher. We put a lot of work, emotion, and good thoughts into every stitch. The same amount of effort, emotion, thought and time goes into the creation of the chart by the designer as goes into the stitching of the finished project by the stitcher. Just as a stitcher would not appreciate having their stitching presented as someone else's work (basically a lie), a designer would not appreciate having all their effort stolen. The more people who ignore copyright laws and undermine a designer's work in this manner, the more they harm the needlework industry as a whole. Eventually designers will be unable to create and offer new charts as they can't support their families by doing so. The more copyright infringement that occurs, the fewer more design companies will lose money resulting in fewer design companies at all." I was not surprised that many of those who contacted me refused to understand the concept, but I was surprised that one of them realized their error and said that they had not thought of it that way before and appreciated my taking the time to explain it in that manner. Whether or not she meant it, I do not know, but the idea that I may have helped one person to see how copyright infringement undermines the designer (and the entire needlework industry) and thus change their mind/opinion about engaging in infringement makes me feel good.
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