Another day, another infringement. Well, several of them actually. It really is never-ending y'all.
Often when I catch people using my photos of this design or copying it, they argue how "I see that design everywhere, it's been around forever!" , or "it's all over Pinterest" as if that makes it okay, and my favorite, "you don't own all fairy wings!"
But you see, it's 'been around forever' because I made it that long ago and it was popular enough to go viral, but almost always without credit to me.
Rhinestone iron-on from Heat Transfer Warehouse
There's another company that's been profiting off of my Teasel fairy wing design for a few years now.
I discovered that Heat Transfer Warehouse had been selling a rhinestone iron-on of my Teasel fairy wings design. Now, I'd been running into these rhinestone copies for a while now and every once in a while had to report them. Maybe this was the source?
I first sent a Cease & Desist letter on July 30th, which they ignored completely.
So I went ahead and reported the listing to their host, Big Cartel, who sent them a warning that it would be removed if they don't remove it themselves. They fortunately did remove it, but, I may go ahead and file a CCB claim because they've been making a profit off of my design and, continued to sell it after I sent the C&D. I think I should be getting at least a portion of those sales, they should have licensed the design from me if they wanted to use it.
Here's the rhinestone design with the actual photo of my Teasel wings that it looks like it was traced from overlayed on top with a transparency adjustment.
This matches far too well to be a coincidence IMO. Even the wing in the foreground appears to be traced. Some changes were made to the bottom panels, which are simply copies of the upper panels in my original design, so again this is still substantially similar and a derivative.
I took a screenshot of the page while it was active, and according to the Internet Archive that page has been active since Sept. 2020. How many have been sold? How much should I have been paid in royalties?
Since they removed the page themselves, they didn't end up with that embarrassing 'page not found' situation.
Copycat wing makers on Etsy from Ukraine
These next copycats have been more frustrating to deal with. Even though Etsy took them down when I reported them, one of them filed a counter notice, but since they're in Ukraine I can't sue and I can't even file a Misrepresentation Claim with the CCB because they only deal with entities in the US.
On July 16 I found 3 wing listings on Etsy that were copies of my Kira wings design by seller ReddoStore. Here's a screenshot of the listing for the purple wings:
They were selling these in a few colors. The design doesn't even really have any changes, it's absolutely copied. Here's a photo of me with those wings edited in - I made the overlays from photos of the actual wings.
Photo taken by Jordan Price.
Near the end of August I discovered those same exact wings, but from a different seller who was also in Ukraine, OlenaOlenaStore.
Same back brace & everything! I reported those too, and Etsy took them down. So far, no counter notice, but that doesn't mean they won't send one eventually. Unlike the time limit copyright owners have to send the service provider a court order to prevent the posts from going back up after the counter notice is sent, they don't have a time limit so they could very well send one at any time.
I don't think that's a fair system, that I have to show them proof of my design, but all the infringers have to do is sign a notice saying they have good faith belief that they didn't infringe.
I've had a lot of trouble with wing makers in Ukraine for some reason, these two aren't the only ones!
I've had to report infringements from this account, who still has posts up that copy my Kira design but Instagram won't remove the posts. Here she's using mini Kira wing copies without the veins to put onto a crown: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cuq-6O3ow-I/
And advertising it on Etsy: https://www.instagram.com/p/CuxS3P4IZ2v/
Another thing I noticed is they have the same back brace as ReddoStore & OlenaOlenaStore, you have to look closely at their photos because the butterfly is being worn on the inside against their backs so it's not as immediately noticeable.
Here's a better pic, you can see the butterfly behind the wings here
I'm not sure if there's someone selling the back braces or if they're all buying wings pre-made and reselling, but it sure seems like reselling if 2 different unrelated sellers are selling the exact same product and that breaks Etsy's rules! I tried telling them this, but they don't seem to care. I tried reporting them for violating Etsy's rule about reselling pre-made products but nothing has changed.
I've even had to report TheWingsUA (their Instagram handle), aka WingsAndFlowerDesign on Etsy, for making wings using my Titania wings photo.
That particular photo got used a LOT, and has also been made into temporary tattoos, all without permission or any money paid to me of course. Below is the original photo of mine that this version came from.
That particular photo got used a LOT, and has also been made into temporary tattoos, all without permission or any money paid to me of course. Below is the original photo of mine that this version came from.
She's unfortunately not in the US either, I forget now where she resides but I couldn't really do anything except report her posts.
But this WingsAndFlowerDesign company has been getting really popular with Americans because they're priced so cheap. Some of their designs are really pretty but... are they really their designs or are they stolen too?
Some seem like they might be made with AI, which, I'd rather have them do that than copy my photos or designs. But there's other wings in their shop that look very familiar to me, designs that have been around elsewhere and they may be using images or clip art they find online. And if most of what I see from someone is either copied from another artist, a nature design, or AI, that tells me they are lacking in design skills so they have to use designs that are already made.
They also seem very similar to the CrystalWingsUA Etsy store.
Thankfully they at least didn't send a counter notice... not yet anyway.
But another thing I never got from any of these companies?
An apology. An "I'm so sorry I used your design".
There are many many more overseas copies than I can fit in here, but I'm working on getting them removed somehow.
In a couple weeks I have a virtual meeting with Senior Counsel for Enforcement from the Office of Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to discuss the copyright issues that myself and so many other artists & designers are struggling with, especially with foreign sellers!
I'm not sure what will come of this, if it will lead to any actual changes, but I will update you here if it does!