Saw someone making a perler sprite of mine on Etsy. Flattered, or offended?

xxpancake 1/5/2015 08:18 pm 12873

The most recent post on here has me wondering about something now. This probably happened a year ago and I haven't looked it up since, but I saw on Etsy one day that someone was selling a perler sprite that I made the pattern for. I didn't know if I should have taken that as a good thing or a bad thing, but I messaged them with a general "hey, I designed that pattern" message. I didn't complain or anything, but should I have done more about it? They never replied to me, so I pretty much forgot about it until now. If something like this happens, is there anything that can really be done about it? Or should we take it as a compliment? (And politely ask for credit for designing the pattern?)

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Crumpet
Site Owner

Jan 6, 2015 3:54 am

I don't think there's necessarily a way you SHOULD react to it. You can't help how you feel about it. I used to get really offended and angry when people sold my patterns, but eventually it started happening so often that I got used to it, and now I don't mind anymore. Your pattern is obviously great though if someone was able to sell items made from it! As for whether anything can be done... it depends what the pattern is of. If it's of a trademarked character, you can't report it because you're not the trademark owner. If it's entirely your own work and doesn't feature a character, you can report it to Etsy by sending them a letter. Here's the page about it: https://www.etsy.com/help/article/482/ Normally it's faster to contact the seller directly and ask them to remove it. You can say that if they don't remove it you will report them to Etsy. In the past when I told people that and warned them that they were infringing on my copyright, most sellers removed the item. You can ask them to remove it even if the pattern is of a character. Spit out some legal-sounding mumbo jumbo. Look up "cease and desist letter" for an example. It scares most people lol.

WheresJackie
Member

Jan 7, 2015 3:20 pm

Well I personally don't think you should be offended because if you made the pattern so that others could do it, then there is a person who did it and is now just selling it, if you didn't mean for anyone to copy it then don't put it out there, a lot of people put stuff out there and then get ma d when others copy it and I mean A LOT, but the best thing to do is just look past it.

Purple_Krush
Member

Jul 10, 2015 3:11 pm

@TheKandiKidPLUR: you put this in the best way possible

starcat000
Member

Jul 14, 2015 3:12 pm

someone made a pattern here based on one of my designs, I was flattered that someone liked it enough to copy.

.............................other than that I have nothing......

CubePhoenix64
Member

Jul 28, 2015 1:46 pm

You shouldn't be offended because if it was your pattern they definitely loved your pattern!

TheSwankyRaver
Member

Jul 28, 2015 10:54 pm

I'm glad you posted this... It's not me selling your design, I have no peelers, but my etsy shop does include a couple things that are from other people's patterns. I honestly never even thought about whether I should credit the creator of the patterns or notify them or whatever. I've always just thought of the patterns on here as being kind of free for the public to use as they decide to...I guess I should probably at least let the people who designed those patterns know, right? Thanks for bringing that up.

For your situation, I don't know... It is kind of weird that they didn't respond to your message about it... If I'd gotten a message like that I would have for sure...maybe look and see if it's still there? They could've just not been actively using etsy anymore when you messaged them or something...maybe...

KandiTurtlePower
Member

Aug 15, 2015 4:20 pm

I wouldn't be offended, if you didn't want people to use the pattern, don't post it. When posting a pattern you should realize that many people are going to create from it and sell what they make.
It's no different than a crochet or knitting pattern, most people that sell those things on etsy work off of patterns.

I sell a variety of things on etsy most are made from different types of patterns, or a lot of times I'll take a pattern and tweak it a little bit. If someone sent me a message like "hey that's my pattern" I wouldn't really know how to respond. I probably wouldn't have ignored it either, but it would have been awkward.

If someone sent me a message saying "hey that's my pattern could you credit me in your listing?" I would be more than happy to, but I won't do it automatically, I would most likely only do it if asked or if it was stated in the specific pattern to credit the owner of the pattern when selling.

Natalie
Guest

Aug 18, 2015 8:13 am

it is not copyright infringement to produce and sell finished items off a pattern. It is only infringement if they steal your copyrighted pattern and sell it.

The best analogy is the clothing industry. When the new styles hit the runway, they will be copied. No one can stop that.

Asking for credit as the designer is nice, but remember it is just courtesy.

If someone contacts you to tell you you are using their pattern and want to make a big deal of it, let them know you bought their pattern, and thank you, love it... but your FOs (finished objects) are legally yours to dispose of how you want to, whether you sell or give them away.

Look up federal copyright laws.

If they stole it off your pictured item on Etsy and started making it, all you could really do is make sure they are not using YOUR picture, which does fall under copyright protection, and politely ask them to stop or take it to another venue

xxpancake
Long Time Member

Aug 21, 2015 12:32 am

You guys all bring up really good points. I think it was more of a weird excitement I felt when I saw that that I didn't know what to say. Had I not wanted people to recreate patterns I've made, I shouldn't have posted it. I mean, its only on the internet, the most public and easily accessible thing.

I mean, I still think it would be right to give credit to those who use other's patterns, but you can't control that. I've submitted a pattern on here that I modeled part of it after someone else's pattern, but I made note of it. Either way, I did feel honored by it. XD

catsnapinpeace
Member

Aug 21, 2015 9:47 am

also I feel like many people over look the fact that the patterns were made by someone. I know I did at first, I had no idea different users made these patterns til I joined this site lol

Saw someone making a perler sprite of mine on Etsy. Flattered, or offended?

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