Perils of being a purchaser of IP (intellectual property)
Friends, since yesterday I have received numerous emails, some a bit tense, others willing to communicate and understand where I’m coming from. All because I seemed to have stepped on the toes of some “concerned” digitizers (no names please, they know who they are). I really ought to call this continuation of Internet glimpses or Birds of a feather but think I will concentrate on the other side (the purchaser) as I have been told and I certainly am guilty of it, of not giving due consideration in my writings to the purchaser.
First off, the buyers of my IP are my extended network of friends and family on the internet. I survive because of them. Yes, they mean a lot to me. However, as it was pointed out to me, I was not considering certain points when writing the earlier posts. Btw, my posts here are my thoughts and my beliefs. They are NOT meant to be taken as “Do this” or “Do that”. If someone has felt that I was being biased, then my apologies.
In the sale of intellectual property the IP belongs to the creator. Embroidery designs are IPs and they belong to whomever created them first unless someone was given a special design to create for a private concern. In that case, only the embroidery file belongs to the creator and not the artwork. Licenses are sold to individuals to stitch out the IP. Those licenses are granted by the creator only to the person purchasing. There may be stipulations by the creator here and the purchaser must (as in any sale…buying a car, you look at fuel efficiency, etc etc) before purchase ensure that what he/she is purchasing is to his/her liking. Knowledge of whether the designs actually belonged to the seller is only known by the ad/website/packaging etc.
Now, here is where the tricky part comes in. Should the buyer/purchaser have any responsibilty before purchasing? The purchase is on good faith that the item belongs to the seller. But what happens if the item does not belong to the seller, but the seller is selling on behalf of the actual creator (like a dealer) or as it has happened, pirated copy on Ebay. In the case of the sale from the dealer, it is a valid and legal sale as the dealer has permission to sell items from the actual creator. In case of the pirated copy on Ebay, it is an illegal sale as the Ebay seller does not have the permission to sell. Buying the item from the dealer or from the creator is fine, but what about the Illegal Ebay seller. If one buys from the Illegal Ebay seller, what are the repercussions and how should a buyer/purchaser be protected…these are the issues that I will cover.
First of all, no buyer, no matter how innocent or unknowledgable is going to buy anything without some assurity that it is to the buyer’s satisfaction. But, what about someone who is brand new in the field of machine embroidery and has no knowledge or idea and purchases a $5.00 CD of 10,000 machine embroidery designs only to find out that the designs are pirated from major machine embroidery companies. Well, the buyer/purchaser has illegal goods in hand, what does one do when one finds out. Do you keep them and keep on using them or do you do something about it. It was the buyer’s responsibility to double check if the item is “good to be true”. However, there can be some who do not know. Now comes the protection part. First off, if and when you do find you are in possession of such material, contact Ebay letting them know of the illegal seller. Find out whose designs you actually have. Contact the actual creator(s) and let them know what happened. When this has happened with my designs, I have rewarded the buyer/purchaser by letting them have something legally from my designs as a form of thankyou. But this has only happened a couple of times. If this was to happen literally every day with thousands emailing me that they have illegal cds that they purchased from an Ebay seller, well, I can then either close shop or do something about it. Btw, this is how ESPC and all the companies it represents used to act when someone reported in the past…
When ESPC which represents literally all the major machine embroidery companies went through the same, they were shocked. The sales of all these companies was steadily falling. Something had to be done. First they started educating by letting consumers know what to look for in rights and wrongs. It still did not stop the illegal sales. So, they had no choice but to go after the buyers and sellers. If the buyers are not buying then the sellers will not sell. Ironically, this action did educate many very quickly than the gentle teachings that many of the digitizers and friends were doing. The sales on Ebay of illegal machine embroidery designs came to a stand still… of the 32 or such pages at Ebay of machine embroidery designs, I was only able to find 18 web pages and mostly all legal sales.
What ESPC did was not just to bring about attention to the purchaser/buyer of what is right and wrong but also to help the digitizers of machine embroidery designs. In all my writings, I have not said anything whether I believed the method used was right or wrong from my own personal point of view. I only have WRITTEN that from a legal point of view it is permissible and perfectly fine. As I do not do business that way, I cannot say it is the right way to do it but from someone standing outside looking in at the problem I have to say that it is legally fine. There is no extortion, no coercion etc as some are claiming it to be.
The documentations that some have shared with me sent by ESPC is worded legally. The choice of the buyer is a). either abide by it or b). question it. No one can tell the buyer what to do. The buyer should however find out if the letter indeed came from ESPC (as there is a definite scam going on on this as well ). The buyer also should find out what his/her rights are and this should not be gathered from online legal advice boards (do you really know the person on the other end to be a lawyer??) or private individuals who may/may not have other motives but the buyer should contact an attorney learned in IP laws. All other gossips, innuendos, are baseless and they are based upon by the “birds” who are actually the very people that landed you in this mess. (Quick look at the rebel Yahoo group mentioned earlier shows that the member listing is no longer available, the group is on moderation as they do NOT want any other conversation except to ridicule, taunt, taint ESPC and anyone who may want to give facts…LOL)
So friends, beware, be alert, and be responsible. After all, if I was the purchaser and had purchased something that was illegal, whose responsibilty would it be, mine or the worlds’ to take care of the problem. How to tell if an Ebay seller or a website is Legal? Well, will write more on that later.
Perils of being a Purchaser of IP (Intellectual Property) Part II
Friends, with all the posts on this topic and in topics leading to it, I think it is time to dwell upon what the purchaser of IP should look for and watch out for when purchasing machine embroidery designs. There are so many machine embroidery websites (just do a google search) that one can be overwhelmed. Everyone has their own way of interpreting art and that is where the beauty comes from.
For friends who purchase machine embroidery designs on the internet and from Ebay, it never hurts to do research before purchasing. Research should not only take into account the prices but whether the website owner has a name, address, contact information (an about me page sort of thing). If you are not sure of the designer, no one will mind if you asked around. I know we all like to have low prices but sometimes quality is also important. When I first started machine embroidery, I was amazed to find such low prices on the internet as compared to the embroidery cards that I used to purchase. My shock after stitching out my first internet purchased design actually made me get into the field of digitizing. Check out the website of the designer, if there are samples, test sew them to see if you like them. Check to see if the sample design is part of the collection or is it something totally different. Check to see if the shopping cart is a secured cart (especially where sensitive information like credit card etc will be given). You can check this by viewing the bottom of your internet browser screen. There should be a lock there telling you that it is a secure site. If receiving designs via regular mail, check to see if the CD has the designer’s label on it or is it one without a label. Look at the packaging to see if the designer’s name and address as shown on the website is showing.
These are just a few things to take into consideration when purchasing designs online. Continuing with the perils of what can happen, I happened to be on the Embroidery Software Protection Coalition Website tonight. Btw, the address is: http://www.embroideryprotection.org One of the pages, “What you need to know about Software Piracy and Copyrights” attracted my attention. I believe every machine embroiderer ought to read this page and also to read many of the educational pages there to understand what it is that you are purchasing. Unlike other goods, machine embroidery designs are sold as licenses. One only purchases the license to stitch out the design even though the design(s) may be on a CD/disk. That license gives the purchaser the right to stitch out the design(s) as many times or certain amount of times on items for sale or for personal use. However, do check each individual websites to see what they allow. To read more about protecting yourself and knowledge of what is software piracy and copyright, read here: http://www.embroideryprotection.org/piracy_copyright.html With the internet, so many laws have changed to accomodate IPs and if not understood, even as a buyer of designs especially if they are illegal designs, can find themselves in trouble without knowing it.
Educate yourself. Not knowing the law is no excuse. If you have a computer and you are online, there is ample opportunity to understand and to learn. Some other websites that will help you in understanding more on copyright and what is the NET Act(No Electronic Theft Act):
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/netsum.htm
Internet allows all of us the opportunity to hide our identities. Do not believe everything you see and read unless you know the people or have belief in them. I have been asked time and again why I speak so highly of ESPC. Simple reason, they are the only organization that is collectively causing laws to change to benefit not just the machine embroidery digitizers but also guidance and protecting those who purchase machine embroidery designs.
How to protect yourself:
You may be asked casually by a friend “Oh, I love those designs, but I don’t have that one, can I borrow it”. Or, your friend may give you a CD of designs that she has copied from her computer. What if an online friend emails you telling you that “hey, here is a site that you can go and download designs” and the site has thousands and thousands of designs (I don’t mean Ann The Gran’s website). Or your online friend tells you “hey, here is a newsgroup where all you have to do is to ask for a certain design and it will be sent to you”. What do you do then? Believe me, this happens to all of us and if it hasn’t happened yet, it may. Relating a similar event, at a friend’s house I was shocked to see that she had photocopies of a pattern. It was not a big thing but it made me wonder… I was so much in shock that all I could do was to ignore it but all the way home, the thought kept popping up in my mind and I felt ill but I could not and would not ask my friend any explanation. The only logical thing was to isolate myself from her which made me feel even worse.
Here is another site to view: http://www.cybercrime.gov/ipcases.htm
If you are sent an email with link to a private website or are sent an email with a zipped file of designs, you can be just as guilty as the party sending it. Don’t fool yourself. If you know the person, politely tell him/her that you do not want the files (unless the files were created by the person). If you can tell whose designs they are, contact the designer to let them know. Keep copies of the email that was sent to you on a disk, place the disk in a safe place. If you do not know the designer, delete the file off your hard drive and save the email. Do not install the designs on your computer. There are many designers who use tracking devices to see where their designs go to.
In the end, remember no one is going to help you except yourself. Do not involve yourself with “lynch mob” activities like a certain “rebel group” is promoting. Uh, the latest on that group….all I can say is that “you can fool some of the people for all of the times, and you can fool all of the people for some of the times, but you cannot fool all of the people for all of the times”. Think that sums their situation precisely. Don’t become the “birds”, LOL.
Additional Comments: (as both the parts were combined-I’m posting the comments within the post)
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Rita said,
June 6, 2006 at 8:00 pm · Wonder if I can ask a question. If my sister asks me for a design, what should I do? I didn’t put in my email as I don’t want this company to come after me with a letter that I shared with my sister.
RESPONSE:
Rita, I am sorry that you have been made to feel that someone will come after you just because you asked a question. I presume you are referring to ESPC as the company. Please believe me that there has been a lot of rumours spread about ESPC by a handful of people who dearly would love to see it shut down as they do not want anyone (whether small digitizer or a large concern) to at all work against piracy of designs. ESPC, I assure you is a genuine concern out to educate and help not only digitizing concerns but home digitizers as well as those who are the customers. Please do visit their website and read about them. Anytime there would be any entity working against the wrong doers, the very people who have been doing the wrong thing are the ones that cry the loudest.
As far as your question goes, I would not stop you from sharing a design with your sister. Personally I am not worried about a sister sharing her stash with her mother or other siblings or a friend or two. Where the concern comes in, is when large scale of sharing goes on like in a private group or website etc. I have many customers where one sister buys one item and the other sister buys another. I do not frown upon that at all. That will not put me out of business but large scale sharing will put me out of business. Thank you for asking. HUGS, Sadia
Diana said,
June 6, 2006 at 9:46 pm · That’s a toughy. My sister is an adult and doesn’t live in my household. What I’d do in this case is make something for her with the design she liked as a gift for her birthday or the next holidays. I’ve given my sister an old machine of mine, supplies and design cards that came with the machine. (And no I don’t have copies of the design cards still in my possession.) I also wouldn’t hesitate to purchase the design card or some sort of gift certificate for her but I wouldn’t share the design with her.
On the other hand I don’t consider letting my 15 year old daughter use my machine, computer and designs to make something for herself or her friends as copyright infringement. If my husband was an embroiderer I wouldn’t buy two copies of the same designs especially when the designs are purchased with a joint account with both our names on it. If a friend or one of my daughters friends was curious about machine embroidery I’d let them sew something out on my equipment to see what it’s like. To me those are all instances where I purchased a license to sew out a design multiple times I’m not violating copyright.
Good question makes you think.
Sadia does your daughter sew? Let’s say she does and she’s going off to college with an embroidery machine. What would you do about designs for her? Just curious.
RESPONSE:
Diana, as I responded to Rita above, I am not going to go berserk just because someone shared once with their daughter or with a friend, LOL. That does not bother me and I’m sure it does not bother anyone else either. What would bother us is that if you gave the design to your daughter and your daughter then gave it to another who in turn gave it to another…does that make sense? As far as my dd is concerned, I think she saw my passion and decided to stay well away…LOL, a pity really as she is a wonderful artist. But to answer your question, as long as my daughter is only using the designs herself I would not be concerned and if the designs belonged to someone else, well, I definitely would not be sharing with her. However, if there is someone out there with similar happening, I would advice to contact the digitizer of the designs and let them know that hey I let my dd or my mother use your design that I purchased. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time, I’m sure the digitzer of the design would not mind it. It is when the shared design keeps on going on sharing with others and on to others that would matter. However, I do want to thank you for your concern and your thinking, it is excellent that friends out there care and take pains to do the right things. I salute you for your thinking. HUGS, Sadia
Nancy said,
June 7, 2006 at 9:09 pm · I am not leaving my email either. Not because I’m afraid of getting a letter but becuase there might be someone who will send spam.
My question is. You said that if I shared with one or two friends who did not share with anyone else no one will be upset. I hope that is correct. I bought a set of designs for my sister from a digitalizer and sent it to my sister and boy did I get in trouble. I had emails upon emails threatening me and it scared me. My sister does not have a computer and she does not know anything about the internet so I buy for her. I think the digitalizers need to get their facts straight, some say one thing and then others say another and now you are saying that it is ok to share with friends. What is it?
RESPONSE:
Hello Nancy, I have many customers who purchase for their friends (as a gift) or for relatives who do not have access to the internet as you said regarding your sister. Generally the one who is purchasing will email me and let me know what they are doing. As all my designs are coded to the purchaser, if anything was to happen say in your scenario of sharing with a couple of friends…say something was to happen where one of your friends shared with someone else who in turn shared with another and so on. When and if I got the information of the sharing, the coding will be to your name and you will be the one responsible even though you were doing it with all the goodness of your heart. It is hard for us to not share with a very close friend especially if the friend cannot afford or does not have the means. That is the reason why I said in my post earlier that I will not get angry if someone shared, given that kind of situation, with another. And also it will not put me and my business at risk. But if one of your friends were to share with a whole large group that does hurt my business.
The fact is that one should never share any of the design files. If I am being lenient and saying that I am not going to get upset just because one person shared with her sister, does not mean that it is okay to do it with every design file you have or that it is okay to share period. LOL, sort of like give an inch, take a mile. What I would suggest is that you email the digitizer and explain the situation to her, maybe it was a bad day for her (we all can have those). I’m sure she/he would appreciate your honesty and caring and will advice what to do so your sister can have the files legally.
Moreover Nancy, please do not feel afraid to ask. It is when one does not ask and those with no knowledge start giving out advice that wrong information spreads about. Hope this helps. Hugs, Sadia
nameless said,
June 8, 2006 at 11:55 am · Sadia good explanation. Nancy, you said you sent the design to your sister, if she doesn’t have a computer, how did you send it?