And the ME stocks are going to soar!!!
An interesting piece of news in the Wall Street Journal today:
“Sewing and Suing Aren’t a Happy Mix For Embroiderers, High-Tech Stitching Brings With It Copyright Issues And Talk of Defamation”
The article went on to narrate the findings of one Janet Ebert (aka Maggie/Jansturningpoint/defender of rights etc) who was served with a lawsuit for copyright infringement due to her altered digitized machine embroidery designs which she was selling on Ebay. It further elaborated the shock of one Sue Schultz, a receiver of a demand letter from ESPC for purchase of an illegal cd from Ebay. The article went on to explain the loss of income due to the illegal sales/piracy of Machine embroidery designs and quotes from various ME company representatives.
And where is all this going….purchase any and all ME stocks as they are going to sky rocket. The story may attract the attention of legislators, law makers, news media, lobbyists, federal agencies and not to mention open up the can of worms of ME piracy and the pirate newsgroups where sharing of ME works are thriving. Exactly the attention that I myself would want to achieve if I were ESPC.
Years ago when I first started in the field I have to admit my first and foremost attention was to the home emboiderers. I frowned upon the major ME companies as I viewed them as raking in the $$ from their high prices. It wasn’t until my introduction into the commercial field that I discovered “what looks good is not so great”. A typical commercial digitizer, believe it or not, earns approximately $2 per design. It is not the hours or the number of stitches, but per design. So, all those cute beautiful designs that we see in the OESD, Bernina etc catalogs earned someone $2, one time fee. The rest of the money earned is sent to artists creating the artwork, the publications, the disks etc as well as paying the various employees who stitch out samples, run machines, etc etc. No great gains there.
Home digitizers on the other hand can hope to profit a bit better than the commercial digitizers but not by much. Remember a home digitizer does not have the ready made artwork, the provision of unlimited threads, the means to pay for media publications etc and by the time any and all of this is paid for there is hardly anything but pennies left.
With these scenarios, welcome the pirates and those who profit from altering/duplication/copying designs, the ME market has been one of the most poorest markets in the wheel of economy. Ofcourse now thanks to the rants and raves of some (and they really did not know this was going to go so high) ME world may yet change. A laborer in the US earns at the minimum $20 an hour…with the changes of ME and laws pertaining to the ME designs….I foresee higher and competitive prices from the sellers with expectations of originality in ME designs from the buyers.
To all my friends, a single piece of advice….it is not wise to stir the waters unless you are well prepared to swim the rest of the way to land. I’m sure those who know will understand. Meanwhile, a very bright glimmer of hope not only for the ME companies but also the ME home digitizers as well as a better future for the ME world. I’m not forgetting the consumers here and know they will definitely benefit from any changes that will come about from all this.
