The photo on the left is me, modeling my knitting pattern, Gaia. The photo on the right is the same pattern, stolen by Drops Design (garnstudio.com, pattern 129-26) and made available online and in their pattern booklet. I have repeatedly contacted them about the infringement of my rights, but they refuse to respond to me.
Indie knitting and crochet designers are experiencing a horrible injustice from larger yarn industry companies such as Drops. They are taking our work, without permission, and using it to increase their sales. I suspect they do this because they assume that indie designers do not have a legal team to protect themselves. It’s true, I don’t have thousands of dollars to spend on a lawyer to protect my works every time a situation like this pops up (and no, it’s not the first time for me, unfortunately).
But what we, as indie designers, can do is have our voices heard. We can educate the public about how these companies are violating our rights for their own gain. Please pass this along. Drops and other companies like them will not lift a finger until they see bad publicity affecting their profits.
Reblog. Email Drops (export@garnstudio.com) and voice your concern. Post on their Facebook wall (www.facebook.com/Garnstudio.DROPS.design?ref=ts&fref=ts). Let them know that what they are doing is wrong and damaging to indie designers.
