On the Folksy clubhouse facebook page, I asked admin if or not we should report shops that are showing Disney, Harry Potter etc, or should we mind our own business.
I have always worried about reporting people, so I thought I would ask admin to clarify things for me.
I hope admin don’t mind but I have copied and pasted their reply for everyone to read.
.
Hi
Brenda , Yes please do report them to us. Our policy is to inform any sellers we see who list items related to Disney or Harry Potter etc that the Items sold on Folksy must not infringe someone else’s copyright or trademark, that it is their responsibility to check they are not infringing Copyright or any Trademark, and that any liability should the Copyright or trademark owner pursue a legal case rests with them.
When these items are reported to us we contact the sellers to advise them of this and we immediately suspend any items where we have previously been contacted by the copyright holder with regards to copyright and trademark infringements, eg Orla Kiely, Paddington Bear, London Underground. You can see the full list here https://folksy.uservoice.com/…/58120-copyright-and…
Good to see this. It’s a shame other selling platforms don’t take the same approach. On Etsy, only those who actually hold the copyright (or those representing them) are able to report an infringement.
Thanks for sharing this. Some shops have really rubbed me up the wrong way over this, but I have rarely reported anything. Being married to a lawyer I’m very conscious that infringing copyright is theft. That’s why, despite often being asked to embroider popular Disney/Beatrix Potter… designs, I WON’T DO IT. If I have ever infringed anybody’s copyright I have done it by accident, and I would want to be told!
Disney are notorious for prosecuting anyone who breaches their copyright. They even have a link on their website where you can report. You’re really foolish if you mess with their merchandise.
I’m sure I read somewhere that you can ask permission from these large corporations, and sometimes it’s granted. I know that many designs get lifted from other designers, and there’s not much anyone can do about that unless each design is copyrighted. Sometimes, the designs are so similar and there’s no really unique ideas, that perfectly innocent ‘poaching’ takes place. I don’t personally have a problem with that. I’ve had many patterns copied, and I’m sure some of my own designs are not unique. I’m also a writer, and have even had my work stolen and published on Amazon. Luckily, Amazon removed it because I could prove it was my book. Not many artisan makers can afford to copyright everything they create. But you mess with companies like Disney at your peril because occasionally they’ll make an example of someone.
Hi everyone. I am a self employed illustrator and I have a selection of Disney items I have drawn and painted myself.
A while ago, I actually contacted Disney (and other studios) to check I was allowed to sell my own drawings, making it clear to them I would point out my works are not actual studio pieces but my own work. I showed them a photo of what they look like and they were fine with them. So, I have actual approval from Disney and the other studios. In fact, I have sold a few pieces in a private sale to a Disney animator and to other well known animation studios and they commented how good the artwork I have done is. I have even been given praise from Mr Stan Lee himself. I have even had a job offer from one of these studios, so I am covered. I wouldn’t do it if I wasn’t given the go ahead.
Well done for getting permission. I don’t know if you do or not, but it would be a good idea to put in your listings that you had permission from Disney to use your designs. That would probably save a lot of problems and stop anyone reporting you. Well done.
Wow that’s awesome Chris - did you actually get to speak to him or did his praise come to you via someone else? Either way that’s amazing! Have you thought about adding an ‘about’ section to your shop - I’m sure potential customers would love to hear that you’ve been endorsed by Stan Lee!!
I had a private sale from someone who lives in the USA in 2014. He bought 1 each of the Marvel comic book characters (at the time, I think there were about 7 different ones). I posted them to him and about 2 months later, he messaged me to let me know they arrived and he took them to a massive comic book convention in California, where Stan Lee was a special guest signing autographs. My customer took them and got Stan Lee to sign them all. Apparently, Mr. Lee commented he loved the artwork and was even more impressed they were individually painted rather than being just prints.
When there was a time before the virus, I sell at a regular craft event near where I live. And every time someone shows an interest, I bore them every time with this. I can’t help brag about the praise I got from him and lots of other professionals. Especially as I have no qualifications whatsoever in art and all this is completely self taught!
In relation to adding this to the ‘About’ section on here, I’m still finding my feet on this website, as I only joined recently and technology is not my thing, so I’m a little slow on the uptake.
Ahh that’s fantastic, & how lovely that your customer gave you all the feedback too. Definitely something to be really proud of & brag about!
No worries on the ‘about’ section - it does take a little while to find your way round everything here. It’s in the dashboard under shop settings, & I think the info you’ve put above (the sort of thing you would chat to real life customers about at a fair) would be perfect. Personally I love reading everyone’s background, but maybe I’m just nosy
I’m really surprised that Disney (and other studios) gave permission to use their copyrighted images and trademarked names without asking for a license fee. I used to design Disney, Warner Bros etc products under a license for several garment manufacturers and it was incredibly difficult to get their permission and it would also cost 10’s of 1000’s of pounds too!
It’s absolutely true. I was rather surprised as well, but they stated I was okay to sell them (after showing them a mock up of them along with the item description and price). They never asked for a fee, so that suggested to me that I was given the go ahead. I have sold on a stall outside a local Disney shop and even sold pieces to the staff working there as well as selling to someone who claims to have been a Disney animator. And his response was that he was rather impressed. He said he never buys from other artists, but loved my work.
I have done the same thing for every other studio. There have been two instances where I wasn’t allowed and that was for a design of Rick & Morty and another design for Snoopy.
I worked in childrens clothing (as a designer for a manufacturer) for a few years and the company paid an absolute fortune to be allowed to use copyrighted images and characters on our clothing, if the copyright holders agreed. In most cases, it was the retailer (think big high street stores) who obtained the permissions etc from the company, and we just made the items, but all the appropriate licencing rules had to be followed. The shop you had your stall outside aren’t the copyright holders, they’re just employees. Seriously, I wouldn’t take risks based on what shop staff tell you. Disney don’t mess about, so please be careful. You have a very relaxed approach but they don’t.
