Kim Kardashian is being accused of stealing ideas from one of her
designers–again. And the jewelry designer making the claim has cut
Kim off from borrowing items from his collection for future red
carpet walks…
article here
http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/1c1
Elaine
Kim Kardashian Might Have Copied Alexis Bitter’s Jewelry Designs 1
day ago - Because as Kim Kardashian learned recently, that designer
will take away all… Copycatting another designer’s ideas never
turns out well…
Elaine
guess kim hadn’t learned about copying before - as a lot of others it
appears. when i started with jewelry about a dozen years ago i went
online searching for sources of info and came across a site that
turned out to be… well, hilarious., when i clicked onto one group,
one member had asked what she should do when copying an artist’s
design - the answers were a trip down the dumb side: “i heard that
if you give credit to the original designer that’s enough” - “you can
copy as long as you don’t sell the piece” - “you can sell the copy
if you don’t charge more than the cost of the materials” - “you can
copy if you just give it as a gift” - “if you make it with another
stone/color it’s okay to copy” - and on and on. after i stopped
laughing i sent an email very nicely saying i was sending
to save them embarrassment and possible trouble, quoting
the section of the law about copying (and identifying it as a direct
copyright law quote and the source) WOW! i got the most hostile,
vicious, hateful emails from those people! when i sent an email to
make amends i found they had blocked my email address! ‘ignorance may
be bliss’ and it also can be funny!
ive
people, think more now, regret less later.
when i clicked onto one group, one member had asked what she should do when copying an artist's design - the answers were a trip down the dumb side: "i heard that if you give credit to the original designer that's enough" - "you can copy as long as you don't sell the piece"
I would like to draw distinction between copying and stealing. To
take someone’s work and copy it for commercial purposes is stealing.
Copying what other artists did, for educational purposes, is
mandatory if one wants to grow as an artist.
Copying has negative connotations because of unfortunate naming of
the law dealing with intellectual property. It should have been
“Theft of Intellectual Property Law” instead of “Copyright Law”.
In order to express oneself, one must have a vocabulary of terms and
methods of expression. This vocabulary can only be acquired through
copying.
Think about it in terms of a language. When we want to write
something, - do we invent new words, or do we use the ones we already
know? How do we get to know these words? By reading books written by
others. Reading a book is a form of copying. We copy content of a
book into our memory. We call it memorizing.
Language of Art is much more complicated. To memorize vocabulary used
in creation a work of art, simply looking at it, is not efficient. By
copying it, the underlying methods become clear and that is how one
learns.
Leonid Surpin
Hi,
What happens when a client wants to have a piece made exactly like
one from another goldsmith?
Leonid,
In order to express oneself, one must have a vocabulary of terms and methods of expression. This vocabulary can only be acquired through copying.
No copying period, ever. If you like the look of something study it
as much as possible and figure out how YOU would make it. There were
mistakes made in the original, no sense learning bad habits.
jeffD
PS: I do make up new words as needed or use strange ones from other
english dialects. (Creative side of me showing)
Demand Designs
Analog/Digital Modelling & Goldsmithing
http://www.gmavt.net/~jdemand
What happens when a client wants to have a piece made exactly like one from another goldsmith?
One should then suggest that the client purchase that item from the
goldsmith who made it.
James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts
Jeff,
No copying period, ever. If you like the look of something study it as much as possible and figure out how YOU would make it. There were mistakes made in the original, no sense learning bad habits.
Hypothetical, you see a turquoise ring, bezel set with round balls
all the way around it, split shank and you want to make one. How
would you make that without copying it? Look at different companies
Celtic or Claddagh rings and tell me how they did not just copy.
Very few things you can make that has not been made before by someone
else. I have a line that includes a combination of techniques I have
never seen used before. But that does not mean that someone somewhere
is not doing it, or has not done it, I just have not seen it. People
who make jewelry who see the pieces guess wrong about how I did it. I
have one piece posted as my profile picture on Facebook.
Richard Hart G.G.
Denver, Co.
Leza- I tell them to go to the original designer. Folks keep asking
us to to knock off Tiffany’s stuff. I prefer to tell them “No”. It’s
a loosing proposition. Why? Because what they really want is Tiffany
but at a cheaper price. They’ll never really be happy because it’s
not really Tiffany’s. And I’ll never be happy for selling my labor
for cheap. Not to mention that it’s just plain dishonest.
Have fun and make lots of jewelry.
Jo Haemer
www.timothywgreen.com
Liza,
What happens when a client wants to have a piece made exactly like one from another goldsmith?
Just say NO. Ramble off the national and international copy right
laws, maybe even have a list of their numbers. Goldsmiths are
expected to have ethics, don’t brand your self as one with none.
Money is nice but sure is your name. Send the client off to the
original goldsmith. I will on a good day make a copy of my work which
was lost but nothing from some one else.
cranky ageing goldsmith, jeffD
Demand Designs
Analog/Digital Modelling & Goldsmithing
http://www.gmavt.net/~jdemand
I tell the client to go to that goldsmith, they have done all the
engineering and design development, they will do it less expensively
and better than I could.
Sam Patania, Tucson
I’d suggest she/he buy it from that goldsmith. Client probably wants
you to make it because he figures you’ll do it cheaper.
Jerry in Kodiak
The ultimate knock off: Two summers ago, I had a customer come into
the bead shop where I work and wanted to buy enough supplies to make
the simple necklace she was wearing. She was an Evergreen gallery
owner and thought she could make it and others like it for less and
sell it for more than the jewelry artist who had made the piece. This
same jewelry artist was displaying her work in this customer’s
gallery and had been working hard on her designs for three years.
I recognized the piece and told the gallery owner I knew the artist,
who is a friend of mine. I told the woman that while I would be
happy to sell her anything, it would be difficult for me to do so if
she was intending to knock off my friend’s work. I did this quietly
and repeated it several times. Regardless,she insisted on buying
quite a few supplies. So I sold them to her at full price, even
though she was entitled to a discount. I am given some discretion on
this with customers. After she left, I emailed my friend about this
occurrence. My friend was shocked.
For me, I don’t mind if people knock off my one-offs. There are so
few of them and they are hard to sell… But I can understand others
artists being upset – especially something as blatant and callous as
the example above.
Betsy
Richard
Very few things you can make that has not been made before by someone else.
Very true. But making a silicone mold, or crawling over a piece or
picture with callipers, or making a wedding band for some one with
fat short fingers fall into far different classes. First one is a
copy, second one damned close, and the third has been done for
thousands of years. I draw the lines between the 3 unless they have
more $$ than I have ethics. I can be bought but not for cheap by a
long shot. My cat needs food too.
jeffD
Demand Designs
Analog/Digital Modelling & Goldsmithing
http://www.gmavt.net/~jdemand
A couple of years ago at a store I was working in, a customer comes
in with a picture from a website…She has a diamond and would like
to have a mounting made like this one. The ring on the website was
silver and CZ. So we contact this designer and say, "Would you like
to make a ring for us in gold, setting a customer’s diamond?"
Everybody wins. Customer gets design she likes, we make a little,
designer makes a little…Their reply: “Oh no, we don’t do custom, we
don’t do gold, what you see is what we have…” I might add that was
not a particularly unique design, but nice. Long story short, we
knock them off, make the ring for our customer. We win, our customer
wins, designer loses… It’s not like we’re going into production
and calling this design our own. We’re just trying to keep our
customer satisfied…
It is one thing to be inspired by someone’s work – it is quite
another to copy it.
Or the other option I have used is to contact the other goldsmith and
explain the situation and see if they will sell you the same piece at
a wholesale price then you can sell the item to your client at maybe
a little discount because you did not have to spend the time to make
it… Both win in that situation as the client would not pay the
original price but would pay a lesser price from someone else. Just a
suggestion on how to handle this so both come out ahead of the game
and we support each other rather then undercutting each other.
Vernon Wilson
In reading this copycatting thread, I was reminded of a job that was
for ced onto me years ago. A gallery told me that a couple wanted
wedding bands made and talked me into doing the job. Apparently the
couple want ed Christian Bauer platinum rings with pink sapphires
and diamonds flush-set, but get the rings done locally ( translation
Joy
If your client wants a piece made “exactly like one from another
goldsmith”, there are a number of ways to proceed, but copying
another’s work is not one of them.
Explain copyright law to your customer, and if you don’t
understand it (it appears you don’t), Google it and spend a day
reading. Or be prepared to hire a good and very expensive attorney.
Call the other goldsmith and ask for permission.
Send your client/art thief to the other goldsmith.
If my reply sounds abrupt, it may be because I am startled and
mystified by such a question. How can one pursue a career and be
completely ignorant of the law, or so lacking in ethics to even
consider stealing the work of someone else. Consder yourself spanked.
Is this where political correctness has led us???
Wayne Emery
thelittlecameras.com