Karen,
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! “create something totally different
and MARKET it like hell.” Well said! Marketing. You either learn to
play the game well…or not.
Bill Churlik
@Bill_Churlik
www.earthspeakarts.com
I don't know how old you are, but when you pass the 60 mark, you will probably spend less time worrying what others are doing and more time wishing you had, well, more time. I hate to tell you this, but business success is not attained through "originality", it is attained by finding a need and filling it.
Amen, Brother. You tell it like it is! I have called it “Looking for
a window of opportunity”. I am only 59 1/2. Comes the time when you
cannot deny or avoid, and for me I have had to start having more
accountability for my choices. Literally thinking: Do I want to spend
the time I will never get back on this job (or with this customer,)
for the low pay and high appreciation (of the customer), or can I
find something with high pay and high appreciation (of the
customer)and use the skill and knowledge I have developed with
wisdom.
Richard Hart
The Yurman tactics remind me of Microsoft in the software business.
They had a big team of lawyers who were off their leashes and were
forever hassling small companies. After Mickeysoft got sued big time
itself for copyright and patent violations (and even for stealing
employees form other companies), the lawyers were told to calm down.
Maybe if Yurman gets hit himself, he’ll learn.
Brian Corll
Vassar Jewelers
Please lay off the lawyer bashing. It is really unfair. Here in NY,
there is a pro bono group called “Lawyers for the Arts”. There are
probably other things other places. That aside, why should you expect
a lawyer to work for free?
I’m not familar with his work, tho’ I have now visited his website.
I saw an ad for his stuff at a local jewelry store. It appears that
Yurman the Thomas Kinkade of the jewelry world.
Carla
So if you get nailed for $750,000 what happens then? Do to lawyers
walk in and sell your shop, house and car and turf you out on the
street? Or do you have to pay it off for the rest of your life? And
what happens to that money? Does it go to Yurman and he goes out for
a steak that night? I mean, if someone put my family out on the
street for a non crime of making jewellery, I am sure I would feel a
little more than revengeful. All this copyright lawyer stuff is quite
confusing to this naeve and foolish foreigner.
Cheers Hans Meevis
What's the first thought in your mind when you see cabley, knobular knockoffs for sale? "Oh, he's just trying to look like Yurman"? Wouldn't that suggest that Yurman IS a distinctive look? One which no doubt took time and effort to develop?
No, the first thought in my mind is Etruscan. But I actually read.
There’s a lawyer posting here who sid it about this, but I’ll say it,
too. Trade Dress does NOT mean that his “body of work” is protected.
There is no such thing as a “body of work” copyright. Trade dress
protects “how you dress your trade” - storefront, packaging, business
cards, logo, wesite, uniforms. Then there have been a couple of posts
saying, “Enough with the Yurman already.” I agree with the Yurman
part, but I think the bigger picture of what copyright law is and
it’s uses and abuses is exactly what this forum is for. I think it’s
a most interesting thread - not the barbs at him personally so much as
people’s experiences and thoughts about intellectual property in
general.
Seems to me that, since it is his “Trade Dress” that he has
protected, the first thing you need to do is find out an exact
description of that “Trade Dress”.
Margaret
I'm not familar with his work, tho' I have now visited his website. I saw an ad for his stuff at a local jewelry store. It appears that Yurman the Thomas Kinkade of the jewelry world.
I love it!
I love poking fun at Thomas Kinkade, painter of light, (it must be
said in a very dramatic, serious voice) Now I have another one…
David Yurman, twister of wires. Hm, it’s not as good as painter of
light, anyone have a better one?
Here’s a question, can we get sued for bashing him, libel or slander
or something? If he is as litigious as he seems I wouldn’t put it
past him.
Amery Carriere Designs
www.amerycarriere.com
I’ve been waiting for someone to post this link during all the
responses to the Yurman hubub. A valuable resource available to
jewelers and other artists is: Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (VLA)
This may help in the struggle of small jeweler VS. corporate giant.
As we all know there is right and wrong, then there is legal and
illegal and they are not the same thing.
In the style and fashion debate I think what Yurman did was copy a
style and turn it into a fashion. A semantic debate but I think there
is a difference in longevity of style, whereas fashion changes
regularly.
No more than a jewelry should be expected to work for
free…however, like some jewelers, some lawyers are waaayyyy
overpriced because of the name.
Miachelle
A few have said, "Don’t worry about Yurman, he is not hurting you."
I see that he represents something that is very dangerous for all of
us. If I understand correctly, Yurman is squatting on the Etruscan
style and claiming it as his. This does not effect most of us because
our work is not in that style. Now consider that he represents a very
successful business plan. Other well financed groups may in the
future follow the same plan and squat on other styles. Maybe the next
will be Art Deco style. After that, maybe Art Nouveau. It may be
possible that in the future, there will be several well financed
groups that “own” styles that they aggressively defend with highly
skilled lawyers. If this happens, most of us will start to feel the
pain. Small independent jewelers will have to restrict their work to
specific “looks” that avoid the looks used by these large well
financed groups.
This is interesting, because if I understand, “Trade Dress"
properly, it does not give Yurman the right to own the Etruscan
style. Let me use McDonald’s Hamburgers as an illustration. They have
the golden arches as their symbol. They own Ronald McDonald as their
"spokesman”. They have other characters like “The Hamburgler”, but
their business is selling food. These extra things are what makes
McDonald’s unique in the fast food market. A competitor may be
prevented from using a pair of yellow pyramids and a circus acrobat
as symbols because it would be too similar to the overall look of
McDonalds. Still McDonalds does not copyright the way they cook their
hamburgers. If McDonalds used the Yurman business plan, they may
threaten legal action against independent businesses who sell
hamburgers because the two hamburgers look too similar. But McDonalds
"Trade Dress" protection is not in the look of their hamburgers, it
is in the package of the golden arches together with Ronald McDonald
and their other myriad things that make their look unique.
So it appears that Yurman is stepping a bit outside of his umbrella
of Trade Dress protection, but he is successfully doing this because
he employs the better team of lawyers and he picks his fights. Here
is a plan that may work in fighting his dangerous practice.
Find someone who has been selling the Etruscan style before Yurman
started. This needs to be someone who has taken a copyright out on
some of their work. Now have this person sue Yurman. The goal here is
not to recover money from Yurman, it is to create a legal precedent
that shows that Yurman does not own the Etruscan style. He will keep
his Trade Dress protection for the overall look of his business.
Small time jewelers will be able to continue their business
unharrassed as long as they don’t try to make their stores look like
a Yurman store. More important, you won’t have to worry about other
well financed businesses squatting on other styles and restricting
the industry overall.
Oh dear. I’ve finally had time to read all the posts and I want to
point out a couple of things:
-
David Yurman’s designs have made colored stones so accessible to
the consumer that I financially benefit from his success. -
Painters all use the similar techniques, their style is their
intellectual property. I can spot a Yurman as quickly as a Van Gogh
and this is worth something. -
Quit bitching and get your own style.
Dear Calvin,
Thank you for being so articulate–this is what I was feeling my way
towards. I think there are probably several jewelers who fit the
profile you are describing, and I suspect the precedent would be
stronger if it were a class action suit, and the trade associations
got in on the action, too. Not being neo-Etruscan, nor a trade
association member, all I can do is make the point. I do hope someone
will make the case.
Gratefully,
Lisa Orlando
Albion, CA, US
Janet,
Art is an aesthetic experience and different for each individual. I
believe we all do have our own style. We also all have our own
opinions.
Thanks for sharing yours.
Miachelle