Last July, responding to an inordinate amount of copyright theft of an article I wrote about David Yurman, I finally got around to registering this written work with the United States Copyright Office. Ta Dah! My certificate of registration finally arrived in the mail today.
I was finding this article everywhere, from a jewelry store website in St. Louis to descriptions for David Yurman jewelry being sold on eBay.
Most of the businesses I contacted immediately pulled the article from their website with an apology. Amazingly, the jewelry store in St. Louis only responded after I sent them a cease and desist letter. One of the sellers on eBay defended himself by saying he didn't know he had stolen the article from me since he had copied it from another seller. I guess that's ok?
As artists and crafters, we support ourselves through our training, experience and creative process. After you take so much time bringing your idea to life, it is vexing beyond belief when you discover your arts/crafts design or promotional copy is stolen.
Want to fight back? Check out my articles on the subject: