Photo by Kimberly Shaw
I was first introduced to "Victoria's Tea Room" fabric by Fabri-Quilt, Inc early March of this year when I received this note from one of my clients, written on her invoice.
She
writes, "To Kimberly Shaw, I just bought teacup/teapot fabric for one
of my employees who makes tea cozies for us & it was the design of
the "Teacher" card you had designed. Do you have other designs you are
licensing out? She quick "whipped" them up this week for an open house
we had (I only had 1 of those cards left!)".
This is what is called Copyright Infringement. Fabri-Quilt, Inc is located in North Kansas City, MO so I quick gave the owner, Adlai Kunst, a call because I have never licensed out my designs to be used on fabric.
FOR YOU TEACHER TEACUP CARD
My "For You Teacher" teacup greeting card made it's debut January 2004.
Artwork © Kimberly Shaw Graphics
The image below on Fabri-Quilt's "Victoria's Tea Room" fabric isn't
exact, but the design and arrangement of the objects are so similar there is
no way it could have been created except from my original artwork.
Photo by Kimberly Shaw
The similarities include:
A red floral teacup with gold trim, it's handle on the right, with a scalloped sauce.
The same number of multi-colored books with gold accents, 2 smaller, 3 larger1 , angled resting against stacked books, behind the teacup on the left side.
A red apple, with its green leaves still attached, in the lower left hand corner.
White lace angled in the same direction with the same little + design on the edge.
A tag tied on the teacup's handle, with a red bow, which also reads, "For You, Teacher".
A TEAPOT WITHOUT A LID
Every time I insert a teabag into this cards I think of Fabri-Quilt's "Victoria's Tea Room" fabric.
It was brought to my attention that the teapot on Fabri-Quilt's fabric does not have a lid.
Who would design a teapot without a lid unless they intended to put
something in it, like a teabag? Oh, ya, that would be me.
The
"Congratulations" tag on this fabric also came from one of my card
designs, which I created from my climbing rose at home and a potted
plant I received as a gift.
Fabri-Quilt
has now turned this matter over to a lawyer, who has stated in his
letter to me that Fabri-Quilt had nothing to do with the design of the
fabric, and (I quote) "Fabri-Quilt has the means and the will to vigorously oppose any baseless suit you may bring, and to file a suit
against you for any false, libelous and slanderous statements you may
make. I urge you to consult with an attorney." (end quote). I HAVE!
FABRI-QUILT, INC. DENIES UNAUTHORIZED USE OF COPYRIGHTED ARTWORK ON FABRIC
A detail from my "Getting Together" Teacup Greeting card.
Artwork © Kimberly Shaw Graphics
Fabri-Quilt's Lawyer is correct in stating that there is no law against the
use of teacups and teapots, or stacked teacups for that matter, on
fabric.
Seen
on Fabri-Quilt's "Victoria's Tea Room" fabric Pattern #9335 are stacked
teacups with both cup's handles on the left side, with gold trim on the
rims, handles, and edging around the blue bands,
blue bands of color on the teacups interrupted with an opening of
pinkish-red flowers and green leaves, white cut work lace sitting on a
burgundy
field under the teacups. Did I forget any similarities?
However,
when my mathematical hubby calculated the similarities between my
Teacup Greeting cards and it's representative copies found on
Fabri-Quilt's fabric, the probability that
the design was independently created by another artist (as FQ's Lawyer
suggested) was conservatively in the Nonillions. That's 1 in a
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 chance. Who knew?
That calculation is for just one of my designs. Four of my designs are
found on Fabri-Quilt's "Victoria's Tea Room" fabric. Also,
Fabri-Quilt's lawyer said this fabric is discontinued and Fabri-Quilt
doesn't have it any more. Is that supposed to make me feel better? If
a thief robs your home, sells what he took, and doesn't have it anymore
(even if he didn't get that much for the items he stole) what law
states he is no longer guilty of his crime?
"Victoria's Tea Room" by Fabri-Quilt, Inc. Pattern #9336
"Victoria's Tea Room" by Fabri-Quilt, Inc. Pattern #9338
My
single blue-banded teacup was re-designed in my office by my Graphics
Designer from the stacked cups in my original painting to be used on
the back of this greeting card and for stickers.
When
artwork is stolen it effects people, making them feel violated. I am
personally grieved, but so are those who also contribute to the success
of Kimberly Shaw Graphics.
Adlai Kunst, owner of Fabri-Quilt,
who I originally contacted is out of the picture. He placed me in
contact with John Linam of Fabri-Quilt, who thought my claim needed to
be submitted to experts in this field and passed me on to their lawyer Steven Braun of Krigel & Krigel, P.C.
Mr. Braun made it very clear that while his client appreciates that I
must protect my Intellectual Property, Fabri-Quilt denies liability and
must respectfully decline to pay me anything. He adds he could not see
any similarities between my cards and the fabric.
My cards: Fabri-Quilt's fabric:
Any Similarities? I don't know, maybe Mr. Braun is the expert.
Fabri-Quilt's lawyer wrote me stating that his client understands I must protect my Intellectual Property, yet informed me that Fabri-Quilt was not going to contact the "numerous small stores" that carry their fabric. So I began contacting the stores myself, informing them that the designs on Fabri-Quilt's Victoria's Tea Room fabric infringes on my original copyrighted designs. While Fabri-Quilt may understand I must protect my Intellectual Property, I'm not sure their lawyer does.
Some online stores gladly removed Fabri-Quilt's "Victoria's Tea Room"
fabric from their stores, some ebay shops have not, and some stores
informed me they were returning the fabric to Fabri-Quilt. The fabric still continues to be added to additional ebay stores.
When Fabri-Quilt discovered this info on my blog, my lawyer
conveyed a message to me from Mr. Braun, where Mr. Braun said there is no way
Fabri-Quilt can settle this issue as long as I have this info posted on
my blog. Settle? Really? What's changed? Mr. Braun already told me previously
that Fabri-Quilt does not take responsibility nor will pay me anything
for their copy of my designs, since, as they claim, they don't have designers and
didn't design "Victoria's Tea Room" fabric line. Mr. Braun also urged
me to remove all my blog text about Fabri-Quilt without mentioning that
he asked me to do it.
Found THIS posted at QUILT NEWS.
I'm speechless.
