Using Other People's Designs - Page 4

To Dailey:
Sorry I called you a "thief."
My mistake, I wrote before I had all the facts.

I have to say I agree with Dailey - while I think it was very nice of her to remove the images of her website, I don't think it was something she needed to do. We all glean inspiration from all over - if you produce something so special and so unique that you don't ever want anyone else to even attempt the same, the only way to ensure that is to not put it out there for the public to see. People aren't thieves for re-creating designs....I could say that Nancy copied me, because long ago I made pea pod cookies for a Valentine's party. Did she create them first, or did I? Who can say? Certainly, her "peas be my valentine" tag was taken from elsewhere...you can buy shirts, cards, etc. online with that same message. Did Nancy "steal" someone's clever play on words? Likewise, I saw wedding dress cookies on hangers a couple of years ago on a Food Network program....did Rae Bakes take her idea from Nancy, did Nancy take hers from Rae, or did 2 clever and talented people manage to come up with a similar idea? As long as the cookie (or whatever) in question was created by the individual who is claiming it, it's theirs to claim - they did the work, whether the idea originated with them or not.

How many people have stated in this very forum their intention to replicate "Cookies By Design" cookies? Why is that fine, but when it's another decorator on the site (or off) it's not? CBD designs originated with someone somewhere, right? Why should that person's designs be valued any differently than Nancy or anyone else? Please don't say it's because CBD puts their work so "out there" - Nancy does too, by having a website meant to promote her business. Whether it's on a smaller scale or not shouldn't matter.

Bottom line - be flattered. Someone thought so highly of your design skills that they felt inspired to create something similar - they aren't you, never will be, and likely aren't even competition for you anyways (whether in terms of location, legality, skill level, etc.). Isn't knowing that it was your idea enough? Be proud of what you do, have confidence in your skills, and don't worry too much about everyone else.

JM(ever so humble)O.

Wow! sugarsugar, if I could have thought of exactly what I would have said on this matter - you would have taken the words right out of my mouth. Well put - excellent post!

BTW - Nancy, your cookies are quite awesome!!

Dailey and Nancy - I applaud your graciousness! This could have gotten really ugly.

Many of us walk the thin line of trying to make "our rendition" of a pattern we see, which may or may not be considered "design stealing". I am still in the caveman stage of decorating, so no one has to worry about me trying to pass one off, but maybe hopefully someday I'll be doing the really intricate work! I was reading this thread to see if there is an accepted protocol. Maybe one already exists, but is there a sticky somewhere about in what situations we should give credit (like we had to site our sources in reasearch papers if it was a direct quote, but not if we were just paraphrasing the concept)?

Thank you for letting us see that the issue was resolved with such class.

Dailey,

Just looked at your website and I must say, you have some wonderful cookies on your site. I love that poodle cookie.

Cindy

I will admit I get inspiration from others pictures, but also know I could never reproduce exactly those designs. If I wanted to do an exact replica, would always PM that person and ask if theywould mind. One other thing to consider, when we get the Wilton yearbooks, aren't we copying their designs and the designs of any contest winners they publish? My last cake (grandson's christening cake) was a design from the 1995 yearbook. It came close but not totally the whole design as I did not do the stringwork, so don't consider this an exact copy. I am not artistic enough to be able to come up with any "signature" design, just use bits and pieces of what I have seen others do and am impressed by.

Nancy's designs are incredible, it's unfortunate to see this thread though. I worked in technology for many years, talk about copyrights ! I have noticed Susan @ rolling pin productions speaks to the same issue at her website, so perhaps Nancy can make a similar notation regarding legal concerns?

that being said, copyrighting any design is a lengthy and tedious process, and unless a competitor is in your back yard, it's likely best to know each will find their market and hopefully thrive?

I agree with kissmycookie......I worked for copyright/business lawyers for several years and saw this all the time. The ONLY way to protect your work and be able to pursue legal course is to copyright EVERY SINGLE cookie, which is VERY costly, tedious and lengthy. Simply placing a copyright symbol on your website or a blurb about copyright is not the same as legally copyrighting every image/object/product. Some folks include a "copyright 2007 (or whatever year)....." on the bottom of their website, which is technically illegal. You have to got through the copyright process to actually claim copyright!

Nancy and Dailey....your cookies are fabulous and you should be flattered that anyone would try to replicate either of your works of art!

I am also guilty of this.

Last year I made some cookies for my sister -in -law's personal bridal shower that I was unable to attend. I found a picture online after spending hours surfing. I hand cut them and decorated the bustier almost exactly like the one I had found online. Well, when I posted them I couldn't even remember where I had found the picture that I copied! Someone here on CC pointed out it was from rollingpin productions.

All that said, I was such a newbie that I didn't have a clue what I was doing and that a lot of people here on CC where probably pissed about my using the rollingpin design but it didn't even cross my mind. Since then I have seen that same design pop up again made by others here on CC.

Ok, so now that my kids are needing attention, I don't remember where exactly I was going with this but wanted to say I have done no less than this in the past and am glad that I didn't recieve this much scrutiny!

I'm SOOOOOO guilty.......in fact...........I set my kids up at the comp. with several pages of cookie pics and ask them to pick which cookies they'd like me to try and make for their school party.......the dracula cookies I made are TOTALLY a theft from rolling pin productions......I mean theirs are wayyyyy better because THEY are way better at the whole cookie thing than I am........I couldn't buy the cookie cutter anywhere (probably because they invented the cookie themselves) so I made my own!!! Granted my cookie wasn't EXACTLLY like theirs.....but I assure you if I was as talented as they are it would have been!!!! lol I love love love when I see a cake pop up on the home page that looks SUPER similair to something I've made! I always sit back and say wow......someone actually saw something I made and thought it was cool enough that they wanted to try and do it too??? How awesome!!! I ALWAYS take it as a compliment as I think EVERYONE should!!!