Monday 27 July 2015

Success! (Partial)

Great news!  I heard back from Etsy's legal team, and they have removed the infringing listing from Happy Moon Pads' Etsy shop.  Thank you to Danny for dealing with it.

Happy Moon Pads could of course list it again, which she has done in the past, but she has a record now... and Etsy's policy is to "remove and discontinue service to repeat offenders".

I will be keeping a close eye on her Etsy shop, and will be watching Etsy in general in case she decides to open up another shop under a different name.  But for now the main listing is GONE, justice prevails, and I am happy. :)

[Edit 1: I found another infringing listing in her shop - the 11.75 inch pattern which she is attempting to sell separately - so I have reported that to Etsy's legal team also.]

[Edit 2:  The second infringing listing has been removed by Etsy!]

Thursday 23 July 2015

Luna Wolf Patterns Now Available For FREE!

What a week it's been at Luna Wolf HQ!

As you may know from my previous blog posts, I have been having problems with the ongoing theft of my patterns/tutorial set by an Etsy seller going by the name of Happy Moon Pads.  She bought the pattern/tutorial set on 19 April 2014, and shortly afterwards started selling it on Etsy and on her own site, with her business details inserted in place of mine.  She claimed full credit for the 15 page PDF file, even selling a $25 licence for people to sell pads made from the patterns, as long as credit was given to her shop. (You do not need a licence to sell items made from a sewing pattern - this is bogus.)

I reported this brazen theft of intellectual property to Etsy, as did several other people, but Etsy weren't interested.  Happy Moon Pads altered the listing photo to make it slightly less identical, but a year later the original listing is back on Etsy, and people are still unwittingly buying it.

Meanwhile, I had been having terrible problems with my website after attempting to migrate it, and could not get my shopping cart set up correctly to sell the tutorial anymore.  Happy Moon Pads was profiting from my work, and my site was too broken to sell it myself.  Even if I did manage to fix the shopping cart, or broke my Etsy boycott and listed the pattern/tutorial on Etsy myself, I knew that whatever I priced it, she would undercut it and continue to rip me off - and frankly I don't have the time or energy to continue pursuing her.

After much deliberation, I decided the best way forward would be to offer the pattern/tutorial set for free, or for a small optional donation. This is the best way I can think of to stop her from profiting from my work.  You can't undercut free. I have done a complete revamp of my website (the broken shopping cart is gone!), and you can now download both the A4 and US letter versions of the tutorial, plus templates for wider versions of the pantiliner and 8.5 inch pad.  There is a donation button on the website if you like the patterns and want to say thanks. (A massive thank you from me to the people who have already donated!)

Here are the free patterns!

A4 version
US letter version
Wider versions of the pantiliner and 8.5 inch pad

You can help by sharing the pattern/tutorial set with its Luna Wolf branding far and wide, and speaking up if you see it being sold on and/or claimed as somebody else’s. I am happy to provide the original high resolution photographs from the tutorial photoshoot (including the many that didnt make it in!), photographs of the original patterns drafted on cardboard, screenshots of the original tutorial files on my PC date stamped 2009, a screenshot of the Paypal transcation from 19 April 2014 when Samantha Hughes (AKA Happy Moon Pads) purchased the pattern from Luna Wolf, or whatever else it takes to prove this is my work.

If you have previously bought this pattern from Happy Moon Pads without realising it was stolen property, I suggest opening a dispute with Etsy and/or Paypal, although I have little faith in the former.

I have been overwhelmed by the support I have had from the cloth pad community. I wasn't sure how people would react to seeing a pattern they had previously paid for become available for free, but generally people have completely understood and supported my decision, and I am so grateful for that.