Hot Topic is Stealing My Designs

alldayidreamofdisney:

magicalribbons:

Now I know there are a lot of other Disney Inspired Bow makers out there that make their own original designs. And I also know there are bow makers out there who steal my designs. I don’t care how simple you think a design is, my designs are solely my creations. I take every thought and idea and knowledge of materials to make my designs. I do my research and figure out the perfect shape, size, and placement of materials. 

Now what has come to my attention is that Hot Topic, or whomever Hot Topic is buying the bows from, is stealing some of my designs, and others as well. Selling them as crappier, cheaper versions and slapping a Disney logo on them.

THIS IS NOT OK. They did not come up with the designs themselves. They are STEALING OUR CREATIVITY AND WORK. My work is Disney inspired, but I put no copyrighted images or logos on them, I do not try to fool my customers into thinking they are officially a Disney product.

What it appears is happening is that Hot Topic is googling “Disney hair bows”, seeing a design they like and then trying to recreate it for their own profit. They never contacted me to discuss buying my design and selling it in their own stores.. There is also a little thing called a Derivative Work which means you can not take the original design from the owner, make one or more changes and call it your own without the owner’s knowledge and express permission. 

You don’t have to get a copyright registered to make it yours. When you make it and show it to the world as something you created from your own mind, its legally yours. If you have any questions about this, google Copyrights, Derivative works and Arts and Crafts Copyrights. I have done my research on these subjects.

So now onto the designs in question.

Back in December I was shown this:

This is Hot Topic’s Little Mermaid Bow with the description online: “Alligator clasp black, white and blue hair bow - just like Ariel’s”

Yes it may be based off the bow Ariel wears in the movie but, this is the bow she wears:

Its just a simple light blue bow.

This is Magical Ribbons’s Kiss the Girl Ariel Bow, that I designed and created over 2 YEARS ago.

WIth my design I wanted to bring her whole dress into it, factoring shades of colors, proportions of colors, placement of colors, the shape of the bow, how I wanted the tails…. and then a little added touch of rhinestones on the corners to add some sparkle to express the magic of the moment.

That is not so simple of a design and idea, that ANYONE could just think it up off the top of their head. In fact a lot of my designs are based off necessity. What materials can I actually find in stores, what do I have on hand already so I don’t have to buy a new material. 

So now people are buying this inferiorly made by machine, stolen design, that another company is making a profit off of when it was not their idea. 

I strive to make sure that each one of my creations that I sell looks top notch and is of good quality, so that people see Magical Ribbons as a excellent original designer and shop. 

Hot Topic is practically mutilating my design. These bows are my babies, and they are stealing them from me. If I ever see one in person, I might be sick because its like the stole and sold a part of me. Something I was so proud of to say I created. And so overjoyed to see someone else enjoy, who knew and appreciated that it was a child of my brain.

On to the next thing. they have now come out with 2 more bows.

Peter Pan, and Snow White. The Snow White one is not of my design, but it belongs to another bow maker, because I have seen it before.

Hot Topic’s Peter Pan Bow

Magical Ribbon’s Peter Pan Inspired Bow (Created over 2 years ago):

As for the Peter Pan one. that is one of the most copied bows from me. And I see it all the time, and I will be taking action on those other bow makers out there who copy me. IT IS ILLEGAL what you are doing.

But Hot Topic has made a Derivative Work of my Peter Pan bow. They changed the color in one place, and have a different shade of green on the back. And no, once again its not so simple that everyone comes up with that idea first thing when they want to make a Peter Pan bow.

Let me point out one thing that the Peter Pan bow is different from then most of my bows…. The color balancing. My Peter Pan bow has a dark green background with a light green on top. But if I wanted to color proportion it correctly as to his character, then those tones of greens would be switched as it is his shirt color that comes to mind first as a Peter Pan main color. My design was specifically this: A bow version of his hat (so thats why its a darker green background) with the feather, but with the rest of his color scheme put in there too. That is why it is backwards with the color scheme. I also chose the shape for a reason, because its a more masculine shape, because Peter is a boy. 

These are all the things I think about when creating a bow. I get told so often that I cannot take ownership because its too simple. There are companies out there who take ownership of a certain COLOR hue. 

So the thing that may be on your mind next is, well Magical Ribbon’s wait is so long, or they are too expensive for me that I am going to go buy a knock off. That does not make it right. It is EXACTLY like buying a knock off purse, or jeans, or shoes. My prices are what they are for a reason, just because someone else can make it cheaper and faster does not mean I can. What you get from me is quality and service, and the handmade care of the design and product.

And many people do understand this, and this is why the wait for my products can get long. Its an everlasting battle to try to get my service even better for the customer, but there are restrictions on what I can do.

There are so many individual artists and small businesses starting everyday thanks to the internet, but the internet is not a free for all to take what you want and do what you want with it. More and more I hear about large companies stealing the individual’s designs, or their fan art. In todays culture you can see how much the entertainment industry inspires our lives, with conventions, fan art, cosplay, fanfiction, homemade music and videos based off of those movies, shows, books, etc. And then arts and crafts as well. Unknowns have gotten paid by the company to use their drawing or whatever they were inspired to make. But the company itself did not think up that idea or design on their own, someone else did, and they deserve proper payment for that design. 

So please do not buy these bows from Hot Topic, please spread the word. Do not let corporate companies who steal individual artist’s designs get away with it just because they are big. But I urge as well, don’t go into the stores and complain to the employees about it, they cannot do anything and it would be mean to yell at them about the issue.

I thank you for your support on this issue, it makes a big deal to how well my business does.

I’ve followed Magical Ribbons since the beginning.  Her designs are amazing and she is quite possibly one of the sweetest girls in the Disney Tumblr community.  PLEASE spread this. Signal boost the shit out of it. Nobody, and I mean nobody deserves to have their work stolen like this.