What is it that makes people so STOOPID?

[jan_andrea]

I got an email from a kind reader of my site, saying that she'd bought a pattern for a diaper and wipes case on eBay, then stumbled on my site and found that the PDF she'd been sent by the eBay seller was a word-for-word, pictures included, copy of my pattern. Here's the listing. She even used MY PICTURE in the listing!!

WTF?

I'm filing an intellectual property infringement with eBay, but still. Who in their right mind pulls this kind of stunt? It's not like I haven't *very clearly* spelled out my copyrights on the page, and made it abundantly clear that the pattern is for personal use only. I mean, it's one thing to use the pattern to sell items made from it (and a lot of people do, despite the text on the page), but to copy the pattern itself and *sell it*?!? WFT?!?!?!

I am writing this to the seller:

I was alerted to this listing by an unfortunate buyer who then stumbled upon my pages  in a search for sling sewing directions. (If my user name doesn't make it clear, I am Jan Andrea, owner of www.sleepingbaby.net)

I must admit, I'm pretty stunned. This listing is such a blatant violation of my intellectual property rights. I don't even know where to begin with what was wrong with your selling *my* pattern as your "original" design, right down to using my photo in your listing!

I'm glad you've ended the listing (hopefully you had a change of heart and realized how wrong this was), but at the very least, I expect you to refund the two buyers' payments. I will be writing to the first buyer to alert her to the fraud. The second wrote to me, so she is aware of it already, and I will advise her to seek a refund. The pattern is *free* and was never, ever yours to sell.

I will be pursuing a VeRO with eBay. I hope that in the future, you will think many, many times before you decide to steal someone else's intellectual property for your own financial gains.

I should be far more harsh, but what the hell. I really am stunned.