Damnation!

[jan_andrea]

The eBay a$$holes are at it again.

I got another email from a disgruntled buyer who'd gotten one of my patterns in an eBay auction (this one). Apparently the PDF is a duplicate of my shopping cart cover directions. Looking at her other auctions, it seems likely that she's also ripping off at least two to three other patterns (this one, for the diaper/wipes case, and this one, for the sleep sack, and this one, for a high chair cover).

Un-effing-real.

I wrote to the seller. No response yet. The buyer wrote to the seller, requesting a refund, and was refused. She has opened a dispute with PayPal, which she should win. I've opened a VeRO dispute with eBay regarding the seller, which hopefully will light a fire under her ass. The buyer also sent me a copy of what she had received from the seller, and it's a copy-and-pasted version of the shopping cart cover directions... including Sophia's picture. I am PISSED about this. I mean, damn it, what part of copyright is so hard to understand? What kind of complete jackhole rips off free works and sells them as their own?

I'm trying to find a quick and easy way to add a watermark to my images. I didn't want to do that, particularly because most of the images in the patterns have measurements and things in them, and adding text over that will make them more difficult to use, but it seems that if I want to protect my free work from assholes, I just have to bite the bullet and do it. Unfortunately, I haven't found a freeware program that will batch add watermarks AND do so on GIFs -- most seem to be for JPGs. Does anyone know of a freeware one that will do watermarks in batches? I could probably get Fireworks to do it, but that's a lot more work than I really want to put into this. I am willing to pay for a decent program, but honestly, having to pay to mark my own damned images because other assholes can't stop stealing them is pretty obnoxious :(

ARGH.

ETA: The buyer sent me the file; it's word for word a copy of the pattern of my site... including Sophia's picture. Her paypal dispute was answered thusly by the seller:

Item sold was for instructions on how to make shopping cart covers - the document she received included directions on how to make shopping cart covers. I did not acquire the info from the website she indicates - I have have never heard of it until now. The site I obtained the info from told me I could do whatever I wanted to with it. I am sorry if she is upset with the directions, but what was advertised is what I provided. I feel it is unfair to demand a refund for digital information that has been received by the buyer & that is as described. I have received several threatning pieces of correspondence from this buyer, and do not wish to communicate further with her. I ask that you rule in my favor seeing the item she received is EXACTLY what was being advertised.

The "threats" were the buyer telling her she needed to remove the listings and that she was writing to me :P And of course, the seller absolutely does NOT have my permission to be selling my directions. I wrote to her and said that if she obtained them from another site, I needed their URL immediately. Of course, no reply.

I also bought the sleep sack and high chair cover directions, to see if they were also copied from my site. Well, guess what? There were no files available to download. I'm guessing that she panicked and removed them from her site, but didn't take down the auctions; this gave me the opportunity to leave negative feedback (which I did) and open disputes with PayPal (which I have done). I'm very curious to see how she handles that. It's pretty much damned if she does, damned if she doesn't as far as sending me the files, unless they aren't copies of my site; if they are and she sends them, I have ammo; if she doesn't send them, my dispute is still valid. The only way she can win is if they aren't copies, which I doubt.

Comments

[sandramort.livejournal.com]

I'll have Gary reply.

[jenrose]

The absolute *nerve*.

[jan-andrea.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty steamed :(

Just about any open source Photo Gallery

[(Anonymous)]

Most photo gallery software these days have a batch upload function(or better yet at times, the ability to FTP the files into a directory and batch process them).

And they all will do watermarks. Generally it is easy to watermark an image horizontally along the top or bottom. Doing it vertically should be easy, but I honestly don't know. Doing it diagnolly would be more difficult.

If your images are all the same size, than a simple solution would be to design a watermark that is the exact same size as your image, in whatever orientation you want, and use that to watermark all the images(the thumbnails will likely be mucked up like crazy, but the full size images would be fine).

You can also use the transparent style watermarks, where most of it is transparent backround, with just enough to be noticable - though that is beyond my imagery skills.

Don't forget to ALSO fill out the ID3 info(you can stick the creator, copyright, and a url back to your website so people hunting around the image file can find the url and the notice the copyright.
(not sure if there is an automated way to do that or not...I keep meaning to getting around to setting up a utility to do that).

Re: Just about any open source Photo Gallery

[sandramort.livejournal.com]

Whoops, he didn't log in, that was my dh.

Re: Just about any open source Photo Gallery

[jan-andrea.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That's a trove of great info :)

Re: Just about any open source Photo Gallery

[(Anonymous)]

Oh...I almost forgot, we use Menalto Gallery. If you have a watermark image in mind, I'd suggest sending it to Sandy along with a sample image and she can setup a pattern album and give it a trial run.

[mollyf.livejournal.com]

I've never actually used it, but the last few versions of Photoshop (full version and LE or Elements) come with the Digimarc watermark filter. You can personalize it at the Digimarc site. You can batch process images using Actions and the File-> Automate-> Batch command.

http://www.digimarc.com/mypicturemarc/download/default.asp

You're on a Mac, right? If you're using current OSX software, you can set up the Automator (under Applications) to batch process image files in other programs, too.

[jan-andrea.livejournal.com]

I use a PC, but that's neat about Macs. Another commenter recommended a freeware program that did a nice job of it, thankfully, and I'll probably take Tahoebean's suggestion and turn everything into PDFs. I hate to do that, but it seems like the only way to preserve my copyright info :P

[nutmeg.livejournal.com]

I love that the Ebay auction also advertises that the buyer can sew the items and sell them for profit!!!!!!!!!

I wish I knew anything about gif.s

[jan-andrea.livejournal.com]

I know. She wrote back and said (like the previous lady) that she had bought/received the pattern from someone else with resale rights, but she didn't provide the URL (like the previous lady). So I'll believe it when I see it :?

[dnl2002.livejournal.com]

I am SO sorry that this is happening...certainly not a headache you need right now.

I use FastStone Image Viewer (http://www.faststone.org/) it's freeware, and a VERY handy little tool. It will allow you to watermark gif files, and has GREAT batch convert tools. It is also easy to use.

Let me know if I can help in any way, I do use Paint Shop Pro quite often, so I could probably come up with a watermark for you if you need one.

Also, just in case you weren't aware, typing Alt + 0169 (or Option + g on a Mac) will make the copyright symbol come up in most programs and most fonts.

Best of luck, keep us updated! Again, let me know if there is anything I can do for you!

Liz

[jan-andrea.livejournal.com]

Oh, that FastStone program is just what I needed! Thank you!

[tahoebean.livejournal.com]

I would also convert all of your instructions into downloadable PDF's that can't be edited :)

[jan-andrea.livejournal.com]

I might just do that. I hate to, because they're so bulky, but that would at least mean that my copyright info stays intact if someone tries to resell.

[zauditu.livejournal.com]

You seem to have gotten a lot of good advice - let me know if you are still looking for a solution. One of my dearest friends works in computer privacy issues and his wife practices intellectual property law.

[jan-andrea.livejournal.com]

Thanks :) She wrote back and claimed that she'd gotten the patterns from another site, but like the previous instance, she didn't give the URL, so I'll believe it when I see it :P

[tahoebean.livejournal.com]

Damn, the nerve of some people! I wonder how much money she made off of your patterns?

[jan-andrea.livejournal.com]

At least $40-50, based on the listing of previous auctions :( I "suggested" that she refund them, because no matter where she got the patterns from, they were NEVER hers to sell :P

[andreaq.livejournal.com]

This stinks! I sell on Etsy and this comes up in the forums all the time. Some people are just clueless, but some people knowingly steal and try to rip other people off (sounds like this is the case here). I hope you can resolve this easily!

p.s. I just found your grammar page! I love it!

[jan-andrea.livejournal.com]

It seems to be a fairly common practice, which I find baffling. In what universe is it ever okay to take someone else's work and sell it as your own?!

Thanks re. the grammar page :) It's really, really old :)

[joy-disaster.livejournal.com]

holy crap : / I can't BELIEVE she is trying to pass this off as legit! "I've never seen that site before" wtf? I am worried about how many people are doing this, I know some people are selling knitty patterns printed out and there was a big problem with that, but geesh the pattern has a picture of your child in it! the gall to say it didn't come from you.

[jan-andrea.livejournal.com]

I know. I'm pissed.

[artemis-rich.livejournal.com]

This whole thing just amazes me and I'm so very sorry that you are suffering for it. I hope that you can get some kind of retribution and stop this stuff from going on. The PDFs and the watermarks are a good start. Let's hope Ebay and PayPal and any other authorities you can get involved in this actually do something.

Sending you good luck and strong thoughts.

Icon is for the eBay a$$

[lemmings-world.livejournal.com]

No advice to give, just a communal 'wtf???'. I mean, seriously, the nerve of some people about things. With any luck this will turn around and bite them on their ass.

Hope you're staying cool, it's been beastly hot down here.

[solielarana.livejournal.com]

Create an account log in where they have to post information to access the files. There are tons of free scripts for it.

I'm sorry people keep doing this!