My Personal Appeal to You

I am asking you to understand that sometimes things happen in life that bruise the spirit. It happened to me this past month. I am disheartened by several incidents that involve copyright issues in the polymer clay world. It seems there are those who are either so naive as to not understand that using someone else's work without permission is the same as stealing, or, they are so shameless that they know exactly what they are doing is wrong and choose to do it anyway. This very issue impacts four separate articles I had planned to publish in the August 2004 ezine.

It is the honest truth that I seriously considered closing down the pcPolyzine website because I cannot afford the time, effort and money it takes to legally challenge the copyright offenders. Because pcPolyzine is a free publication, and I have not accepted money from anyone for advertising, it would have been a "clean" ending. But then I realized I cannot be the change I expect to see (to loosely quote Ghandi) if I turn my back now.

The National Polymer Clay Guild has an excellent article on their website about ethics. You might want to take a look at it if you haven't already. This issue is surfacing in the polymer clay world more and more each day. I see it on the Internet Discussion Boards and in Chatrooms. It makes me sick that we even have to address it. Let me tell you a brief story, then I promise I will get back to work finishing up the August edition of pcPolyzine.

Last November, my daughter and I attended a local lah-di-dah women's civic association craft show. I, of course, was scouting polymer clay talent, when I noticed a booth with very well done polymer clay pieces. I was eager to meet the artist and offer him/her the opportunity to have their work in pcPolyzine. As I came around the corner of the booth (in my wheelchair) I saw a professionally displayed collection of "The Wiggles." Now, if you aren't familiar with these characters, let me just tell you that they are the darlings of the toddler set -- a four-man group of entertainers that amaze and delight children as well as parents. My three year old nephew and I are big fans, so of course, I was ready to empty my wallet to buy him one of each character.

Being the business woman I am, I asked the booth attendant if I could please see proof of her licensing agreement that gives her permission to sell these branded images made with  polymer clay. You would have thought I said bad words about her mother! She told me, not asked me, to leave her booth and said I was bad for her business. Sheesh!

I have since fantasized a slightly different scenario -- please indulge me....

......just after she demands I leave her booth, I pull out my badge and inform her that I am Queen of the Copyright and Trademark Police and she is under arrest for unlawful use of someone else's creative property. She will appear in court where I also just happen to be the Judge AND the Jury and she will be sentenced to spend the rest of her life in a very terrible place -- the place where she can never touch polymer clay ever again! A harsh sentence, I know, but she brought it on herself.

In addition, I tell her, see those two fierce-looking goons standing behind me? They are going to crush every piece of your polymer clay work under their big, heavy boots. On top of that, I am going to arrest the organizers of this craft show for allowing you to sell unlawful merchandise without checking that you had the proper permission AND I will also shut down this convention facility for not checking that the organizers had checked on every exhibitor to be certain they were not breaking the copyright and trademark laws. I take a deep breath.

Now, Miss Thief, I tell her authoritatively, that's what I call "bad for your business!"
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Do you have comments on the issue of ethics in the polymer clay world?
You can email me at ethics@pcPolyzine.com. I will be sure your comments are forwarded to the National Polymer Clay Guild.