On 6/14/10 4:27 PM, in article ,
"Lucille" wrote:

The Nora Corbett cross stitch fairy in today's 1-2-3 newsletter reminded me
way too much of Lynn Nicoletti's delightful Thimbelina. Thimbelina hangs
proudly on my den wall and she's innovative and clever and lots of fun.
This one looks to me like a rip-off, but not quite. Is there some kind of
law that states you can't use someone else's design and call it your own?

This is Nora Corbett's version:
http://www.123stitch.com/cgi-perl/it...item=MIR-KIT12


This one is Lynn Nicoletti's version:
http://www.lynnenicoletti.com/largerthimbelina.html

Doesn't look like a coincidence to me but I'm not very well versed on copy
write laws.

Lucille


Hmmm- interesting. Personally, I think Lynn's version is much cleverer.
And while I like some of Nora Corbett's things, originality is not her
hallmark. In that many of her designs are essentially the same basic form,
with a slight tweak of a dress, or flower, etc. And they all have the same
face. It is strikingly similar, but it's something that Lynn would have to
pursue. To not be in copyright violation you have to be able to show the
source of your idea, design development, etc. Something like this - well,
it's probably different enough - although the purple tuffet is quite the
copy - that going after Ms. Corbett wouldn't go far. OTOH, people like
yourself notice this, and word gets around - so it's not a great thing for
one's reputation. OTOH - benefit of the doubt would be to say that maybe
she saw Lynn's and had the design subliminally present when doing her own.
Who knows.

All I can say for sure is that when an artist is accused of copying someone
else's design, or being very derivative of another's work -without
permission - then in order to prove your ownership of this supposed new
original design all the material that gave rise to the design is the
evidence. Which is why in working on original stuff I've been told to be
able to show my source of inspiration and working sketches, etc as the
design was developed.

Good get. Ah, well - who knows.

Ellice