On the Facebook page for Jo’s Country Junction was a message. It was from Angelina Reed. The message read, “Noticed your lovely design being sold on Ebay (link above)”. I followed the link and came to this.
Yep. You guessed right. It is our pattern. It is our picture. They are trying to sell it….FRUSTRATION!!
We originally posted this as a free pattern on Moda Bake Shop. You can see they removed the writing we had around the photo and added their own frame. It’s easy to see that there is a thief on the loose.
You can find the original pattern here on Moda Bake Shop. The pattern is FREE!!
Here is the copyright info that is listed on Moda Bake Shop, “©2009-2014 Moda Bake Shop
The individual designers featured on this website ultimately hold the copyright for their projects and designs posted on the Moda Bake Shop. Patterns are not intended for sale or digital distribution. All items made from Moda Bake Shop patterns are for personal, non-commercial use only, unless given explicit written permission from the design owner to sell finished products made from their pattern tutorials featured on the Moda Bake Shop.”
That person is in direct violation.
I have written to the thief and asked that they remove the pattern and cease sales. As of writing this post I have not heard anything from the person.
I thank Angelina for bringing this to our attention. If no results come from direct contact from this person I will be forced to notify Ebay. In the meantime I am asking all of you to share this post on whatever social media outlets you have. I don’t want this person to make a penny from high jacking our project, a project that we freely gave to all of you for free. I want people who were meant to have the pattern for free to have it.
This is so frustrating. I saw that the person has other items listed for sale that are craft related. I can’t help but wonder if all of those were high jacked too.
That’s terrible!!
How rude of them.
That is just plain despicable!! I think eBay should be notified regardless…this should be stopped! And here you are being so generous with your time and patterns!! Sheesh!
Why am I having such a hard time seeing the winners on your blog and some of the others?
I agree with Paulette , eBay should be notified to try to put a stop to this person. If this person did it to you they probably have done or will do it to others. As Barney Fiffe says nip it in the bud.
If I were you I would notify Ebay at once and not worry if this person responds to you. I hope you don’t mind but I sent the seller a question about the pattern. Just asking if it was their original work as I had seen the pattern on Moda Bakeshop. I didn’t harrass or get angry. Just asked as a simple question.
You should definitely notify eBay. They need to be stopped.
That’s terrible.
I’m wondering if you should notify Moda also.
They may be able to help in some way as it was taken off their site.
No matter if the thief replies to you notify eBay immediately and direct them to the original post where your pattern was offered for free through Moda Bakeshop. The thief will probably be totally banned from eBay and that is what they deserve. I just hate it when I see patterns being sold that I know belong to a designer who I know isn’t selling them herself. This is a quilt I intend to make from the free pattern at Moda Bakeshop…I bought the specific fabric and all. It’s just waiting for me to have time to do it. Thank you for sharing your wonderful designs through the Bakeshop.
I just sent shawboyz an email to tell them this was a free pattern. If it is not removed, you need to contact Ebay.
Cheats are horrible.
I agree, notify ebay at once. They want to know these things. Jo, I also sent the seller a note telling her that I recognize the pattern as one from Moda Bake Shop and that she is a thief and is infringing on copyright.
You need to notify eBay immediately. This seller has a whole load of patterns which they shouldn’t be selling for various reasons, including yours – such as this, written in the description of one of their Disney designs – “The chart is created by me using my own software and then printed by me”. I think Disney might have something to say about that too. From the few I’ve looked at, they say they charted the designs themselves yet the images are quite clearly copyright.
Oh H#LL NO!!!! go after them on Ebay!
How pathetic to steal something free and sell it as one’s own. I guess they thought that living in Great Britain would ‘distance’ themselves from the legalities. Please notify ebay – don’t let that crumb make a penny from you work.
Despicable! I would notify Moda Bake Shop, too. I’m sure they have a good lawyer who could take care of this for you.
I agree with the other commenters about notifying eBay and asking the folks at the Moda Bake shop if they would consider issuing a cease and deist notice. As an aside, love that pattern :)
Thank you for letting us know about this, I’m always more concerned with other “bloggers” re-purposing my content for their Pinterest spam sites than thinking someone would sell freely available items.
I’m with other folks on this…ebay needs to be notified regardless of whether they take it down or not since they are not reputable.
You really need to notify Ebay immediately, regardless of what that person does. They might take your pattern down, but continue with other people’s patterns. They should be totally banned from Ebay and all sales income forfeited!
Ooh, just noticed Susan’s comment. Regarding Disney, those people do not take kindly to other people making money off of them. If the find out, they will get nasty with the seller; hope they find out!!
I visited that seller’s eBay store and literally everything on it is either a computer-generated cross-stitch pattern of a copyrighted image or a crochet/knit pattern stolen from a website that provides the pattern for free (some from craftsy, redheart.com, caron, coats & clark). I’ve reported about 8 of them. And they are selling them for a LOT of money… as much as $18-19 for an otherwise free pattern. It’s immoral and illegal. You really should report them directly to eBay.
This is so wrong on so many levels. I’m not sure what possesses people to be so dishonest and think it’s right.
So sorry this has happened. I would notify Ebay and Moda right away. I’m sure they have ways to take care of this theft.
Unfortunately while you may consider what this person did immoral, legally she has done nothing wrong. You may be able to put a copyright claim on the pattern itself but you have no claim over the end product and what that person chooses to do with it. Even with the posted disclaimer. Most companies that do say they have copyright claim on something actually have no legal right to do so and the only reason they do it is to trick customers into thinking it is legit.
Ah i misread the op. I thought they were selling the quilt not the pattern. Nm then.
Actually I can’t even find your copyright claim in the us copyright database. What is the claim number or what name/title is it under? If there is no claim then this person did nothing wrong.
Looks like EBay has taken action – the store is now blank but the seller is still active!!!
Poor form indeed!!
It’s 4:23 pacific time and I just checked eBay. The listing was taken down by the seller as “no longer available.” I would still let eBay and Moda know. You have the screen shots to prove it was there.
Wow! I also just went to see what other listings Shawboyz had . . . ZERO other listings! Social Media at it’s finest!
It seems that “we” all might peruse the other sites selling patterns and see if this is being done by others.
Thieves all of them!
I shared on my FB page. Also shawboyz also has an etsy shop. I didn’t find any quilt patterns there but lots of crochet and counted cross stitch. Since I’m not a crochet-er, I don’t know if they are stolen or not.
Seriously?! In believable!
I just want to say, that I so appreciate all the free patterns that I do find online. I have not been quilting long and I love to print them off, to use for future projects. Thank you again for our generous patterns.
I could not imagine how it must feel to find something that you have given out as free to find someone selling.
Notify EBay now and ask them to give you the sales of this seller that involve your pattern….. they may not tell you but then again they may…. that money should come to you….
Actually, you should also let Moda know as well as eBay, since you made the pattern for them and they have more lawyers.
Caryn
I just checked this seller and there are no items listed for sale. I’m guessing they were shut down because it looks like they have a store and there is nothing there!
Like Janet, I checked this seller and their ebay shop is empty (good riddance!). I am still debating as to whether or not I send them a message letting them know that I know about their thieving.
Still notify Ebay and Etsy. This seller will probably open up a new store under another name/Email account.
I just checked their etsy site and discovered a crochet pattern forsake that I downloaded for free a few weeks ago…. totally crappy! I’ll be reporting them!
For fun I went into the etsy shop and looked at just one of her patterns – Minion Despicable Me – and googled it. I found the women who created the pattern with free instructions on her blog. I’ve posted in her comments about her pattern. This woman needs to be shut down everywhere!
So sorry! You really need to notify Ebay. Thanks for letting us know.
I’ve found quilt patterns for sale on Ebay that are pages torn from quilt magazines. I think it’s almost impossible to keep up with the scam artists, the best we can do is to keep an eye out so that we’re not taken in by it. Don’t wait, report it to Ebay ASAP!
I am a seller on eBay. I filed a report against shawboyz on your behalf and told them most of what they were selling was copyrighted. They have nothing listed for sale now.
So terrible. I am so thankfull you and others are so generous to pass along free patterns. Thank you.
I’m with the rest of the gang you need to report to Ebay. They knew what they were doing so they are not going to do anything or respond to you. Ebay is the only way to go. I just hope Ebay shuts them down. Wouldn’t be surprized if they are Craigs List too. Note to self..Bonnie at Qultville puts her name inside and over all her pics. Food for thought.
Jo and Kellie, I am heartsick about this! No question, this kind of plagarism makes us sick to our stomachs! Please be vigorous in fighting, protesting, contact ebay and share the info. Please contact Moda as well! When I was doing quilted crafts full time, I had a number of experiences like this One lady came to every show and bought 1 potholder -and I thought she was a fan. Wrong! She turned out to be a social worker, helping someone with mental illness be rehabilitated, by buying my applique designs, teaching her how to sew them, buying her an industrial sewing machine, and then sending her to Africa and China as an example of a rehabilitated patient, with government money, of course. At the time I was barely scraping by, working 80 hours or more a week, and raising 3 (absolutely wonderful!) children. That plagarism haunted me for years! I am rooting for you, and as always, on your side.
So sorry that someone would do that. You have an awesome website and a lot of free patterns which I appreciate. I glad that someone saw this and notified you.
With a little research I found out this is not the first time that seller has done that. I would definitely report them to e-bay. They have pulled anything they were selling off of their sight but there is a message not to worry they will be back soon. I see one of your other readers has reported them to e-bay but as the owner of the copyright you should probably report them also. I am astounded at the nerve of some people but am glad that someone recognized it as your pattern and they have been stopped for now.
I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that people really do this. Its incredibly frustrating. I second what Judy said.