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Dyaneeo.com doctoring up and using my photo on their website... |
She had purchased some plastic templates for the project from them and after some Googling, found me and the matching content and wanted to know if I was affiliated with the company.
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'Til next...
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| image taken from dyaneeo.com... |
Definitely intrigued — and definitely not affiliated with them — I went to
Dyaneeo's site and immediately saw that they had also used videos and
images from YouTube to promote their sales of these expensive
templates. (The channels that they appropriated from are by
Judith Magen and HandyMum Lin.)
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| My original photo... |
My original photo above got photoshopped with some coloured pencils in their
promo pic. If you read my post from last week, you may remember me stating
"copying without attribution is bad form".
Doing so and then using the stolen content to make money is what I would
categorize as
unscrupulous
in the extreme.
The person who send me the email about this subsequently sent a picture of
the enclosed instructions.
They are an exact duplicate of the content from the post in question,
right down to the photos — although they took the time to scrub them of my logo, a deliberate action that says a lot — and even statements
like "Have I mentioned before that I'm fascinated by origami?"
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| A picture of what Dyaneeo.com reproduces and distributes without my permission... |
Apparently, while there is nothing on those pages to credit me for the
content that Dyaneeo freely copied and distributed without
permission, they also do not have their own copyright notice on it.
However, as you can see below, the listing for this item indicates that
the instructions are theirs; i.e., "our instructions".
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| Dyaneeo.com using a video from YouTube that's also not theirs to promote sales... |
Something else that I noticed in the photo that my source sent to me is
that the rectangular template has a slit cut into the middle of it.
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| My idea for a slit to be cut into the rectangular template piece was apparently a good one... |
That was my idea when I made the box, to ensure that I could mark diagonal
lines on the fabric underneath.
Apart from the videos/images that were taken from YouTube, here are
some other sources for the pictures that Dyaneeo likely used without
permission.
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| Picture at left is from Dyaneeo's site; original is from a Reddit user... |
In the general scheme of things, using images without proper credit is an
egregious faux pas for those who don't know any better. An ecommerce site
that actively goes hunting for images to help sell their product knows
better. Here's one that was taken from an actual online retailer.
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| This exact photo from remodelista.com appears uncredited on Dyaneeo's listing... |
In my case with this twist box, the photos and content are free to access;
I don't charge for them. I can imagine that their defense might be
something along the lines of how they are just selling templates,
not my instructions, which are free to consume anyway. But that would be a
rather weak explanation for the fact that they meticulously stripped away my identifying logos. Or the fact that they ignored the footer at the
bottom of this blog that explicitly states
do not reproduce or scrape any content without expressed written
permission from the owner.
But here's what's worse. I found a listing for a
Sling Bag that uses photos of
Cloudsplitter's Summit Pack, along with photos of customer bags from her Etsy shop and
similar versions from YouTube.
Here is the description of the PDF from Cloudsplitter's shop:
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| taken from Cloudsplitter's shop... |
Here is the description of the PDF that Dyaneeo is selling.
With our Sling Bag PDF Pattern, you could make a Sling Bag that has 2 zippered compartments for convenience. The front zipper has card slots and a pocket within. The central compartment has a padded gadget pocket and a zipper pocket. The back of the bag has an additional zippered pocket through which the bag is turned in the final step! This bag is designed in a unique piecing way that means no binding and no saggy linings!!
Apart from the words that I highlighted, it's the exact same description.
Cloudsplitter sells her pattern for $6.99. Dyaneeo is selling
"theirs" for $12.98.
If the two parties are not working together — and I seriously
doubt they are — there's an obvious problem. I have
contacted Sydney via her website, but have yet to hear back. I've also
contacted (and heard back from) two other designers whose patterns appear to have been appropriated as
well: the H2O 2GO Sling by
Linds Handmade
and Hold It Right There's
Tremont Crossbody Bag.
Dyaneeo.com was registered on May 23, 2022... a fairly recent
entity. From China. Not much of an online track record exists at this
point. But perhaps in their rush to launch, they gave us some hints as to
their history?
The following is reproduced word for word from their "About Us" page,
without carriage returns (boy, that's a term from the past) or paragraph
separations. (Highlights are mine.)
At Dyaneeo we love every passion and interest on Earth because it is a reference to your Imagination. And to spread exactly that...is our core vision: To help you Express Yourself. To support you at BEING YOURSELF. We are a unique e-commerce website with our own production facilities plus a large network of many trusted - high-quality partners all over the world (USA, Australia, Germany, United Kingdom, and China among others) in order to create the ultimate custom shopping experience for you. And since we know you want all sorts of custom products, we got you covered with highly professional suppliers and production houses that we keep in close contact with and vet daily so that they fulfill Beyond Vault's intense selection process. No matter where you are, who you are and what you are passionate about we want to be able to provide you with custom products that help you Express Yourself...to help you express who you really are! That's why in the sandora shop you will find a custom collection for every profession, hobby, sport, passion or anything you might think of. So whatever you're looking for, we plan to have it there for you. And if it's not, then hit us up and let us know, so we can negotiate or produce the best deal for you in no time. We are and would like to be here for YOU for a lifetime. We also ship internationally. We source the top-notch products. And always support you all the way until your order has arrived at your doorstep...and even way Acgrab that. Watch out for special discounts and free products...but hurry due to the custom nature, P.S: You probably arrived here through stock is always very limited and the discounts are always temporary. Whatever you need, it's right here on Life is art. Custom Love. To your total satisfaction, The Entire "Dyaneeo Team" Family Creating a community across the globe connected by a passion for sewing, quilting, embroidery and everything in-between. We are a family of like-minded individuals. Innovation There are so many amazing tools invented in the world to make your projects easier. We are constantly searching, creating and testing new products that we think will save the time and effort of our customers. Vision In everything we do, we aim to create and supply the best sewing tools on the market! We also take pride in our high level of customer service and support. We strive to provide all of our customers with the personalised service they deserve. We have friendly representatives available 7-days a week to answer any question you may have. We want to provide our customers with a fast, friendly, and secure shopping experience. Sandora thanks you for your interest in our company and looks forward to the opportunity of showing you how great of a shopping experience we can provide! ugh one of the super awesome social media communities that we give our full 24/7 support to. And yeah, if you wondered about it...we own them and strive to bring you the best content in the community!
There is definitely some gibberish in all of that, whether or not you put
each sentence on a separate line. Regardless of how long a domain has been
around, I really caution against buying from an online retailer that
doesn't bother to spend money writing clear, concise copy in whatever
language its target market speaks. (Oh, and this site is set up to work in
about eighteen different languages!)
But part of the gibberish seems to be references to other entities. (Are
they past identities, perhaps? Sister companies?) Beyond Vault? Here are some BBB reviews of that online company.
Sandora? (Is that clever word play for Pandora?) I couldn't find anything
absolute on that name as there seems to be at least three variants, but it
appears twice in their intro blurb above. Acgrab? Their entry on scamadvisor.com is certainly not
favourable (although I would generally take such ratings with a grain of
salt).
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| image courtesy of scamadvisor.com... |
I took a glance at dyaneeo's privacy policy and saw this:
For a company that did not even exist in January of 2022, it's funny
how their privacy policy was effective four years ago.
What I'm demonstrating with this is that it's strong evidence of "cut and
paste". This entity has likely existed in the past under another name.
Online shops that open up, close and then open up again under a different
banner are probably doing something not right... and maybe not
legal.
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What am I going to do? My first step will be to send emails to the company itself and to the registrar abuse contact shown below in the WHOIS information.
What am I going to do? My first step will be to send emails to the company itself and to the registrar abuse contact shown below in the WHOIS information.
I will outline my position and then give them the link to this blog page.
Any actions I may take thereafter will depend on how the initial message
is received.
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| Dyaneeo.com's WHOIS information... |
But I'll tell you this: I've initiated a
DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown
before and concluded it with success. I will not tolerate brazen disregard
for intellectual property rights, no matter the degree. For us to do
nothing only amplifies and encourages the practice.
For those of you reading who are active on social media, I would appreciate
your getting the word out about Dyaneeo.com's business model. While
they'll likely find life under another name in future, repeated
exposures of such dubious deeds may make it less profitable for them to
keep trying.
I will be back with more on this, particularly to provide some tips on how we crafty
shoppers can literally be crafty when it comes to identifying who we should
support online. (Since I threw this post together in mere hours after getting the
news this past Wednesday, I don't have time to say more now.)
'Til next...
I've read that China does not honor Copyrights. I hate that. And, I'm so sorry that you have been ripped off! Please stick to your fight to undo what they have done. If no one fights them, they will never stop!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes.
In cases like this, it's usually a bad rep that will ultimately put the company away. So while I fight the good fight, it would be helpful for people who are on Facebook to go to Dyaneeo's page and comment on their shady practices. I've looked at the other sewing/quilting projects that they "sell" and I recognize 90% of the images as coming from YouTube, etc. They are doing this to many people.
DeleteTheir Facebook link is:
https://www.facebook.com/Dyaneeo-Sewing-Shop-600600373733809/?ref=page_internal
Well this just plain stinks!! And they have messed with the wrong person: you! Good for you notifying all concerned.
ReplyDeleteKathleen -- kakingsbury at verizon dot net
Last week's post reminded me of a continual conversation in art school: "Is there such a thing as an original idea?". The consensus was "no", just different interpretations and final products.
ReplyDeleteThis theft of your intellectual property, though sadly not surprising, is simply wrong. (Blatantly unscrupulous since they scrubbed your logo off your photos.)
It continually amazes me the length people will go to to "not work". It really must be tiring. So much work, and so many lies.
Go get um!!! (And report back, please.)
Thank you for the support. I've given them five days before I file my DMCA takedown request.
DeleteThe greater problem is that while I (along with others) may be able to shine a light into this particularly dirty corner of the world wide web to bring them down, the practice won't stop. As my first commenter said, there are places where copyright infringement isn't a thing to be concerned about.
Your bit about going to such lengths not to work was ironic, because what struck me about the photoshopping effort was that the artiste went so far as to add shadows to that composite photo that included the image stolen from me. ◔̯◔
I heartily add my support! I too have had my designs stolen and re-sold, and I know the difficulties of protecting and proving your ownership. It is so sad that parts of the world do not recognize copyrights.
ReplyDeleteMichele
Thank you, Michele! I've heard back from the Registrar and they claim that they are notifying Dyaneeo about this. (The company itself, on the other hand, is having issues even receiving my initial email.) It's a slow process, but as you know, it must be done; the sad thing is, whatever I do won't stop it from happening again.
DeleteThe time and trouble it takes to steal other people work and call it their own and try to profit off it is appalling! I will see what I can find on social media and alert others, but like you say, they change their name so often, it might be hard to nail them. I wonder if they ever buy a pattern and then steal it as their own? Even designers who print the buyer's name at the top of each pdf page, could get scrubbed by these people. I wonder if they tamper with YouTube videos? How can they claim those as theirs? If it's harder to mess with a video, then that alone is a good reason for a designer to only use videos.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I am 99.99999% certain that they have purchased these various patterns in order to redistribute them. They obviously don't redistribute the original PDF, but it's not rocket science to retype/copy the whole thing, grab the images and have it be totally unbranded. (That's why the whole "ID stamping" of PDFs that some designers practice is a waste of money. It doesn't stop the big time crooks.)
DeleteRegarding the videos, they are not necessarily tampering with them, but I do see that some have parts blurred. (I believe you can have a YouTube membership that allows you to download videos?) In any case, it's not a big deal to use software after the fact to do these basic edits. The bigger violation is that the accompanying images and screen grabs from videos are being used on these kind of sites to sell similar product.
And of course, we can't forget the monetary impact for the YouTube channels. If the site is featuring their own copy of the video, then the original owner is certainly not getting any ad revenue from it being seen.
Rochelle, thanks for letting me know via Etsy. I did email them, and today am posting about it on Instagram and Facebook. What a scam.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the previous comment was posted by Denise Russell from Pieced Brain. It is labeled as Anonymous, but it was me. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteHi Denise - thanks for dropping by. Please take a read of my ongoing summary of this problem (there is a predominantly black image link on my sidebar at left that will connect you to the page) as I have been able to reach Dyaneeo's eCommerce service provider and they have a complaint process that may be listened to.
Delete