There’s been some back and forth of some people not agreeing that IP infringement has consequences if you change the name or give it away for free. This story was shared to me and I wanted to post it here to show people that is not true. This creator didn’t sell their products or a pattern. They merely posted pictures. And they were shut down. Their entire social media following was wiped in an instant. All the work they had done disappeared because they posted pictures of a copyright character they made out of yarn.
These companies can be brutal when they decide to be. Doesn’t matter how small you are, if you’re giving your stuff away for free, if you change the name. They do not care. Please protect yourselves and just don’t do it in the first place. Original designs are the best thing you can do to set yourself apart and protect yourself.
Thanks for spreading awareness Centara! I used to think that there couldn’t be that big of consequences for stuff like this but then I did some more research on it. (boy was I wrong-) We really should share more about what can happen if you use big companies IP for patterns-
i’m wondering if their stuff was also flagged since they were promoting a pattern by someone else, so they were an “accomplice” of sorts (which i don’t agree with, but i could see a company maybe seeing it that way).
i absolutely hate that for this creator since they were only making the plushies, not even selling the makes or patterns. i guess that’s proof you do really have to be careful about posting that stuff, even if you aren’t selling. i’m wondering if you could put a disclaimer in the description of a post saying you don’t sell makes or patterns of that product and it is for personal use only, but i’m not too sure that would make a difference either, if it’s getting auto-flagged by an AI
I don’t think it would make a difference I actually took down my only pattern that was ip related and deleted a few IG posts with ip related patterns. I left one up because it’s the pigeon bus reel I made and my kiddo loves it but I’m worried I may need to remove it too.
I actually reached out to kodansha who publishes the anime my one pattern was based on and their response was to fill out a licensing form. One of the questions? What’s your budget. The minimum was 10k. Clearly I walked away. I don’t make even a fraction of that on pattern sales as a hobby. No way I would ever do that.
These licenses to sell don’t come cheap and honestly, unless you’re a big name, it’s just not worth it.
The company’s reaction seems a bit harsh. Like, why couldn’t they at least give a warning 24-48 hrs to take it down in advance instead of ruining someone’s years of hard work?
Because its illegal and they don’t need to provide notice They are now using AI bots to go around scouring for these patterns and they aren’t being kind because people should know that this isn’t legal if they did any research. It won’t be long before all the big companies are doing it. It’s sad but its fair to those of us who make our own original patterns and designs and don’t rely on another company’s character.
You should tell her my mom told that you can do dispute their decision. If she wasn’t selling anything it shouldn’t have be taken down. And the account shouldn’t have been wiped.
and the sheer amount of pokémon patterns on ribblr is scary if this happened @CastellaCreationsbyfliss ik you have lots of pokémon related pattern and might want to see this
I actually took down my only pattern that was ip related and deleted a few IG posts with ip related patterns. I left one up because it’s the pigeon bus reel I made and my kiddo loves it but I’m worried I may need to remove it too.
They are now using AI bots to go around scouring for these patterns and they aren’t being kind because people should know that this isn’t legal if they did any research. It won’t be long before all the big companies are doing it. It’s sad but its fair to those of us who make our own original patterns and designs and don’t rely on another company’s character.