The self-proclaimed "world's largest crochet website" is apparently just that. But they forgot three words to their title. So, I've taken the liberty to add them here: "world's largest crochet website violating copyright laws." Sound the alarm!!
Now, I know, normally I don't post negative theme postings here, but this topic needs to be posted because it effects hundreds of people!
This first came to light when I was alerted last week that this website had stolen my Crochet History essay from my CrochetWithDee.com website. This means that they bypassed my "right click disabler" and ignored the fact that the word "copyrighted" is right on the material. They knew they were stealing.
Upon further investigation of their website, it was discovered that they stole more than just my essay. They deliberately stole hundreds, let me state that louder, HUNDREDS! of images from all over the Internet -- from designers, publishers, people's blogs, websites & flickr accounts and such. They've also stolen many crochet related articles -- from myself as I stated just moments ago, from the Crochet Guild of America, and from many, many more people. Although my image here says "Copyrighted Patterns," their website does not have any. Instead, they're offering to mass-produce these copyrighted materials. Kinda makes you feel queasy doesn't it?
Don'tlet them get away with it! If you have any type of crochet related work hosted on the Internet, you might want to visit the site and see if any of YOUR work is there. Then, if there is, contact them and demand they take it down!
I don't want to give the website a link to make search engines boost it's popularity, so to visit this website and search for your own material, type in the name from this blog entry title and add the dot com part. If you find someone else's work, notify that person.
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UPDATE: July 13, 2008: It seems CrochetCN is back at it again! After contacting them last year about violating my copyright, they took the page down. When they thought I wouldn't notice, they stuck it back on their site. This really makes me angry! Are they not capable of having an original thought, researching and writing their own theory on the history of crochet?!
I sent them another notice to take my material down. If they don't, then I will be billing them for $150,000 for damages.
Many thanks to Jane for the alert.
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UPDATE: July 16, 2008: In recent days I have been asked by others who have also found their material illegally posted on the CrochetCN site how I managed to contact the violator and demand to have my material removed from the site.
In 2007 I emailed them at this address: china-crochet@163.com
This time, on July 13th 2008, I used their FEEDBACK link that can be found at the bottom of their website. Prior to sending it, I copied the content of my message and emailed it to myself along with the URL of the offending page.
6 comments:
good grief!
I just took a look at their site and there are _hundreds_ of patterns I have seen elsewhere. Instead of contacting 1 or 2 designers, it would be hundreds of designers. How can they get away with this?
Dee, I was watching Racheal Ray today and she had Jamie-Lynn Sigler who plays Meadow Soprano on the Soprano HBO show. She showed her very first crocheted scarf on the show. I know you are always on the lookout for famous people who crochet. Blessings, Sherri
Thanks for the head's up on this! I know that sometimes I "lift" things from blogs and news sources, but I always link back or make reference to where I found the stuff. Copyright infringement is rampant!
PS: What kind of recourse do people have in cases like this with outright, obvious, intentional Copyright infringement?
I couldn't get the site to come up today (Saturday) but I will keep trying. This is one of the reasons I moved most of my patterns to a yahoogroup list. I still have a lot of material on site to steal though. Thanks for the heads up.
CrochetCN is based in China. I doubt anything can be done about their violating US copyright laws...which explains why you're seeing so many violations on their site. When I googled CrochetCN, I saw your message. I know I won't frequent a site that isn't ethical. Let's hope others won't either.
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