[RCIAG]

I don't own the Morbid one but thanks for letting us know about this artist. I love her Christmas ornaments!

 

[RCIAG]

There's a big difference between inspiration and infringement, though. Why can't the companies take ideas and not complete designs? It wouldn't be too hard for Morbid or whoever made it to produce a scary rag doll or a two-headed doll after seeing Jodi's work, but outright stealing the idea and making minor tweaks to the design seems pointless. Just come up with your own take on the idea, companies! If they're going to use artists' work, they shouldn't infringe, and certainly not make it so blatant.

The simple answer to why they do it is:

They do it because they can. And it's not pointless, it's pretty lucrative actually. They don't have to pay artists to come up with original ideas, they make it all for pennies then sell it for big $$$. I get why they do it.

I don't like it, but I understand it.

Grandin Road has been accused of stealing ideas more than once when really it's not Grandin Road, it's the maker of the props they're selling that's stealing ideas. Grandin Road is just selling stuff that's made in China by some company that probably trolls this board & others like it, looking for cool props. They go to their trade show in February (or whenever) & say "I'll take that & that & those Deadwalkers are cool, gimme 300 of those." Then boom, it's on their site at Halloween & most people buying their stuff have no clue. I'd guess most of the general Halloween buying public don't know about the thefts because it's not part of their daily grind like it is for the folks here.

From Pumpkinrot's blog:
GR stealing Grim's Cloaked Ghost & more.

Folks like the artists there & here just don't have the deep pockets & it's cheaper & faster to troll the vast interwebs & see Mr. & Mrs. Deadwalker there & copy it with some minor changes.

What can you do? Well, if you've got the money you could go after them but good luck finding out who actually made those props. They generally don't have makers tags in them outside of the name on the box & "Made in China" on them.

Or just don't buy it, buy more of the stuff the artists who are the original makers of the stuff.

It's a tough thing to deal with but when you put your stuff out there, whether it's here, on your own site, on Etsy, etc., you can get ripped off. The only way to truly avoid it is to make your stuff & leave it in your house & never post or share any pics. But what's the point of that?

In a way it's a backhanded compliment in that they think enough of your stuff to copy it, but it's still gotta suck.

I don't actually know of anyone that's taken on a big company that's stolen their ideas, does anyone else know anyone that's done it?

 

[RCIAG]

Good question!

Of course we wouldn't know if some other smaller artist copied something unless we knew & bought from those artists personally, but when a large company like Morbid or whoever GR bought those pieces from do it, it's seen nationwide to a larger audience to there's a bigger chance of knowing the theft happened.

I dunno the answer to the question either. Maybe it's a little of both?