John T. Unger of Mancelona, MI writes:
“My fire bowls, original art which I’ve been making since 2005, have been copied by a manufacturer. He is now suing me in federal court to overturn my existing copyrights and continue making knockoffs.
“I have a strong case, a great lawyer and believe that if I can continue to defend myself, the case will be resolved in my favor. You can read more about it at my blog.
“I did not initiate this lawsuit, but am defending my art, my creative rights, my reputation and my livelihood. I’ve already spent over $50,000 out of pocket in defense of my original designs. Seeking a judicial ruling in federal court will cost more than most artists or small businesses can afford, but attempts at settlement have been unsuccessful. I am holding a fundraising sale of my artwork to finance a defense in court.
“What ideas do your Hounds have for using traditional and social media to raise awareness of the story, its broader implications for other creative professionals and raising funds to see that the laws which protect copyright are not weakened for other artists?”
The Publicity Hound says:
When John called me to ask for my advice on this, I suggested we use it as a Help This Hound question. He offered to send me a beautiful shovel mask ($59), artwork made from a recycled shovel, to thank me. I suggested we use it instead as a reward for the Hound who comes up with the best idea for his publicity campaign.
Explain your idea in the comments section below. We’ll take ideas for two weeks, and I’ll announce the winner of the mask in my newsletter on Tuesday, Nov. 10. Tweet this, and share it with your Facebook friends.
I would also suggest contacting Artist Guilds, groups, Blogger associations, gallery owners, etc. Contact these groups and people plus follow the directions as Jamie (previous comment) mentioned and see if you can get a gallery show tour, to help raise funds. Good luck!
Stories like this are just asking to be linked to and tweeted about. I think you will be far more successful promoting the injustice rather than an actual fund raising event. Also, try contacting the stores selling their products, i’m sure they would much rather be selling your legitimate products.
Hopefully the implications from all the bad publicity could be enough for them to settle.
To gather publicity and funds for his fire bowl artwork lawsuit, he could start a “Freedom Fire” where people can pledge money to support his legal battle. He can film a short video of a fire in one of his custom fire bowls with a voiceover of his situation and the lawsuit. He can upload the video to YouTube and his website. Then he can use the social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) and bloggers to get people to link to his “freedom fire” video or post it on their websites. He can have info on the video & his website to inform people how to donate funds to support his legal battle. He could also have an actual fire in one of his fire bowls that he will keep continuously burning until there is a resolution to the lawsuit. He could have a webcam monitoring the fire bowl so supporters can watch it live online.
He could extend support by creating a place on his web page that shows a small fire icon in each state or community where a “supporting fire” burns (money has been donated). The size of the fire on the website could be linked to the amount of money raised in each state or community. For example, if $2,000 in donations were raised in Florida and $500 in donations were raised in Georgia, the fire icon in Florida would be larger than the icon in Georgia.
Also, he could offer a custom fire bowl as a “thank you gift” to someone he has randomly selected from the list of people who have donated funds to his cause.
He should tie his publicity to the “Flash of Genius” case of Ford bullying the inventor of the intermittent wiper. It could be something like “Fire of Genius”.
Just don’t get it mixed up with the Ford Pinto.:)
You’ve gotten some GREAT ideas already, especially form Jamie. Here are mine.
1. This is perfect for a David vs. Goliath campaign, where not only do you make a big deal about the big gun trying to crush you, but you focus on their bad ethics–not just ripping off your lifetime of intellectual property, but actually trying to prevent you from using your own ideas! Call this company the Bernie Madoff of Beautiful Bowls, or maybe the Enron of Elegant Art.
2. Make a list of every community where that company has a manufacturing or sales presence, and then compile a press list of newspapers, TV, radio, and community websites in or close to that area. Send out a press release and video link on the order of “Local Company STEALS Designs From Self-Employed Fine Artist and Tries to Force Him Out of the Market”
3. Flip that around in your own community with a headline like “Local Artist Stares Down Crooked Competitor who Tries to Force Him Out of the Market”
4. If you contact me off-list (shel at principledprofit.com), I’ll comp you electronic copies of my two relevant books: Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First actually has a small section on dealing with predatory competitors, while Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World offers a whole lot of practical how-to on staging a media campaign (among many other marketing methods).
In all publicity, be sure to mention how people can contribute to your legal defense fund even if they’re not going to the event.
Good luck!
I’m now self-publishing, but as a former writer for newspapers and magazines, John’s story makes my fingers itch. It’s all I can do to keep myself from whipping out query letters to the editors of publications that would eat this up!
Copyright issues are one of the big bedevilments of being a self-employed artist, so there is an ongoing need for information to empower the arts and crafts community.
John should email The Crafts Report, which covers business for the professional crafter. Their contact page is here: http://www.craftsreport.com/contact-us.html
John should ask for the name of a writer that could be interested in his story. I’m betting he’ll be directed to someone that writes for the column titled “crafts law,” but you never know, some other writer could be looking for material for a feature article on copyright issues.
He should also contact the American Craft Council. Go to the web site http://www.craftcouncil.org/ and click on “Staff” for a list of email addresses for the Senior Editor, Managing Editor and Assistant Editor. Email one of them (I’d try the Assistant Editor first) and ask them to suggest the names of any writers they know that might be interested in this story.
When people have a compelling story, they often contact magazines. But it can be far more effective to contact writers. Editors have many tasks to focus on. Writers have only one—get a story to get a paycheck.
A freelance writer, in order to make enough money on a story, will always look for ways to spin or slant the material to fit several different publications. That means feeding a story to one writer could result in articles in several publications.
While the publicity from articles may not directly raise money for a defense fund, it will raise John’s public profile. That can impact on how much he sells and the prices he’s able to charge. It may also draw the attention of people and organizations in a position to help him. After all, you never know who’s reading an article and what kind of power they have to help…even when that article is on a blog!
If you’re on Facebook, you’ll see lots of things people can become “fans” of. Some of them are in protest of things like “Hey FB go back to the old layout”. Establish such a page with full explaination and invite people to follow what’s going on. Those kinds of things seem to get passed around pretty regularly. Keep everyone informed on the blog as to what’s going on and also invite them to the other things you do as well.
I work for an artist occasionally and I understand the value of what you’re trying to do. I wish you all the best both for your business and for all artists who could end up in similar situations.
We need a T-SHIRT that reads:
“Team Unger = Team Defend Your Creative Rights,
Intellectual Property, Reputation, and Livelihood”
Or something more succinct edited by Joan or
her more wordsmith savvy Hounds!
Note: The shirt should be BLACK, matching John’s fashion sensibilities (and make sure you have women’s style, too;
not just Beefy T’s! So that the Girls and the Boys can wear them!)
Has there been an update to this? i’d love to hear more about it.
Thanks!
These ideas are fantastic! And thanks to Joan for starting this dialogue. I’m an artist and it makes my hair stand on end to think a big company can try to destroy his livelihood all for their monetary gain.
I don’t have any great suggestions, but I want to say that these postings and all the other internet channels mentioned to help John get the word out and fundraise is exactly what cyberspace is all about. This is the internet at its best!
Good luck John and David WILL slay Goliath!
Thank you for all the great suggestions everyone! I apologize for being so late to comment here… When I posted about my situation to my blog, the reaction was so much bigger and faster than I expected that I was caught totally off guard and I’ve been trying to keep up with emails and thank yous ever since.
I posted an update about the first 24 hours which has some numbers about how far and fast the coverage spread.
I’ve also set up a website at http://www.defendart.org which will continue to have updates and further info about artists’ rights, copyright and intellectual property.
The Fire Imp kickstarter project that I created to sell new art for funds reached 200% funding on our goal in two weeks. Contributions and sales through my blog have also been substantial. A huge number of artists have volunteered work of their own to sell in order to raise funds.
Once this matter is concluded, I will be donating any funds raised in excess of our court costs to start a new not for profit devoted to protecting other artists’ rights in the future. I’m working with some very good people to research and define how that organization will be structured and how it will operate.
Way to go, John! Good to hear of your success so far, and I lo9ok forward to reading the future story of how the big bad copycat had to slink off into the sunset with tail between legs.