In
August of 2003 I submitted my Hug Ring design to the Wire Artist Jeweler Magazine.
I had never seen anything like it before even though it was a relatively simple design.
When I designed it I was working on something else and thought......Hummm......I
wonder what it would look like if I did this and then did that, and the Hug ring was born. I called it the Hug Ring because
the way the wires folded over on each side of the ring reminded me of a Hug. In February of 2004 the Hug Ring was published
in the Wire Artist Jeweler magazine and featured on the cover. One day, several years later a friend of mine told me
they received an email advertising, for sale, a Hug Ring along with a Hug Ring tutorial and that it looked exactly like my
Hug Ring that I contributed to the magazine. Some time went by and I thought maybe I should look into this. So I Googled Hug
Ring and I almost fell off my chair. There were multiple postings of Hug Rings that were EXACTLY the same as the Hug
Ring I contributed to the Wire Artist Jeweler magazine. Not only were these people claiming it as their own design they didn't
even change the name! I was quite naive at the time and had no idea what to do if anything.
With the support of Helen Goga, who published the Wire Artist Jeweller magazine,
we proceeded to contact these people one at a time.Text and photos were taken right out of the magazine so the magazine was
also involved. Because Helen wrote and photographed
all of the articles that appeared in the magazine there
were even more serious copyright infringements.
It was then discovered that my Hug ring was not the only design stolen from
the magazine. The projects that were taken were either Mavis Llewellyn or Helen's, and several other designs that were taken
were contributed by artists like myself. Helen (being an honorable person) was quite disturbed by what she had discovered
and felt an obligation to the artists who so generously contributed their designs to the magazine.
At this time (April, 2010), we still have not been able to stop all who
have been claiming this design as their own. There is still one person even though she has been contacted several times who
has completely ignored us and is still advertising and selling this ring and tutorial as hers. It has even been said to me
that maybe I was the one who took the design from someone else; the someone else that they were referring to was one of the
people that took it right out of the magazine (photos and all). I was told that this design must be public domain because
it's been seen everywhere for years; no one could point out just where "everywhere" was. I asked for poof of all
this and to date no one has been able to prove their accusations etc. etc. etc..........you get the idea. It doesn't
take much for the original designer to be completely lost or forgotten, or accused of taking the design from the very person
(or persons) that took it from them.
Sadly my story is not the exception but rather it is becoming the
rule. More and more talented artists with much to contribute to our art are beginning to think that they do not want to contribute
their designs anymore. With what has happened to me, why would they subject themselves to having their work stolen and then
be put in the position of defending themselves? This attitude can be devastating to our art. Many years ago when I first saw
wire jewelry I very much wanted to learn how to create it. I couldn't find anyone who would teach me. Why? Because the old
time Wire Wrappers didn't want their work stolen. This way of thinking almost put our art and those wonderful designs into
extinction, dying with the Artist. We can't let this happen again.
I'm hoping that my story will inspire all of you talented artists to think
twice when writing a tutorial or selling a piece of jewelry. Ask yourself where did this design come from? Did the design
or technique come from a magazine, a dvd? Maybe you saw it on the net, or learned it in a class. Do you know who the designer
is? If the designer is still alive and the design is relatively new did you contact the artist and ask permission to use their
design? Is the design so old and so many have done it that it's original designer is lost and the design appears to be in
public domain?
And then there are those designers
that we know from publications, tapes or Dvds. Their designs can be made or sold (so long as you ask for their permission),
but you must give credit to the artist. Writing a tutorial on that specific design, even if you change one or two things,
(or found out the artist has passed away) is not allowed. Right now there are more questions than there are answers
and I haven't even scratched the surface as to what we can do about this problem. Hopefully we can start with awareness
and work towards finding out what each of us (as artists) want to do about preserving our art. Wouldn't you want this for yourself?
An interesting story that I would like to share with you that speaks to
the Public Domain issue, is about the Classic Cabochon Ring and the Classic Prong ring. After examining a book written by
Tom Phelan, Webs of Gold and Silver written in the 1950's, Helen and her husband Alan discovered that Tom Vincent Phelan had
registered a patent on his design in 1947. Until now both of these designs because they were so used and seen everywhere it
was not known where they came from, therefore they were considered to be in Public Domain. So we now finally have proof of
who the oirginal designer was and we can now give Tom the credit for these designs, (and every derivitive of them), that we
as wire artists have been using for years.
This
story has a happy ending but sadly so many others don't.
Thanks for listening, I have posted the tutorial for the Hug Ring follow the link below.
The best to all of you, Pat Capotosto
P.S. If you would like more information on this subjuct please go to www.wirejeweler.com
and click on the Artists Rights tab.
Click on link below to view tutorial
Hug Ring
