Shop ‘Diva’ Steals Artists Designs!
This morning a loyal Aussie shopper emailed me a disturbing letter. She said that there was a shop in her mall called “Diva” (diva.net.au) that was STEALING product imagery and designs by Shana Logic artists!
She included photos of some items in her email and indeed I was completely appalled to see how awful this shop was! Not only did they steal the designs, they mass produced them all in factories (and VERY poorly) in order to sell them all for almost no money! On top of that, they do not give any of the artists credit for their work!
I recognized a bunch of designs they are selling from my shop as WELL as a bunch of products that were exact copies of items I’ve seen on other artists sites. (Artists, you may want to visit their site to see if YOUR design is being stolen!) Obviously they are willing to steal from whomever pleases them.
-Diva is a company that does not care about copyright laws.
-Diva does not value artists
-Diva is willing to lie to their customers and mass produce items in order to sell them for less than the artists can afford to sell their originals.
I contacted them and have not heard back.
Please do not support DIVA by buying from them.
Please feel free to contact them about this issue.
7/28/2009 EDIT: I’ve heard back from DIVA – READ HERE.
Tags: diva copyright infringement, diva steals from artists, diva steals from Shana Logic, diva.net.au, plagiarism
I hope you sue their cheating butts!!!!
shana, is there something you or we can do to shut them down?
That is so horrible! Wut kind of bogus people! You should definitly sue Shana!
I agree with the others. you & the other artists work too hard to be ripped off in this way.
That is the most awful thing! >:-( I can’t believe people who would do that to the poor starving artists!
ummmmm if i can remember…the food jewelry is not something you guys made. everyone else has made it. it’s just you guys sell it but there is not a copyright on that stuff. same goes with cupcake jewelry. EVERYONE makes it too
that’s terrible. Can anything be done about it?
Ugh! It always bothers me to see artists of any sort being ripped off in this way… I can see serious legal action against DivaShop by many artists in the future for copyright infringment.
I my self make scarves, and hemp jewelry and I am a commission artiest, and in no way should any one copy something some one else has made if they own copy right. copying is the sincerest way of flattery, but not when stealing some ones ideas and money.
By the way, I shared this article on Facebook and re-tweeted your tweet about this on Twitter! I hope everyone else does the same!
Thank you everyone for your support of indie-artists! Please spread the word.
UGH!
That makes me so mad on sooo many levels. Companies like this are complete and total rip-off artists and will do anything to avoid doing their own work or paying a fair price.
They should get their butt sued clean off and every single one of their stores completely and totally shut down, not just renamed and moved. *nods*
Wow ._. …
These people sure do have some guts…
The copies look stupid and cheap -.-;; nothing like the originals…
Oh, this is terrible!! I’m so sorry that this happened to you. If I were you, I would definitely consider some legal action against them. Especially if they don’t respond to your letter. What an awful thing to do. =(
oh my god!that’s horrible!HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!sue them!
what is their website?im totally goin to send a complaint,and a lot of my friends will to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!All the artists should get all the money Diva made off of their cheezy and bogus products!
Brianna, I think their website is http://www.diva.net.au
And yeah, I already sent them a pretty long “comment”. :D
I live 3 hours from Sydney and have a couple of Diva stores in my town. Ever since receiving a pair of earrings from there for my bday – that broke in 2 seconds flat, i’ve refused to shop there. But THIS is BEYOND disgusting! Shall spread the word down here and encourage others to steer clear from the place!
Good on you for getting the message out there!
yup. last year they stole my happy ghost necklace design. i blogged all about it. terrible company.
Not cool at all. They could almost have gotten away with the fast-food jewellery because similar designs have been around for donkey’s years, but copying the exact beading? Unimaginitive AND blatant theft!
Have all artists file a DMCA complaint asap! ( Digital Millenium Copyrigth Act)Then contact the websites host and explain the situation and have them file a DMCA as well.
Go to http://www.whois.net to look up their provider/ IP host. There should be a phone number, email to the direct owner of the site.
Then join http://www.copyright.gov and upload all of your files uptp 400 mg for only $35.00.
Then contact the http://www.USPS.com and file a mail fraud complaint, for the illegal selling of copyright goods.
Trust me, I have had to do this my self more than I care to think. It has worked so far for me and all my stolen work/designs were stopped.
Ugh…I think the most sickening part of all this is even if all the indies filed a class-action suit, they’d end up going broke after the years that were spent tied up in litigation. I mean, Mattel and Prada can’t keep forgeries and knock-offs off the street, and they have billion-dollar lawyers on retainer.
I think the best way to hit ‘em hardest is to get the Aussie press to run with the story. It doesn’t look like they’re capable of doing business outside AU and NZ, so if you can raise enough awareness to start a boycott down there, that should drive them out of business.
And for all we know, Diva may not know they’re selling rip-offs. If they’re buying from a third-party “Made in China” company, they may just think they’re selling original Chinese-trinket imports like every Dollar Store and Wal*Mart across America. Which, if that’s the case (and cross your fingers), you’ll have better luck of them removing those items from their stores with enough bad-press, IMO. No one in business likes to be duped, especially by their suppliers.
Let’s just hope they’re the dupees and not the dupers.
Good luck fightin’ the good fight!
I am sure you can sue
Unfortunately, prosecuting counterfeit designs under Australian copyright and designs law is difficult and expensive. As ridiculous as it may sound, there are enough differences in those counterfeits that they may be able to successfully challenge your case and, horror of horrors, even counter-sue for groundless threats! In addition to the differences, the fact that the original designs are based on recognized icons, logos and objects will make it nearly impossible to establish the originality necessary to win a copyright or designs case.
But that point is moot anyway, look at how much support you have in one day of posting! A grassroots social media opposition will have far more impact.
If Diva don’t acknowledge their copywrong, perhaps a design that satirizes the Diva logo will get their attention. After all, they can’t sue under fair use provisions for parody and if they do, you could always counter-sue for groundless threat…
OMG. I THOUGHT it looked familiar when i visited diva the other day! Such sleezy people. I support Shana Logic! <3
A few girls I know regularly shop there, so I put this on my Facebook wall so people know what lowlifes they are.
thats awful!! have you submitted this to youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com?
I live in Australia, visited Diva today for the first time in a while and I noticed these and instantly thought I’d seen them somewhere before.
Diva has ripped off designs from everywhere.
They’re a huge Australian commercial chain, there must be hundreds of Divas, but please, by all means, sue them.
That’s disgusting, and with no hestitation to so clearly steal someone else’s design and originality. D:<
That’s terrible. I’ve bought plenty of stuff from Diva in the past because they have cute cheap stuff. But I really didn’t realise they were blatantly ripping off other peoples designs!
As a designer myself I can’t support people or companies like this. I’ll be publicising this through my blog as well.
They didn’t even see a design they like and reinterpret it. They blatantly copied it exactly.
So mad!
You need to get legal advise there are laws to prevent this from happening unfortunately it happens quite a lot but you can stop it and you and the designers deserve compensation!
diva is a jewelry chain-store retailer in Australia they sell cheap costume jewelry and advertise in many of the tabloids, fashion mags who have all been notified via twitter and the word is spreading.
Just because your a small business doesn’t mean you can’t take a big company on.
DAMN. I hope you guys can do something about this, this is awful.
But hey, imitation is the highest form of flattery?
I noticed this when I stepped inside a Diva shop a few weeks ago and was meaning to send you an email about it. But alas someone has beaten me to it (complete with photos).
I was in there again today and noticed a couple of other things.
I am disgusted by their blatant copying of not only things off your site but also a few other American sites I buy from.
I am officially NEVER shopping there again. I would much prefer to support these fabulous artists who you sell Shana than support a horrible mass produced product from a shop who’s products are badly made and complete rip offs.
I will re-post this on my blog later tonight and forward your tweet.
I wondered how long they’d get away with this. Surely there are copyrigt laws being broken here.
OMG.. Awful :(
I sent them a pretty nasty message. I really hope some legal action is taken. If not by this website, then by the artists who got their ideas stolen. Hopefully ‘Diva’ will be paying out the ear to compensate them and their trouble. We will all fight!!! Spread the word!
I would suggest that you get in touch with an IP lawyer and send them a letter, this is not good for the crafty community.
I am going to post about this on my blog and then encourage others to write to diva and complain. Let me know if you want the names of some IP lawyers.
erk…. is there anything we can do this is horrible! hope u sue them! total disregard for the hard work artists put in!
Shame on them XP is there anything that can be done? They are overseas, that makes litigation very sticky, doesn’t it?
I’m from Australia and Diva is in pretty much every big mall we have here. I have actually noticed the things they sell in there look reeeeally similar to the artists designs on shanalogic before. I’ll try my best not to shop there anymore because it’s not fair on all the amazing artists on your site. Let’s just hope they stop stealing your artists designs asap because Diva is a pretty popular store and we don’t want all your designs being stolen by even more people!
Keep up the good work though Shana and don’t let this stop you from selling the cutest jewellery in the world :)
xoxo
There is about two Diva stores in every single mall in Australia. I’d often see stuff in their that looked like handmade things i’d seen here and on etsy, but thought it was just a coincidence of certain things being in style, but now I see it is nothing more than blatant plagarism.
I am ashamed to say that I have bought stuff from there, only when I can’t find something elsewhere and it is cheap crap.
I won’t be shopping there again…
Here’s a little somethin’ somthin’ I whipped up to express my shock and disgust at this:
To Whom it May Concern,
It has come to my attention that your company, diva, has been producing mass (and inferior) copies of original jewelry and accessories created and hand-made by artists not represented by your company. Against by better judgement (for fear that diva will steal more wonderful hand-crafted creations), I have provided an example: http://shanalogic.com/wordpress/?p=2815. Shana Victor, the owner of Shanalogic, a great online shop representing numerous independent artists, has expressed her surprise and disgust to her many fans, friends, and shoppers, and we are NOT impressed. Your website claims that “the diva team knows it’s all about fashion – and they know exactly where to find it!!!!” and now thousands of others know where they find it, too – from other original artists. These copies that have been made, particularly under your “Sugar Pop” range, are blatant ‘rip-offs’ of original designs. Shanalogic fans (and independent artists fans in general), as well as the artists her website supports, are disgusted and outraged by this, and will do what we have to do to ensure that your company:
- apologizes to Shanalogic (and the various other artists that have been copied)
- reprimand whoever is responsible for the infrigement of the artist’s designs
- stop producing the copied items
- take the copied items off the shelves, so that no more money is made from these items.
If these actions are not taken immediately, various members of Shanalogic and their fans will go to the media to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.
Thank you for you time,
ugh! that makes me so mad! you should sue them, definitely! >O
Wow it looks like one of their new ranges you can see on their website has also copied the design of the suede bracelet on your “new arrivals” page. I’ve always hated this store and hate it even more now!
Blatant.
They even have all these designs on their website under their Sugar Pop range.
Oh well…i just hope there is something you can do about it. There is, sadly, a lot of these kind of people in the world…i just hope they’ll pay for what they did (come on, if it’s not a rip to let the C on the fries, it’s just stupidity…) And the handmade one is maybe at a higher price, but they are much more beautiful and awesome and made with love!
Yeah, this sucks majorly. I was the one who discovered this and could not believe my eyes when I saw those bird badges from Shanalogic and the cloud from KawaiiNot. Are these people really so unimaginative that they can’t come up with their own cute stuff? Seriously.
Everyone should definitely re-Tweet and post this article on Facebook and everywhere they can. It’s really important to get this out there. Email all your artist friends, people – make sure everyone who designs anything checks out their site and their store if they have one nearby. These are some of their designs on their “Ranges” page I thought likely candidates to have been stolen:
Owl ring – last pic in Dusk Til Dawn
Elephant bangle , snake bracelet & snake necklace in Gold
Radio pendant in Push It
Owl pendant in Sahara
Everything in Sugar Pop
Snake ring in Ultra Violet
Snake ring in Girl About Town
Diamante cupcake and everything else in Little Angels
If I can help anyone out by taking more photos of stuff in their shop or seeing if they have your designs, don’t hesitate to contact me, I’m happy to help. Email Shana and she has my permission to pass my gmail address along.
Good luck everyone!! Don’t forget to spread the word about this ripoffery!
CALLIE: To the response about food jewelry not being original:
I’m not saying that my artists are the first to make food jewelry. I’m saying that they obviously used the ones I sell as a prototype– same beading, color, sprinkles etc.
It’s one thing to make a donut earring (lots of people do!) it’s another thing to completely copy it down to the last sprinkle.
UGH, I hate when stuff like this happens to small artists. I just sent them a nasty-gram via their website, and I’m going to link this post anywhere that I can!
If all of the indie artists come together, I’m sure that you can take some form of legal action against this thieving company.
Oh, and if you guys need help with fees for taking legal action we will all pitch in to help!!
I just sent them an e-mail to tell them what I think of these methods.
I live in France so I don’t know any Diva stores or anyone who shops there, but those who do, PLEASE, tell your friends not to go anymore !
They have to realize that when people find out about their shameless stealing, they just stop buying their stuff !!!
The way that they left the “c” on the fries is such a giveaway on that one, they rest are a total rip off, disgusting, evil company!
THE AUDACITY!!! How dare they! >:O I think we need to take a field trip to Australia and protest in front of the store!!
In the wake of all the laws on copyright infrigement in fashion that have been swamping us the last few weeks, this is almost a slap in the face. Please keep us updated and let us know how our wonderful original artists are faring in their struggle to get their intellectual property back!
This is so sad. I’ll write to the sham of a “company” to express my feelings. I’ll also add this to my blogs and Facebook.
I just wrote them a letter, but I hope it didn’t sound like I was threatening to sue them… I used big legal words, and told them they MUST take the items out of their stores or get legal permission from the artists to sell their items.
OMG That is just plain nasty!!! I love Shanalogic and ‘Diva’ sucks.
Hi re the comment that they are Australian and New Zealand stores look at this link
http://www.diva.net.au/About_Diva/worldwide.asp
Uk, Prague, Russia, Israel, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan as well as 150 stores in Australia and 20 in New Zealand however they really aren’t that big of a company. You do have a strong case for copyright here and i think you should use all the resources to ask for help twitter etc ask if a copyright lawyer can help you with advice on what to do.
I’ll keep spreading the word and I’m sure the Australian media will pick it up soon enough.
i kind of agree with callie about the donut earring. obviously it’s really catchy that they look the same, but a lot of people make donut earring. Even if they add the same color, a donut is….a donut. I’m pretty sure we can find a lot of handmade donut by small artist that look the same, without saying they steal it. So with this item, i’m pretty sure it will be hard to proove anything. But with the cheezburger and fries earring, i think it’s a little more rare to have this kind of earring, and also the “C” for me is a big proof that this is art thief (if they had a “M” for mcdo of a “D” for diva, i’ll say it would be more hard, but wtf did they put a “C” if it’s their own design?!). And about the bird pins, it’s SO obvious we just don’t have to talk about it.
Yeah, but with the donut earring they used the EXACT same earring chain and hook. With a pink crystal and everything.
Shameful. Just shameful.
You would think they’d be smart enough to change a few things before selling them….
Are you kidding me? This is disgusting. I remember this happening to Queenie a few months ago. :( I sent them a little note as well for you. I hope all of your support helps, hon!! Let us know if there’s anything else we can do, ok?
When a shop sells things very cheaply (walmart, diva, mcdonalds, etc.), you owe it to yourself to find out why. Who’s being copied or exploited — where are corners being cut? Is the product even safe? Who is being paid unlivable wages to make them (or worse, no wages at all)?
Support resources and artists you can trust. For your own good if not for the greater good.
Hi Im from the UK and i’ve seen very bad copies of the donuts used on head bands, rings and earings but they’ve been on stalls in markets & have looked really badly made, but I have never seen a shop steal ideas from someone. Thats just horrible. Im pretty sure you can sue them as there is proof that they’ve been selling on the website for ages & that must be proof of copy right
I hope it all works out
yes Mary, if you look at the donut earring you can see they have used the exact same beading. what with all the other stuff they stole from ShanaLogic, it’s easy to see they stole that too. What complete idiots…
im SOOOOO glad to see that AT LEAST this many people are having great concern for this!I just got done sending Diva A VERY long message.And all my friends did to!*were having a sleepover,or at least it started out like that!now it’s more of a plot to get Diva to stop stealing!WE ARE SOOOOO MAD AT THEM!!!*
This is horrible! D: How dare they steal designs from your store! Epic fail on their part.
I hope Karma comes along and gives this company what it has coming! Did they think that no one would notice? Jeez.
Hiya – I Publish my art under a creative commons not for profit license which means people can use my work for inspiration etc as long as its not done for profit – I like the idea of letting the creativity flow, but I wouldn’t want some big corporation to under cut me in selling my work for cheap like Diva has done here! Have sent them a message telling them not to be so lame and to hire their own designers!
I’m so glad to see everybody rising up against this!
I’m posting on MyYearbook, Myspace, and Gaia Online about this. And if things go on too long… well, I’ll just say my uncle has some friends (very important ones) who’d be happy to help. >:]
I don’t know what Diva is, but this is wrong on so many levels. I assume this is some shop that sells “unique” items that you’d “only” find through them, and from the comments is located in Austrailia, and I am in the states, so I don’t know who they are. However! I do know of a certain shop of similar called Hot Topic in the states that did exactly the same, and was ripping off indie artists left and right, and I refuse to buy anything from them anymore. I not sure if this has been cleared up here, I know people have at least made contact with them. I hope the best in your pursuit of this, and I hope Diva goes down hard.
This is awful D:
seriously, stealing those designs are AGAINST THE LAW!!
How could someone possibly be that low-lifed and do stuff like that? “>___>
(tweeting as well as facebooking about this as well…)
Wow. That’s really, really lame. Normally, I’d be skeptical of this type of thing and think that it was just a coincidence, but I have to say that the products are exactly the same, right down to the details (but not as quality, obviously). I hope something is done about this! It’s not fair at all to the artists who made these!
shana,do u have a Diva store where you are??If you do you should defidently talk to them in person.Then they will HAVE to reply. whomever has a shop diva where they live should totally complain the next time you go to the mall!i dont have one where i live,otherwise all my friends and i would be in there right now talking to their manager!!!
i just posted this to my facebook,hope it helps!
Oh,and Ravyn,I have some cool friends,with even cooler parents,*cough cough,*they can help to,*LAWYERS!*
I personally want to encorage any ShanaLogic fans that live near a Diva location to rally against the unauthorized use of intellectual property for their own profit!
Take the appropriate legal steps to organize a legit protest, then get out there with your signs and let people know what Diva has been up to! Even if your group is small, your impact will be huge, I promise.
There copies are EXACT! I mean couldnt she atleast change the colors and like redraw the items? I hope something gets done about this.
Diva are a chain store. They are not independantly run. The people who work in them usually are about 18 – 20 years old & I’d say they wouldn’t care. I’m going to write to the newspapers tonight when I get home from work & also write to them.
I knew Diva were copying from Shanalogic when I saw a mini version of the love-o-meter neclace. It just isn’t right
this is disgusting, I have emailed DIVA and linked to your article.
I recommend everyone blog and tweet about it and spread the news.
This is unacceptable.
Australia has registered design laws in place which have been successfully used in the fashion industry to sue knock-off designers. If Diva is operating in Australia, they’d be bound by those laws. Do you have a lawyer friend who could draft a letter for you?
This is terrible – and scary. Luckily I wouldn’t buy something that looked so cheap anyway.
I didn’t even think of going to the newspaper! What a great idea! I’m going to The Mercury (our local paper) and asking them if they’d like to run a story on a local store ripping off artists. Everyone who has a Diva in their town should do the same!!!
I’m also going to start a Facebook group, ok guys? In about 10 minutes, search “Boycott Diva” on FB and join, and invite all your friends!!
We can do this!
Callie, food jewelry is nothing new, yes. But for one brand to have the exact same designs as at least three to four different artists is too obvious to dismiss as just coincidence.
This is unoriginality at its worst & anyone who practices blatant plagiarism such as this deserves to be sued.
Wow– that’s an awesome idea Bec! I’d love if you could link to the blog post:-)
Let me know when it’s up!
xoxo!
totally joining that group RIGHT THIS SECOND!
sadly i cant find the boycott diva group on facebook yet!!!please post a link?
Hey everyone! Check out the Facebook group, invite everyone!!!
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=112878499771&ref=nf
perhaps someone should go to ‘A current affair’ or ‘today tonight’
That’s a good idea too, Fiona. I’ll look into it.
I joined the group right away, and invited all of my artistic friends… anyone who cares about the rights of artists to not have their original works ripped off and mass produced should join, whether they’re Shana Logic fans or not.
I wonder what other groups of artists or individuals have been ripped off by this company, if any. Maybe Diva thoughtb that Shana Logic was their little cash cow and that nobody would ever find out?
I have contacted both ACA and Today Tonight with the story. I also called my local paper (The Mercury) and they’re thinking about running the story.
Ok bec!just joined your FB group.While i was waiting for the link of your group to go up i made one to,so did my friends.So now there are like a bunch of Save SL’s origionality groups out on Facebook!here is one of the links,but yeah,Bec yours is REALLY amazing!Love it!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=114433865856
oh yeah,and here where i live,there is this radio station called star 90 four 1,and they have a session almost every day where listeners can call in and tell them what is going on in their lives,and Im going to call in and tell them and the world about this diva sitch. They also have this thing on their website where you can submit ideas or topics to talk about on their show,and Im submitting this topic of Shana Logic Vs. Diva right now.Hope this helps!
That’s awesome Brianna! Go to it!! :D
I just contacted them!They said that they would LOVE to help out!WOAH FAST REPLY!YESSSS! Shana,they MIGHT,send you an e-mail asking you to call them @ a certain time,so you can talk to them about it on their show,but they said that it wasn’t that necisary to call you,so you dont have to be expecing it.And if you dont feel comfortable doing that than you dont have to!
I still have NO idea of WHEN they will do this.Or how,one of their moderator peoples just said they would contact the hosts and tell them.So it ISN’T 100% settled that they will do it yet,but hey,she said she’d tell them!and they are REALLY nice,i’v talked to them b4,and i listen to them 24/7,so yea!
I know,I rock!*im not being vein,im just exited!*
Make sure you mention the Facebook group coz that’s where all the great comparison photos are and everything!
well i for one have sent some hate mail. absolutely fucked!
I am effin p. o.’d -___-
I just wrote them an angry e-mail.
I gave them this blog link.
If they don’t reply back to me I’m going to keep resending the same e-mail until they do!
I can’t believe they have the audacity to call themselves an “innovative company” when they are completely unprofessional like this!
I seriously just woke up and saw all of Mary (Acrylicana’s) posts on the matter and I am outraged!
Please keep us updated on anymore info about this.
Thanks for sharing!
This is disgraceful!
Diva is a terrible shop, poorly made items and oh-so gimmicky, and now this! :(
im from australia!!
and i saw the prodcuts too!
the first one i noticed was the lollipop earings
i was like OMG THESE ARE EXACTLY LIKE SHANALOGIC!
love your site by the way <3
That is so sad!
I noticed some readers making statements undermining the issue. Yes, repeats of a common theme are going to happen. That’s completely acceptable. The issue is that these designs are carbon copies, to the point where they look like the originals repackaged.
Isn’t Diva’s rainbow cloud button image from Kawaii Not?
Look as sad as it is, if such creative people like the ones who design all these keep posting their work pics on internet such as DA, Facebook, Flickr and such it’s very very easy for anyone to copy it, I’m not justifying this, but the artist should copyright their work and add watermarks or bad resolution pics when they show their work to the general public to avoid this situation, it’s sad I know , I’m an illustrator I’ve been trough this too, protect your art from art thieves!!!
Lol: I totally agree! Though when you sell your items to shops and they post photos, they probably won’t watermark them so it’s still hard to protect them.
That is so awful! Some people have no morals.
Lol: I can see the logic in watermarking the pictures and such, but the company is stealing the entire designs, not just the stock photos. They could still just look at the picture and copy it… and if that couldn’t be done and they were really desperate, they could just purchase a single item, draw up an official design and send it out to be produced. It’s one case where taking visual precautions wouldn’t really do anything.
However, I find that that method is very useful in protecting your photos from being illegally used in internet ads and by other people. (Myspace does this all the time.)
DUDE!!!!!!
*rips out chain-saw*
http://www.artslaw.com.au/legalinformation/CopyrightInfringmentAndLetterOfDemand/default.asp
http://www.artslaw.com.au/legalinformation/ProtectingYourDesigns.asp
(the Copyright part)
This makes me want to throw up!!!!
I’m not sure what steps have been taken so far, but this happened to me a while back. A high brand clothing company took my artwork and reprinted it onto t-shirts sold in hundreds of stores across Australia & New Zealand.
What you need to do now is submit a letter to them. A letter of copyright infringement. Then follow the required steps to rectify the situation. You should demand certain things in that letter, and use a proper legal one. Otherwise they’ll ignore it (anotherwords don’t be friendly and fluff it up). Give them options on how to fix it. a) remove the items b) apologise c) compensation – and be specific in what you want before you’ll consider the matter closed. Don’t threaten to go to the media, that will send them straight to the lawyers. Expressly state that if this situation isn’t rectified in 14 days (send a letter via e-mail & post) then it will be elevated.
I eventually had my issue sorted, but not before months of lawyers negotiating with the company who insisted they did nothing wrong.
oh – and you’ll most likely find that the company will try to get you to sign a confidentiality agreement before agreeing to a resolution. I had to remove every evidence of the infringement on the internet/photos etc. before they would settle. And I can’t state who they are. But in the end I wasn’t forced to sign a confidentiality agreement so I can still refer to it, but still keep my integrity. Whilst it is a shock to have a company rip off designs, don’t forget that lots of people work for these companies and people do stuff up. Don’t take your integrity down the drain with it.
Diva’s all over Singapore too, in almost every other mall! yucks. although when i checked yesterday, they don’t carry those copied items – i think stores in different countries carry a different selection – but anyways… joining the boycott diva facebook group now! grrr…
I’ve posted on my blog, facebook & twitter. (Shana I hope it’s ok to link to one of the photos in this post to prove the point on the blog – if it’s not I’ll take it down)
I’ve invited my friends to join the facebook group (some actually have).
I will also NEVER shop in Diva again. I am not supporting a store who steals their designs from this site (since this site is pretty much one of my favourite online shops EVER!) or other sites.
I will however continue to look in the shop and if I see any other “similar” pieces I’ll take a photo and share with the world :)
Ali J’s idea sounds like a good thing to do. I can’t believe how awful that is and I hope it can be sorted out fairly (aka shana and all the artists getting justice!)
Wow, there are ripoffs and then they are BLATANT ripoffs.
They didn’t change it even slightly–what does that say?
SUPPORT INDIE!
Not saying it’s right for them to steal it but hey at least the earrings are cheaper there…just sayin’.
Lauren – that is Divas clearance sticker. They have obviously tried to sell the rubbish version of the lollipop earrings and failed so they’ve had to mark them down.
My question is – would you rather pay a bit more for a quality hand made product or pay less for something that is bound to break after 2 wears?
The whole point of this is that they are re-selling poorly made copies of original designs for less money. SUPPORT THE ARTISTS – not companies who are quite happy to steal designs.
That is disturbing and unfortunetly happens far too often. I took the time to go through Diva’s press page and email all of the magazine’s who feature Diva’s Accessories. I hope somebody does something about this.
I hope that the internet is your ally here because it is very very obvious that the designs were YOURS first!!
Just NOT fair.
wow….that’s disgusting!unbelievable
I feel so bad shanalogic! I shop there all the time and these $5 sales really clean out all their stuff, it’s so disgusting that they’re doing this to you! I’m also going to put a complaint in, I really hope they stop this!
Well, I just checked the diva website again…
They’ve taken down the items in question! We’ve made at least a bit of progress here. But, seeing as no news of a letter or email to anyone has been posted up, it might still be a fight getting any compensation or other recognition for the artists.
But at least no more money is being made off of stolen designs~
Ravyn, just because they’ve taken the images off their site doesn’t mean they’ve taken the stuff out of the stores.
Everyone please look here: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=112878499771&topic=8265
for guidelines about behaviour when contacting Diva.
Hey, for a laugh read the Diva websites legal policy section, we aren’t allowed to copy or reproduce their designs!!! But obviously they are allowed to copy other designers!!!! lol
Brenda
They may have taken the pictures off the website, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ve stopped selling the designs.
They’re having a 3 for $10 sale at the moment…so the designs in question may turn up as part of that sale.
It’s horrible that they’ve done this – I mean, they haven’t even changed the designs at all!! They are just blatant rip offs!
dodgy bastards!!
something similar happened to an Australian designer (Christine from Hexotica) where a US company copied her designs.
see her blogpost for details: http://gothicburlesque.blogspot.com/2009/06/totally-ripped-off.html
someone once told me that we should trademark out ideas if they are unique and we dont want others copying it. I never took it seriously but maybe some of us should since there are so many dodgy companies made-in-China-sweatshop-crap out there who dont care about copying other artists designs
Got an email back from some guy after commenting on their site. Doesn’t say much at all..
My Comments on Diva contact page:
————–
Hey. Just read a story called ”Shop ‘Diva’ Steals Artists Designs!” – http://shanalogic.com/wordpress/?p=2815 – and wonder what Diva”s response might be..?
Dude’s response:
————–
Thank you for your email.
As the CEO of Diva, I value your feedback on how we perform as a business.
We take the issue of original design seriously and have a commitment to make sure our product meets the standards you expect from us.
Please keep the feedback coming as it helps us continue to improve our business.
____________________________________________
John Kelly
CEO
DCK Australia Pty Ltd
As a former employee of DIVA i agree..they are dodgy stealing bastards who not only steal from talented designers but treat their “staff” like shit and continue to hire prissy bimbos.
I bought those badges with the birds on them a while back, I thougt they looked familiar but I didn’t realise at the time, I’m really sorry. I have been looking in to the problem recently, and I’m amazed by how obviously and by how badly diva rip these products off. I really hope this gets sorted out, It’s not fair to anyone.
that sucks! TEAM SHANA LOGIC!
Ya know what? ALL of those are obviously stolen! And yes, The donut IS stolen because the beaded top and the lollipop has the beaded bottom. And if the stole the other designs, the defenitly stole the other ones. I for one, defenitly believe YOu, shana!
Ouch. :( I actually brought these items from Diva and had no idea. That is really bad. There is also another Australian store called Equip that sells almost the same stuff as Diva, so hopefully they have not been stealing it too. :/
Jeez, they can’t even copy them with any dignity. Further proof that cheap chain stores are not worth the money. I’m only buying from markets and Etsy from now on…
This so so awful – and good on you for speaking out about it. Its one of my biggest nightmares. I am going to forward this to everyone!
i always shop at diva it’s a great store! their stuff is good quality. perhaps artists need to take notice and lower their prices.
ihave every single compy diva has made including most of acrylicanas designs
good on diva for making the designs affordable!
i actually prefer alot of divas designs to the original
“I’d often see stuff in their that looked like handmade things i’d seen here and on etsy, but thought it was just a coincidence of certain things being in style, but now I see it is nothing more than blatant plagarism.” Annika
I agree. I live in New Zealand where most of these stores are, NZders arn’t really into the whole “indie artists” thing so most wouldn’t be aware of it. Is there anything I can do to spread the word in my country?
Let me know how I can help as I’m probably one of the closest people to Diva.
JESSIE: the reson these prices are higher is because they are:
1. better quality and will last long
2. the picture of the cornyness earrings are the clearance sticker
3. They copyed the deisgns and even if the prices are lower they are copyed which is bad and they think people will buy more from them if their prices are a dollar or two cheaper even they will break after about two wears.
JESSIE (and everyone else who agrees with her): maybe they should lower the price, thats your thought. But the fact that it is a copy is horrifing.
It’s true– copying is illegal no matter the price.
And remember, larger retailers create their items in factories paying less for pieces where Shana Logic is all produced by individual artists:-)
wow..that’s so much effort they put into copying these. Even the wiring and parts are the same! seriously how hard is it to make their own designs for such a big company? I’m glad they took the effort to contact you though :)
And also, The Shana Logic Artist’s gear looks way better, the fake’s look super cheap!
Hai there!
My band just recorded our very own full song!!!
Have a look, we’ve learnt a lot from your blog! :)
xxx
Your blog is awesome! Realy! I like it:)
Hey shana
Unfortunately you aren’t likely to win the court case, diva has many stores all across Australia.
I think you’re best bet is to contact a current affair http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/feedback.aspx.
Often when a case isn’t solved by the courts/council people will take it there, I think they’d love
a scandal like this
PEOPLE MAKE THESE ALL THE TIME! Even Claire’s has these. No one stole your idea?