Btw, I hate to say this, but GF and other laser cutters are probably going to make it very easy for people to copy your general snowflake idea, if not your specific s.f. designs.
And not sure if or how you would be able to stop them from doing that…
Hopefully all GF buyers at least are people with integrity & respect for other artists…
I don’t mind if other people make snowflakes, but I will mind if they recreate my designs. That’s why I’m posting here, so that Glowforge people will get to know me, know my designs, and will give me the heads up if they see anyone using a GF to copy my work.
This wouldn’t be such a huge problem for me if I was a well-known artist, where people could see something that looks like mine, and say, “Hey, I think that’s a KitCameo!” Like, when someone copies Matthew Inman artwork, the people who see it will usually get redirected to him, so that they can check it out from his own websites. But that’s the problem with being an artist; you put yourself out there hoping that people will have interest in what you do enough to buy it from you, or at least spend time on your websites, but you always run the risk of someone else just flat-out stealing it, and that has happened to me so many times that I’ve almost quit everything several times now.
You’re a better person than I am, then…I get angry if people steal anything even closely related to an original idea I’ve had!
“HEY! HOW DARE YOU PUT SUGAR IN THE MILK BEFORE FROTHING IT FOR CAPPUCCINO AND NOT GIMME CREDIT FOR IT?! THAT WAS MY IDEA!!!”
Lol. Seriously, though, props to you for not raging.
Oh, and also, try the sugar in the milk before frothing it thing, guys; it’s really good.
Somebody actually stole a photo I took of our family pet, and put a watermark in, along with a caption that said, “OH HAI!” and they made an extra sidebar with another caption in it, along with their own shop logo. My original photo got one like on the page I made for our pet, and their stolen photo with their sidebar and logo (along with my watermark still in the middle of the picture) got over 100,000 likes and shares on Facebook. People even stole their stolen photo and re-uploaded to their own pages to give it thousands more views, but all with the other shop’s logo on it. Never mind getting paid for them using my image, I didn’t even get the benefit of “exposure” from it!
Oh there are sometimes understandable reasons why people build kill dozers…
Like Chris Rock says: “I don’t agree with it, but I understand…”
See there, I even gave C.R. credit for that…
Totally understand where you are coming from, because it has happened to me and also to my husband. And in similarly brazen ways. It certainly does put a damper on putting your art out there. The worst of it happened to us before there was even an internet; it has to be orders of magnitude worse now.
You have no idea how annoyed Matt gets when a top-50 website rips off his cartoons without attribution. That’s not cool for anyone.
Fun trivia: someone freebooted the glowforge video to Facebook (with no link), where it got 15M views.
We have a great deal of respect for designers’ work and want this to be a welcoming place for people to share knowledge and still be able to earn a living.
I remember Matt’s war with that website, Funnyjunk(?), I think it was called. I reposted the hell out of his rants about it, especially when he added the fundraiser. I loathe the constant stealing of content on the internet. In fact, I have a mini ragefest whenever I see those videos that people downloaded from someone else, added a tumblr thread or comment to, and then re-uploaded to their own pages without attribution. And I don’t even make videos myself, I just know how absolutely infuriating that must be to the owners of the original videos.
I don’t doubt that Matt gets pissed when someone rips him off, but he’s well known enough by now at least for his fans to be able to set the thief straight, or anyone sharing their content, right away. When someone steals my content, I don’t find out for months later, if ever, after it’s already gotten thousands of shares. It’s especially frustrating because I’ve had pieces duplicated by thieves that I haven’t even been able to sell the original of yet. I watched that movie Big Eyes the other night through tears at some parts, and it’s not meant to be a sad movie.
no, I made that
My favorite thing about Google is: right click “Search Google for image.” It’s more difficult for videos, though, but I always try. My brother made the BaneCat videos with our pet, Viva, and so many people stole that video and re-uploaded it!
have not seen that before now, but its hilarious! hahaha!
Somebody has been ripping off Thingiverse uploads and Ebaying prints of others work without regard to common use agreements or author attribution. That’s created a bit of a stir in the 3D community. This Thingiverse entry explains the subject and results pretty well. Looks like Ebay “disappeared” the relevant listings.
I’ve seen people set up whole Etsy shops around doing this, too! I swear, integrity doesn’t matter a whit to a large chunk of society.
I wonder how much the Open Source movement has influenced the apparently low level of ethics that some folks have. There has never been a lack of low lifes, but many of the younger folks I come across seem to think that they somehow have the right to take whatever they want with no consequences. Or maybe it is just the Internet making such folks more visible than they were in the past.
You know, I once had someone tag a friend in one of my Facebook fan page posts of a snowflake I had 3D printed via Shapeways. The link to the actual listing for the 3D snowflake was in the post, and the tagged friend came in and commented, “Nice! I need to find this so that I can make it!” I replied, “Thanks! The link to my shop is above where you can purchase it!” but he never came back.
I’ve seen people set up whole Etsy shops around doing this, too! I swear, integrity doesn’t matter a whit to a large chunk of society.
There’s a whole COUNTRY where there is a trillion dollar black market that is devoted specifically to counterfeiting products…it shall remain nameless, but I think we all know where I am talking about…
They are probably reverse engineering the GF as we speak 
KitCameo, thanks for sharing your work. It’s innovative and lovely, and I can see where a GF will empower you to take it to the next level.
I’d also like to thank you all for the tangential conversation about ethics and infringement. As a working artist, I alternate between feeling giddy about the amazing things I’ll be able to do with my GF - and feeling very apprehensive about how many people will get them and attempt to recoup their investment by trawling the interwebs for design ideas to replicate. It’s reassuring to hear that other people recognize that possibility, and encourage a respectful approach to design. Kudos to everyone who has mentioned (or even just considered) concepts like “ethics” “integrity” and “respect” in regards to how they’ll use their GF.
Here you go: