But even selling the physical product from a free design on here is a no-no. They are supposed to be strictly for personal use or to give as gifts, not to be sold. I actually keep a list of every design I have, free or purchased, who the designer is, and color-coded so I know whether I can sell the product or not. I did ask permission from one person on here to be able to sell a physical product, and was given permission to do so. But I never sell any designs, as that is not my thing. I am so sorry for all those who put so much work into designing something, just to have others rip them off.
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I agree! I like your idea of tracking your files. I think I will do something similar. Great idea!
honestly, that’s part of why i’ve only shared a few things here, and not anything complex. too many people just don’t care and think it’s fine profiting off of someone else’s work.
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I think it was someone here that told me one of mine here was being sold, as I never go there. At the time I couldn’t find a way to report it without signing up. Someone must have though, as it doesn’t appear to be there now.
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Yeah, It’s a shame I had one project that I was really proud of because I don’t think of myself as a great artistic designer. A layered beehive wall hanging. Two people asked for the files (even though it not proper to ask on the forum) and I thought they were trust worthy somehow my files ended up on Etsy. I ask both and they swore they didn’t do anything with the files. I confronted the Esty seller and he dropped the digital files at the time. Even today I find knock offs of my project for sale. I guess I should be flattered.
Hexagon Wall Hangings - Made on a Glowforge - Glowforge Owners Forum
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A lot of paid designs end up “free” sites, and some of those push malware/malvertizing. How do people thing these sites are being funded? They sell lists of compromised systems to criminals. I use a Linux virtual machine (currently ubuntu) that is booted from the clean installation image every time I’ve needed to check out any kind of suspicious site.
When I see cool stuff like that wall hanging, it motivates me to design something similar myself. I have dozens of designs I’ve never printed, I just enjoy the challenge of figuring things out.
There’s a member here (I think he works for GF now) who makes cool geometric “boxes”. I have several designs that I made, but I’m most proud of the way I came up with a way to join the panels without screws. It could be adapted to regular-shaped boxes as well - I am not a fan of the typical interlocking tabs.
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I went online and did a search to find out how to report an infringement and found this link for Etsy. It is a direct link to file. I went to Report this item to Etsy first, but it can take days to get a response and you have to keep following up. This goes directly to their legal department.
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Wow – lots of his projects are straight from the Glowforge Community. I recognize many of them.
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Plus the pure hypocrisy of their warning that none of their designs should be copied or sold :-/
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I gave you that link yesterday in the 3rd comment on this post 
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It’s such a pain…I typed IP theft and followed the directions. They just got back to me. They removed the item from their shop. 
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Victor,
They did the same on mine. Maybe if they have enough people complain about stolen files they will remove him from Etsy. He sent me a message and wondering why I notified Etsy before he could remove it. I notified him yesterday. Like I am suppose to wait until he has the time to get back to me. Lol Anyway, glad it has been removed for both of us.
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lol… hey, he knew he stole the file. it’s not on you to protect him from etsy when he steals your IP. if he doesn’t want to get kicked off, don’t steal. don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.
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Yeah he contacted me as well. Well, maybe if you didn’t steal files, you wouldn’t have to worry about it. Lol
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The fact that he thought that a reasonable question is an insight into his mental wiring. That would align with someone not seeing it as theft. His intellect may be challenged/compromised.
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should have replied, “since you are stupid enough to ask this question you are too stupid to understand my answer”.
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You can see if he sold any. If so, I’d send him a bill.
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This is part of my Excel file here. If the item is in green, it’s personal use only. If it’s red, I can sell the physical product. It was a little time-consuming to set up, but it’s been easy to keep up with new files I get. I’m still going through all my directories to make sure I have everything included, because I am still finding some I’ve forgotten to add. I’m also going through and adding the person’s name to the ones I’ve gotten, especially from the GF Free Designs, as I didn’t start out putting the names on them at first (I do now).
And since I’ve closed my business at the store downtown and am using Square and designing my catalog of available products through them, this Excel file really helps me make sure I’m not selling any products I’m not supposed to.
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I started doing that for any of the ones I download so that if I get around to eventually making it, I can find their thread and show them what I did
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