Oh wow, this artisan and I were in the same Etsy street team for several years (EtsyRain, now Seattle Handmade or some such). I remember her from back in the early days of Etsy, when team members would curate treasuries to promote one another. Don’t think she was working with lasers yet, but I absolutely remember her kanzashi flowers and name. Sad to see this happen to a peer.
As to the speculation on whether or not it’s a derivative of Thea’s work, the OP actually links to her website and explains that he paid someone to reproduce her design. Not a whole lot of room for speculation there. While the OP likely meant no harm (I get that he just wanted to do something nice for his kid) it is harmful to a working artist when this happens.
You don’t need to have a registered copyright to file a DMCA takedown, though the person filing does have to be the copyright holder or their authorized agent. In this case it might not be necessary to take it that far, since we’re only allowed to share our own work in the Free Laser Designs section. Thus, the OP (however well intended) violated forum guidelines.
This is actually a complicated situation, because it’s possible that the person @fred.shilmover hired created a work derived form the original, and it’s possible that the person he hired to do it signed over the rights to the design to him. We don’t know. But our forum guidelines are subjective, with guidelines not rules, and are intended to create a welcoming environment that appreciates creativity and contribution. And the relevant section is called “Sharing Your Stuff (and only your stuff)”.
So without opining on the no doubt complicated IP merits of the situation, I’m going to thank @fred.shilmover for sharing his beautiful print, dismiss the flags on the post without penalty, leave the photo and pinterest link to the artist up, but remove the SVGs which derive from her work. I have no idea what the legal implications are, but posting this SVG isn’t a good fit for the goals of this community.
Hi folks, thanks for all of the comments. Back to the reason why I started this, my intent was to do a fun project with my daughter. It ended up being a really great bonding experience. We made many variants, including some fun inlays with acrylic.
I don’t really agree with the artist or the perspectives shared on the negative side here, but meant no harm and would gladly have taken the SVG down if she asked me.
Off to the next project with my other daughter (posts to follow):