Archive for Laws & Regs
January 15, 2009 at 4:34 am · Filed under Forums, Laws & Regs · By JB
Today Etsy opened a new forum to corral all the topics relating to the CPSIA (Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act) which is scheduled to take effect February 10.
There are many links to blogs, petitions, letters to government representatives, and other forms of activism you can get involved in to make your voice heard about this new law.
Etsy also added a badge to the homepage (left sidebar, near the bottom) for the “Save Handmade” campaign going on at BuyHandmade.org.
See also: previous UEN coverage of the CPSIA
January 10, 2009 at 2:00 am · Filed under Copyright / Branding, Laws & Regs, Miscellaneous · By quirke
Almost a year ago UEN reported on a site called Polyvore, which allows users to upload, alter, clip and assemble images from the internet into collages or “sets”. This site was brought to our attention when Etsy users noticed that their images were being taken and used without their permission. After much pressure, Polyvore agreed to block imports from Etsy.com.
At some point during the past year, Polyvore surreptitiously lifted the block. Etsy user Artandghosts, noticing dozens of her images had been taken and manipulated by Polyvore users, started a thread in the fora about the issue. Since then many other Etsy users have since chimed in to say that their photos and artwork have been used without their knowledge or permission. Although Polyvore claims that all of the uploaded images on its site are linked back to the original source, artists have found that many are not. Furthermore, some people have discovered personal photos of themselves and even the interior of their homes have been taken from their blogs and Flickr accounts. Others have discovered that their watermarked images have had the watermarks removed using Polyvore’s alteration tools, an illegal act punishable by fines between $2,500 and $25,000. Many have found their images used in multiple collages, bastardized, distorted, and otherwise altered by the user.
We at UEN respect the rights of artists to control how and where their images are used, and support any efforts to prevent intellectual property theft. Some individuals may be content to let Polyvore users manipulate their work, and we encourage all readers to investigate Polyvore’s use of images for themselves. This article serves as a notice to our readers so that they may take appropriate action whichever their perspective.
For more information and to view some of the altered works, you can visit this article at ArtandGhost’s blog.
Etsy artist SagittariusGallery has also started this petition against unauthorized use of copyrighted material on Polyvore.
Should you find your works being used on Polyvore and wish to have them removed, you can contact Polyvore here.
December 13, 2008 at 10:54 am · Filed under Laws & Regs, Miscellaneous · By GreenMamba
In this Storque article by Etsy admin Vanessa, Etsy Inc speaks candidly of the dramatic impact that new CPSC legislation, slated to take effect on February 10, 2009, will have on makers/sellers of handmade children’s items.
An excerpt:
The following is an open letter regarding the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). This Act, which will go into effect on February 10th, 2009, puts forth much more stringent safety measures for products intended for children under the age of 12.
Under the very important auspices of child safety, the Act may have grave unintended consequences: fewer choices for families who are looking for handcrafted alternatives. Many Etsy artists and craftspeople have expressed fears that they won’t be able stay in business due to the burdensome cost of testing and certification pursuant to the proposed legislation.
As a venue for handcrafted and vintage items from small entrepreneurs, Etsy has invited the Ombudsman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to join us in a webchat in our Virtual Lab. Etsy would very much appreciate the opportunity to provide a forum for discussing the concerns of artisans who make toys and children’s products as well as their customers who support handmade products.
We urge members of the Etsy community and anyone concerned with both child safety and conscientious consumption to contact their governmental representatives; ask them to consider how the Act will impact independent craftspeople.
The office of the CPSC ombudsman: 888-531-9070.
Visit the Handmade Toy Alliance for information about writing your representatives.
Following the excerpt provided above, there is an Open Letter, drafted by Etsy admin, which can be copied and forwarded to the appropriate authorities. Read the full letter here.
This article was also sent out in an Etsy News e-mail. To subscribe, please go here.
Any members wishing to comment on this issue may do so in this official forum thread.
UPDATE 12.31.08 by GreenMamba
Today, Etsy admin Vanessa announced in this thread that she has published a follow-up CPSIA article in the Storque.
Article excerpt:
Cecilia, of the handmadetoyalliance.org and craftsburykids.com, is helping crafters and artisans get their voices heard. She is very active on the Alliance’s Facebook Group (join the group here). We wanted to share some updates and deadlines via Cecilia:
Midnight, this Wednesday, December 31, 2008 is the deadline for the first round of voting on the Change.org site. If you haven’t voted, please do, and pass the word on. Let’s remain in the number one spot! Here’s the link.
This coming Monday, January 5, is the deadline for comments to the CPSC. The CPSC has asked for comments regarding component testing and natural materials exemptions! This is our chance to speak directly to the CPSC and push them to include these important additions in the CPSIA/provide your personal feedback on anything that hasn’t been touched on. Here is the link to the CPSC forms.
June 13, 2008 at 11:15 pm · Filed under Copyright / Branding, Laws & Regs, Uncategorized · By quirke
UPDATE by quirke 06-15-08
The accused shop, Ulljasbeads.etsy.com, is no longer active on Etsy.
————————————–
UEN has received an outline from Etsy seller Abeadisborn detailing an apparent case of fraud on Etsy, alleging that another Etsy seller has been purchasing and re-selling lampwork beads from other artists under the claim that she had made the beads herself. The following information has been published with permission of the author.
On April 19th, 2008, I received an email from a fellow glass-bead maker on Ebay. She had asked if I was aware of someone purchasing my handmade lampwork beads through Ebay, and selling them in her own Etsy store, claiming to have made the beads herself. I was quite shocked, and had to investigate further. This link: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200215772276&category=34070 shows my Ebay auction, won by the alleged IP offender, gerbera28, aka Ullja/Melek Kuntze. By request, I made this auction available as a “buy it now” for the customer, because she said she was in need of the beads very quickly. The beads were mailed to: Melek Kuntze [address removed], with a delivery confirmation of 9101 7850 9140 1537 7553 85, which were delivered to the home at 5:24 PM on April 22, 2008 in [location removed].
After investigating further, I found this indeed was true. This link: http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=8440928 is the link to the altered by Etsy sale information, of my beads. Sold by Ullja Kuntze, gerbera28. The attachment with this email is the original sold information page, screen printed, BEFORE Etsy made alterations to the description. Also attached, is the PDF file of the documents I faxed to Etsy, on May 27th 2008, pertaining to this matter.
After contacting other fellow lampworkers about this occurance, many beadmakers like myself, found evidence of this happening to them as well. It became a very big issue, and more complaints were sent to Etsy.
I followed Etsy’s Intellectual Property Right claim guidelines, by faxing them all the pertinent information pointing to this Etsy seller, and provided them with the proof, showing her fraudulent activity on Etsy. Etsy’s attorney, Sarah Feingold, called me to confirm that she had gotten the fax information, and the matter was being looked into. Shortly after, I noticed about 72 sale listings at Ulljasbeads.etsy.com, disappeared. Those listings were of the same nature as mine. They were handmade lampwork beads, made by people other than her, and she knew she was caught. I have a PDF file of all Ulljas Etsy listing pages, before they were removed. If you need them, please let me know so I can send you a copy.
To date, Ulljasbeads.etsy.com is still an active selling member of Etsy. She is still advertising other people’s handmade lampwork beads on her website, located at http://yhst-59139618684516.stores.yahoo.net/ - if you follow this link, the blue encased floral bead featured on her front page, is still being displayed, whos copyright belongs to someone other than her, who has also filed an IPC complaint on her.
In case the screenshot linked to is unclear, the text that was removed from the sold listing reads “All my beads are made by me in my private glass studio in Milan Italy… kiln annealed overnight for durabilityand strenght and Dremel cleaned for you”.
The listing that Abeadisborn refers to as being altered by Etsy may be one of the listings that Etsy has admitted to altering (see our previous coverage here).
From Etsy’s Copyright Policy:
B. Once Proper Bona Fide Infringement Notification is Received by the Designated Agent, it is Etsy’s policy:
1. To remove or disable access to the material infringing upon the intellectual property;
2. To notify the user that Etsy has removed or disabled access to the material; and
3. That repeat offenders will have their infringing material removed from the system and that Etsy will terminate such users’ access to the service.
June 11, 2008 at 9:52 pm · Filed under Copyright / Branding, Laws & Regs, Listings · By GreenMamba
Hints of behind-the-scenes edits of ’sold’ listings have surfaced recently in the Etsy fora. Today, Etsy member quirke asked pointedly (twice) for confirmation or denial that this was practiced/condoned by Etsycorp. The first thread was closed quickly, without explanation, by Etsy’s on-staff lawyer, SaraSays. The second, however, was answered truthfully, and at some length, by admin and co-founder Matt.
matt says:
Howdy,
I want to start off by apologizing for closing an earlier thread on this subject. Since we do not publicly discuss individual private matters, we thought that was the best course of action at the moment. That said, in doing so we did not address the questions you were asking, and I would hate for a bit of misinformation to create a great deal of speculation (yes, I know that closing a thread does not help matters). So, If I may, I would like to speak to your concerns here.
As a general policy we do and will not alter any sold listing records. I completely agree that this is inappropriate and of questionable ethics.
So, have we ever? Yes.
In extremely rare occasions and in our best efforts to responsibly comply with the DMCA (http://www.etsy.com/copyright_policy.php), we have had to remove text or images from a sold listing .
We have never removed the entire listing itself or altered the statistics or data of an individual shop or of Etsy as a whole.
While, obviously, I can not discuss these specific cases, I am happy to try to answer any other questions you may have on the subject and certainly invite you to email me at matt [!at] etsy.com . I also encourage you to check out our policies here for further clarification: http://www.etsy.com/copyright_policy.php
Thanks, Matt
Posted at 6:46 pm, June 11 2008 EST
For a bit of background on this issue, see here and here.
UPDATE by GreenMamba 6-13-08:
After two shut-downs, a third thread has been started by quirke, asking general questions about the practice and ramifications of editing ’sold’ listings.
And a fourth . . .
And a fifth, by another Etsy member . . .
January 28, 2008 at 4:53 am · Filed under Copyright / Branding, Laws & Regs, Miscellaneous · By quirke
Alert Etsy seller Trollflings noticed today that some of her images were being used on www.polyvore.com, a website which allows users to upload photographs and create sets or collages of images.
Trollflings discovered 50 pages of images from Etsy shops uploaded by Polyvore’s membership, and started this thread about the issue. It quickly became apparent that very few, if any, Etsy sellers were aware their images were being used on the site, let alone had given permission.
Under Title 17, Chapter 1:106 of the U.S. Copyright Act, “Exclusive Rights in Copyrighted Work” it states:
Subject to sections 107 through 122, the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following:
(1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;
(2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;
(3) to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
Some of the pages with images from Etsy sellers found on Polyvore contain a link that simply says “etsy.com” that links back to the item listing on Etsy. Some pages contain no such links. No pages give written credit to the owner of the work or Etsy shop name. Some images from Etsy sellers have been altered, clipped, or otherwise used by Polyvore members to make collages, which were then posted on Polyvore as works by Polyvore members. Polyvore provides a graphics application on their site which allows people to make alterations to image they have uploaded.
Additionally, some images from Etsy users that had watermarks or copyright notices on them were found to have been tampered with to removed the watermark or copyright notice.
Under Title 17, Chapter 5:506, “Criminal Offenses” of the U.S. Copyright Code, it states:
(a) Criminal Infringement.—
…
(d) Fraudulent Removal of Copyright Notice.— Any person who, with fraudulent intent, removes or alters any notice of copyright appearing on a copy of a copyrighted work shall be fined not more than $2,500.
In Polyvore’s Terms of Service, they state: [bolding is mine]
User Submissions
1. The Polyvore Website may now or in the future permit the submission of photo or other content submitted by you and other users (”User Submissions”) and the hosting, sharing, and/or publishing of such User Submissions. You understand that whether or not such User Submissions are published, Polyvore does not guarantee any confidentiality with respect to any submissions.
2.You shall be solely responsible for your own User Submissions and the consequences of posting or publishing them. In connection with User Submissions, you affirm, represent, and/or warrant that you own or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents, and permissions to use and authorize Polyvore to use all patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights in and to any and all User Submissions to enable inclusion and use of the User Submissions in the manner contemplated by the Website and these Terms of Service.
3. Polyvore does not claim ownership of User Submissions. However, with respect to User Submissions or content you make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Service, you grant Polyvore worldwide, royalty-free and non-exclusive license(s) to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such content on the Service in connection with the Polyvore Website and Polyvore’s (and its successor’s) business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the Polyvore Website (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels. This license exists only for as long as you elect to continue to include such Content on the Service and will terminate at the time you remove or Polyvore removes such Content from the Service.
4. In connection with User Submissions, you further agree that you will not:
submit material that is copyrighted, protected by trade secret or otherwise subject to third party proprietary rights, including privacy and publicity rights, unless you are the owner of such rights or have permission from their rightful owner to post the material and to grant Polyvore all of the license rights granted herein; (ii) publish falsehoods or misrepresentations that could damage Polyvore or any third party;
submit material that is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, libelous, threatening, pornographic, harassing, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, violate any law, or is otherwise inappropriate;
post advertisements or solicitations of business;
impersonate another person.
5. Polyvore does not endorse any User Submission or any opinion, recommendation, or advice expressed therein, and Polyvore expressly disclaims any and all liability in connection with User Submissions. Polyvore does not permit copyright infringing activities and infringement of intellectual property rights on its Website, and Polyvore will remove all Content and User Submissions if properly notified that such Content or User Submission infringes on another’s intellectual property rights. Polyvore reserves the right to remove Content and User Submissions without prior notice. Polyvore will also terminate a User’s access to its Website, if they are determined to be a repeat infringer. A repeat infringer is a User who has been notified of infringing activity more than twice and/or has had a User Submission removed from the Website more than twice. Polyvore also reserves the right to decide whether Content or a User Submission is appropriate and complies with these Terms of Service for violations other than copyright infringement and violations of intellectual property law, such as, but not limited to, pornography, obscene or defamatory material, or excessive length. Polyvore may remove such User Submissions and/or terminate a User’s access for uploading such material in violation of these Terms of Service at any time, without prior notice and at its sole discretion.
6. It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
The images referenced, made accessible or made available to you on these pages or by means of the Polyvore Service are protected by the copyright and trademark laws of the United States and other countries. You may need to obtain authorization of the owner of such materials before using them for any purpose other than viewing on the web. For authorizations to use an image, please contact the image owner as indicated on the source site, not Polyvore. Polyvore cannot give you authorization to use the copyrighted images. We cannot guarantee that the Polyvore Service will not locate unintended or objectionable content and Polyvore accepts no responsibility or liability for the content of any site included in any Polyvore item or set, or otherwise linked to by the Polyvore services, or for your use of such content. Polyvore reserves the right to remove any pictures or content without notice to you, any other user, or any third party.
We will review all claims of copyright infringement received and remove content deemed to have been posted or distributed in violation of any such laws. To make a claim, please provide us with the following:
A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or the person authorized to act on its behalf;
A description of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed;
A description of the infringing material and information reasonably sufficient to permit Polyvore to locate the material;
Your contact information, including your address, telephone number, and email;
A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and, under the pains and penalties of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.
Claims can be emailed to copyright@polyvore.com
7. You understand that when using the Polyvore Website, you will be exposed to User Submissions from a variety of sources, and that Polyvore is not responsible for the accuracy, usefulness, safety, or intellectual property rights of or relating to such User Submissions. You further understand and acknowledge that you may be exposed to User Submissions that are inaccurate, offensive, indecent, or objectionable, and you agree to waive, and hereby do waive, any legal or equitable rights or remedies you have or may have against Polyvore with respect thereto, and agree to indemnify and hold Polyvore, its Owners/Operators, affiliates, and/or licensers, harmless to the fullest extent allowed by law regarding all matters related to your use of the site.
In this thread on the issue started by Kateblack, a representative from Polyvore has invited any Etsy seller who does not want their image used on the Polyvore website to contact them and request removal.
At the time of this article publication, Polyvore has removed some of the illegally used images.
We at UEN respect the rights of artists to control how and where their images are used, and encourage our readers to investigate Polyvore’s use of images for themselves.
[ed. by KateBlack at 11:14am, January 28, 2008. There's been an interesting revelation from GreenMamba on the Etsy forums. While individual images have been removed, many collages remain which still contain those individual images. If you thought your work was removed from Polyvore, it may still be there. Artists with violated copyrights will have to contact Polyvore about each individual collage which contained their work. ]
January 22, 2008 at 1:20 pm · Filed under Copyright / Branding, Laws & Regs, Marketing, Miscellaneous · By GreenMamba
In this thread, Etsy lawyer Sarah Feingold announces the launch of the much-anticipated ‘Trademark Permissions Program’.
SarahSays says:
Now you can apply to get official permission to use the word “Etsy,” Etsy’s logo, and other marks in your awesome handmade items! I have been talking about this program and now it’s up and running.
Please check out my Storque article for more information!
http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/etsyNews/article/etsy-trademark-permissions-program-this-aint-no-cease-and-de/15/
Thanks!
Sarah
Posted at 10:38 am, January 22 2008 EST
October 29, 2007 at 4:18 pm · Filed under Bills, Customer Service, Email Notifications, Etsy Communications, Laws & Regs, Payments · By The Janitor
Unfortunately, I had to post this info here at UEN as Admin locked down a thread that was posted to call to Etsy’s attention a possible gap in their billing system reminders. Perhaps Lauren misunderstood my OP. I was not asking for specific resolution of my specific billing situation on the thread (I had already dealt with that via email via the Etsy channels). Instead, I was trying to inform both the Etsy people in charge as well as the Etsy users of the situation encountered.
In a nutshell, my account is not in arrears. I paid the balance on my account (Sept balance) on Oct 16. On October 28, I received this boilerplate email (I was not the only one to receive it):
Dear Soap-
[editorial not: one or more discretionary sentences added by relevant admin, the rest of the email is boilerplate] I’m an admin at Etsy, and I wanted to
thank you for running a successful shop on our site.
I’d like to remind you that as of October 15 your Etsy bill of $46.55
(USD) is currently overdue. It’s really important that you pay this
soon. As of January 1, 2008 we’ll be applying penalties to overdue accounts.
To pay your bill, log in to your Etsy account, then go to Your Etsy >
Your Etsy Bill > Make a Payment Now. You can even make partial payments
to incrementally pay off your remaining balance. (If you’ve already paid
this off - thank you!)
It is our driving goal to give all artists the tools and technology they
need to make a living making things. Your success is testament to ours.
That said, running Etsy costs money, and we depend on our users to
promptly pay our reasonable fees.
I’m here to answer any questions you may have about your bill. Just
send me an email.
Thank you!
[edited out specific admin name]
Etsy Admin
Emailed to me October 28. The issue? My account wasn’t in arrears when Etsy sent the above email out to me. I had already paid the balance showing on October 16, as is showing on my bill page (page 5 of 10), and consistently have a smiley-face on my account page.
As I suggested on page 2 of the thread Lauren locked down,
[m]aybe Etsy can append the current boilerplate with something like “If you have already paid your bill, please disregard this email.”
EDITORIAL:
If Etsy/Lauren doesn’t want me (or anyone) to post these sorts of legitimate issues - which I wasn’t sure was a bug (the title of the section IS called BUGS) - I gladly will take the issues off Etsy next time they occur. The OP clearly wasn’t asking for a resolution to my specific problem. The title of my thread was “Is anyone double-checking before sending out erroneous emails?” in case someone missed it. THAT was the purpose of my post.
I would think Etsy’s legal department would be concerned about and double-checking internal procedures and policies regarding billing issues. But what do I know.
UPDATE:
Someone’s comment reminded me. I forgot to quote from Lauren’s parting shot -
The reminder emails being sent were generated with info from October 15 — which is when the most recent bill was due. The email should have stated something to the effect of, “If you’ve already paid this off - thank you!”
UPDATE: edited because I missed the verbiage. “(If you’ve already paid
this off - thank you!)” is in the middle of the email in the paragraph on giving instructions on how to pay, which I skimmed because I didn’t need those instructions (already paid up), so I missed it. It might be more noticeable off-set by itself or brought to the top of the email, before people are told they are in arrears.
September 27, 2007 at 1:27 pm · Filed under Features, Laws & Regs, Site Terms · By The Janitor
kateblack started a thread about the difficulty of locating all the Etsy rules:
The current rules users of Etsy are expected to abide by are all over the place. This makes it difficult or impossible for users to stay organized, knowledgeable and function within those guidelines.
There should be ONE place users can go to learn what the rules are for the site. Terms of Use. That’s what all users have to agree to when we sign up to use the site.
No D&Ds. No “forum guidelines”. Terms of Use only. Everything should be there, and crystal clear.
[source]
Stellaloella (Lauren) / Etsy Admin locked the thread and in her terminal post, she explained:
The Terms of Use are a legal document, for the legal restrictions on using the site.
The DOs & DON’Ts are the rules of engagement for participation on the site. This goes into much more detail than a legal document can or should.
We are currently looking at revisions to the D&D to clarify some points. In fact, we’re re-examining the entire Help section to make it more helpful.
We thank you for your input, and will keep these thoughts in consideration as we make changes. At this point, we need to take this inside and work on it.
[source]
The full thread is found here:
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5239004
September 4, 2007 at 4:31 pm · Filed under Customer Service, Laws & Regs, Privacy, Site Security · By GreenMamba
REVISED entry
Today, Etsians noticed what they thought was a new link at the bottom of the Etsy front page. The link is a clickable logo from TRUSTe, “an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to build user’s trust and confidence in the Internet by promoting the use of fair information practices.” (from the Etsy Privacy Policy)
In fact, Etsy’s license with TRUSTe is NOT new, but it has been re-newed - and the TRUSTe logo is now much more prominent. The privacy policy that this license pertains to is the same as before, with the exception of these two differences, one made for clarity, one to provide additional info:
- In the original TRUSTe license, Etsy was covered under iospace inc. Now, Etsy is named as a company in its own right.
- The third paragraph in Editing and Deleting Account Information now contains an additional sentence (bold lettering added for identification):
If your personally identifiable information changes, or if you no longer desire our service, you may correct, update, delete or deactivate it by making the change on your member account page or by emailing our Customer Support at support@etsy.com or by contacting us by telephone or postal mail at the contact information listed below. We will respond to your request within 10-20 business days.
While this info may not be new, it has served as a reminder to us all to become acquianted with, and periodically refresh our understanding of, the various policies and rules that govern Etsy.
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