China crises

[ZendeR]

The worry is that they don't take no for an answer and produce a copy of your output on a mass produced basis anyway, just without cutting you in.

@vapesmarter Very noble decision Stu but this is a real concern. A family member of mine is an artist and does little figurines out of recycled materials. He has a Christmas line that always sells really well. He was once approached by some corporate dodgy folk who offered him a minimal percentage of each mass produced sale, if he was willing to go teach prisoners how to make the figurines! Crazy I know... So he told them to bugger off. They replied: I don't think you understand. We're being nice to you here. If you don't want to be part of this we'll just do it without you being involved. Queue intelectual property solicitors, headaches and sleepless nights. He still kept his integrity and pride but there are real unscrupulous scum out there willing to sell their mother's for a few pence Hope everything turns out OK. Stay safe!

 

[Michael jackson]

Well after a frantic 3 days I said


Sod off

Yep

silly thing to do ?

Proberbly

Just think all that money...,

Yeah right the one thing in my life is not money it might be the thing everyone wants but life isn’t like that for me

So what will I do now

Dunno I’m looking at mods and making in general

I have a market but people want cheap mods for £50 that’s not me not my ethos

Also I notice the rise of 3d box's and eBay stabwood etc

That’s not me either

I will keep making all of it myself always different, always uk always bespoke

End of

I saw the money and turned my face away that I am proud of

Good on you mate.

 

[vapesmarter]

The worry is that they don't take no for an answer and produce a copy of your output on a mass produced basis anyway, just without cutting you in.

@vapesmarter Very noble decision Stu but this is a real concern. A family member of mine is an artist and does little figurines out of recycled materials. He has a Christmas line that always sells really well. He was once approached by some corporate dodgy folk who offered him a minimal percentage of each mass produced sale, if he was willing to go teach prisoners how to make the figurines! Crazy I know... So he told them to bugger off. They replied: I don't think you understand. We're being nice to you here. If you don't want to be part of this we'll just do it without you being involved. Queue intelectual property solicitors, headaches and sleepless nights. He still kept his integrity and pride but there are real unscrupulous scum out there willing to sell their mother's for a few pence Hope everything turns out OK. Stay safe!

What you say is true

“Alfie clones”

I expect it might happen but I doubt it

But what can one do

I have no control over that neither do I have control over someone on here or an any other forum doing the same format ie Fred the dog stabwood etc although I would hope people would step in

But like bankys copies

“I am the real vapesmarter” Taa daa

 

[KetracelWhite]

This example came me to that illustrates this situation...

Most of the value in @vapesmarter’s work comes from him producing the equivalent of handmade and quite personal artefacts which are the equivalent of artworks, as I brought up earlier. Hence it’s not really the case that they can be nefariosly cloned, as the clones would not be originated by him as the artist.

To make an example: someone could perfectly forge a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, and it could look exactly like a da Vinci - but without proper attribution that it is actually from Leonardo’s hand, it’s not a da Vinci is it.

Similarly, but a bit easier to replicate, someone could reproduce a sculpture by Donald Judd perfectly, but it won’t be a Judd, nor have the hundreds of thousands of K market value of a Judd. It would just be a very well made wood or metal box.

http://www.artnet.com/artists/donald-judd/

For this reason, the only way a company can profit from this is by acquiring the brand name and/or intellectual property associated with the artist/ maker.

So, good decision there.

 

[Myashey]

Well done Stu, you’ve kept your integrity and the moral high ground. Each one of your creations is a piece of art and that is what makes them so special.

 

[Fergmeister]

Seems like I’m late to this.

A piece of advice which seems to fix most problems is to flip a coin - you’ll know what you want when it’s in the air.

Glad you’ve made a choice mate. So be it if they copy your stuff - it won’t be an original, and that’s it’s main selling point!

Good luck!

 

[jsixtysix]

'To increase production, he attracted a collection of porn stars, drag queens, socialites, drug addicts, musicians, and free-thinkers who became known as the Vapesmarter Stars, to help him. These "art-workers" helped him create his mods, starred in his dreams, and created the atmosphere for which the VapesmART Factory became legendary.'

Take a leaf out of Warhol's book

 

[KetracelWhite]

One... slight... problem with that idea...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Solanas

 

[KetracelWhite]

 

[silk186]

@vapesmarter Very noble decision Stu but this is a real concern. A family member of mine is an artist and does little figurines out of recycled materials. He has a Christmas line that always sells really well. He was once approached by some corporate dodgy folk who offered him a minimal percentage of each mass produced sale, if he was willing to go teach prisoners how to make the figurines! Crazy I know... So he told them to bugger off. They replied: I don't think you understand. We're being nice to you here. If you don't want to be part of this we'll just do it without you being involved. Queue intelectual property solicitors, headaches and sleepless nights. He still kept his integrity and pride but there are real unscrupulous scum out there willing to sell their mother's for a few pence Hope everything turns out OK. Stay safe!

While unfortunate I don't think is the same. Anyone can make a craft figurine or sable wood mod, but they can use his branding and logo. It is very difficult to protect a design. Look at the mobile phone industry as an example, or how similar most household appliances are in design aesthetics.