Chris Prussing's "R U A Copycat?" Poll

R-U-A-COPYCAT POLL Answer choices are a simple yes or no. That’s it. No hand wringing or dithering. Any resemblances to real life incidents are coincidental (Ha! And I’m the Pope!)

1. You learn some designs from a book (purchased or borrowed, it doesn’t matter), and make a bunch of pieces based upon these designs to sell at the crafts fair. Some of the pieces you make exactly the same as the examples in the book, others you modify a bit as to colors, bead count, and placement. A customer asks you if these are your original designs, and you reply, no, they’re based upon designs you learned from a book. Will these designs ever become "yours," if you modify them sufficiently?

2. BONUS QUESTION: That witch had a lot of nerve, asking a question like that.

3. Someone designs a lovely pattern and publishes it on their Web page. You use it to make pieces for the crafts fair, and sell every piece. Should you offer the pattern’s designer a cut of the sales?

4. BONUS QUESTION: Did this payment possibility even cross your mind?

5. An acquaintance comes up with a nifty design, and posts the instructions on the Internet. You try to make one of these things, and discover a different method for doing it. You write up instructions and post them on your Web page. Because you’ve used the same types of beads, the picture examples you post look just like the pieces made by your acquaintance, even though they’re done differently. Your acquaintance in the meantime has taken her instructions off the Internet, has submitted this design for a magazine article, and is making kits to sell. She tells you in no uncertain terms that you’re muscling in on her turf, and to quit publishing your instructions on your Web page. Should you "cease and desist?"

6. BONUS QUESTION: Should you start making and selling your own kits?

7. You’re going to teach a class, so you photocopy some instructions out of a book (purchased or borrowed, doesn’t matter) and distribute them to your students. Did you do a bad, bad thing?

8. BONUS QUESTION: You printed out the instructions from someone’s Web page. Do you owe the author of the instructions a cut of the class fees?

9. You take a class. Your friend hasn’t a snowball’s chance in BeadHell of taking this class, due to distance, finances, and lack of opportunity. The class’s teacher, however, does provide a complete kit for purchase. Your friend asks you to photocopy the class handout, help her select the appropriate beads, and show her how to do the piece. Do you say, "I think it would be best to buy the kit"?

10. BONUS QUESTION: There’s no kit available, and your friend is starting to look sulky. You tell her that if she coughs up half of what you paid to take the class, you’ll show her what you learned.

11. You travel out of town and take a class. Your local bead group asks you to teach a class and show them what you learned. A fee will be charged. Do you contact your original instructor for permission to teach this class?

12. BONUS QUESTION: The instructor offers you a packet of instructions, diagrams, and bonus designs, which you can purchase for $150 and reproduce and distribute to your students as necessary. Do you jump at this opportunity?

13. You come up with a pattern or design, and post the instructions on your website. Someone contacts you and says you’ve copied their idea, please take your instructions off your website. You don’t know this person from Adam, and had no idea they’d already come up with a similar design. Do you remove your instructions?

14. BONUS QUESTION: Do you first run your reply through your handy Flame-O-Matic?

15. Deon’s bugle bead brick stitch earrings, Chipita’s beaded cabochons, the Melrose Place "Y" necklace, Wendy Brigode’s "Tin Cup" "floating pearls" necklace, the illusion necklace concept. . . You’ve come up with a design that’s now sweeping the fashion world, and is being produced by everyone from hobbyists to sweatshops. Are you wringing your hands about copyright, patent, or trademark infringement and hiring a lawyer?

16. BONUS QUESTION: Are you crying all the way to the bank?

17. You bead embroider over an Absolut vodka ad, matching the composition and colors as exactly as you can. You offer this and similar works for sale at the local art gallery. Are you infringing on someone’s copyright?

18. BONUS QUESTION: You embroider over a photocopy of an old black-and-white photo, choosing your own colors and composing the flow of your bead lines to bring out what you think is important in the photo. Should you credit the original photographer in your description of your work?

19. You see a design in a gallery, on the internet, or in a magazine, and figure out a way to make one for yourself. Your bead friends see you wearing this piece, and want you show them how to do it. You write up instructions, do drawings, and teach a class. Are you a copycat?

20. BONUS QUESTION: You submit your instructions to a magazine, and they publish them as a how-to article. You mention that you got the initial concept from elsewhere, but that the pieces illustrated are your own. Have you sinned?