New Target Range, Built on Plagiarism?

6 April 2014


Notice anything in common with the top and bottom image here? Yep, those labels are the exact same. The top labels are lovely labels designed by Kristine from The Painted Hive, a Melbourne based home blog. The bottom, a product in the new range by Lisa T now available at Target. And no, it wasn't a team effort. 

I had come across the decal tutorial a few years back in 2012 when the tutorial with printables was first posted online. The post was a grand success, leading to the labels being able to be bought as well as printed to DIY. The post states that the labels are free for personal use only and are not to be used "Republication, reproduction or redistribution in any form".

I contacted Kristine from The Painted Hive, to see if she was aware of what had happened, and she was of course not, and was quite disappointed to find out. 

It does raise the question how much ownership do you actually have over your own online creations? 
This website Electronic Frontier Foundation has some interesting facts about your intellectual property in relation to what you write on your blog, and how people can use it. As well as what is fair use when it comes to using other peoples images. I am quite sure though that selling another person's design at a department store is not allowed. 

I'm now curious if any of Lisa T's products are unique or original at all. Most of them are covered with age old quotes, that have been floating around for years. In fact her website is just quotes stolen from the internet with images of herself next to them. If I looked further, would I find more plagiarism amongst her other products?



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