Ethics Question...is it wrong?

[maya]

I think they look different to me, too. I am sure my soaps have been "copied" and I am sure I have "copied" others' soap, not intentionally of course, but still. When one reads a lot, and one writes a lot, one eventually "copies" anothers' work. There was a recent article in Texas Monthly magazine about how does one really know that a Gin Gimlet was Oscars Wildes' favorite drink? You read it somewhere, and then in an article about Oscar Wilde you wrote it, thereby copying another writers work. Same goes with soap. A soapmaker might look at ten thousand bars of soap, you could not say that the bar of soap was not created in the image of a different soapmakers soap.

 

[Chefmom]

That's the joy and the heartbreak of online selling and sharing. You put your best items out there and everyone cruising around for an idea jumps on your idea. If you are selling, your sales are right there. If you are successful, then they are all scrambling to copy and even undercut your prices. It's sad...but it is what it is.

I had something similar many years ago when I worked in a pottery studio with many students. I spent time, and lots of it, reading pottery books, looking at pottery and ceramics in stores and coming up with needs from my own kitchen to inspire me when I sat down to create my own items. Unlike online, where these people are strangers, these were people I knew from the studio, other students. Before I left ceramics (to work an insane full time schedule) I started to see a trend. If I made something one week, within two weeks I started to see copies of my ideas. I made plates and went to find my work after firing to glaze and noticed three students making plates with the same rim as me. Making lidded pots with the same shape and lids and knobs etc. Making candle holders that had jack o lantern faces on them. Flower pots all started to appear after I made mine. At the time it really wore me out...I couldn't do anything of my own without the little sheep just looking at my pots (and some times I found my pots had been removed from the shelves and actually measured and studied and sat next to others while they were working on the wheel) and copying everything that I had spent time creating.

No....pottery and ceramics isn't new, very little functional pieces are anything very different that hasn't been thought of and done before. But week after week of seeing my creations copied over and over really sucked the creative joy out of it for me....in the end I left the studio.

I take inspiration from everywhere...from everything, but when I finally make something it is my interpretation of an inspiration...not a copy. I might lust after a specific color that I see someone using, and marvel at the beauty of anothers creation....but in the end...my products are my own.

 

[TVivian]

I use other people soap pictures for inspiration all of the time! I usually switch up the colors and put my own twist on it... But I guess it's still a copy in a way. It wouldn't bother me if someone outright copied my soap, especially if I'm the one posting pictures online for everyone to see them. The thing is, even though those two soaps are similar, there is one that is clearly executed better than the other (to me anyway) and that's what matters. I think that knowing someone could possibly copy your work and do it better ( or that you're good enough at something that someone would even want to) drives you to be better.

 

[IrishLass]

This subject has come up quite a few times, and my attitude about it is still the same.

I've been making soap almost 10 years now, and like DeeAnna, I, too, have made soap designs that I would swear to high heaven that I came up with all on my own (never saw any other soap design like it before anywhere at any time), and then one day while looking online, I happen to see a pic of what looks to be my soap being sold on Etsy, but it isn't my soap because I don't sell, and I know that it wasn't copied from me because I have never posted a pic of that particular soap before.

The way I look at things is that there is nothing new under the sun. Most of what we see as being done design-wise with soap in the present has more than likely been done before in the past by someone else. After-all, there are only so many ways one can decorate soap without something being repeated somewhere down the line. And as human beings, although we are creative in so many different ways, it turns out that we more similar than what we may think when it comes to appreciating the beauty of a certain line or curve or a swirl and wanting to project such a design onto our soap.

Although I confess I was spooked a little when I saw that pic of 'my soap' online (like looking at your own doppelganger face to face), it didn't bother me in the least. I had a good laugh about it and silently congratulated the unknown soap-maker for having an excellent eye for beauty and for having executed such a lovely swirl. lol

Even if they did copy me, I would be flattered more than anything else.....well, at least until the day I saw that the design I thought that I had come up with had already been done before in the past by someone else, and that I had been patting myself on the back prematurely.


IrishLass

 

[not_ally]

OK, I think you guys have convinced me. One of the good things about hearing other people's thoughts.

 

[maya]

For me, it is also because I come from the herb world. And we are some weirdo folks. One of us gets an idea 'winter thyme elixir' and shares the idea, the formula and everything, then a hundred or a thousand of us are all making it, putting our own spin on it, thyme AND rosemary, no thyme but spruce tree resin. You get the idea. Think tons of soapers do the same kind of thing... "Oh look at this new mold!" or what have you. I share essential oil blends all the time. Same kinda thing.

 

[not_ally]

I suspected you herby types were weirdos. Although I kind of aspire to be one

 

[reinbeau]

For me, it is also because I come from the herb world. And we are some weirdo folks. One of us gets an idea 'winter thyme elixir' and shares the idea, the formula and everything, then a hundred or a thousand of us are all making it, putting our own spin on it, thyme AND rosemary, no thyme but spruce tree resin. You get the idea. Think tons of soapers do the same kind of thing... "Oh look at this new mold!" or what have you. I share essential oil blends all the time. Same kinda thing.

THIS!!^^ I am also an herbal weirdo and I just thought the soap world would be the same - oh boy, was I wrong. But it's ok. I am like that. I love to learn, share, collaborate, I enjoy the camaraderie of those who are same-minded. I avoid the ones that aren't. Not trying to poke at anyone but my other thought is - be confident in yourself. People who find issues to get into high umbrage either have too little confidence in themselves or just have waaaay too much time on their hands. At least that's how I see it. Of course outright copying to steal business is wrong - but really, if you sell at one end of the country and someone else sells something similar on the other, is it really an issue? Yea, I know, selling on line and all - that's why I don't bother with that. I sell locally only. It's simpler that way - I have no need to conquer the soap world.

 

[navigator9]

Years ago, when I was trying to come up with a name for my business, I came up with several that I thought were inventive and unique. But every time I googled them, someone had got there before me. The nerve! lol Then I came up with one I knew no one would have ever though of. Certain of this, I spent time drawing the perfect logo, to go with the name. I was so darn satisfied with myself. Before going to the town hall to register my name, I thought I'd google it, just for the hell of it. Wouldn't you know it.....someone else had "my" name..........and the identical logo!!!!! Back to the drawing board I went. So it really is hard to have a creative idea that is totally unique, no matter how hard we try. But it is crushing to work hard on something and have others copy it detail for detail. Hopefully they would at least add their own flair in some form or another.

 

[newbie]

I suppose this is redundant at this point, but it is true that people are "inventing" the same things without knowledge of the other. I had that experience not long ago. I made a slab swirl and winged it. The result looked just like a helix of DNA so that's what I called it. I felt some ownership of it only to find out someone else had also done a swirl, thought it looked just like a helix of DNA and called it that too. I had no idea!

I look at pictures of soap all the time, trying to find interesting ones for the soap pics thread. I can tell you that many of the same designs come up over and over and over. Who owns that design? I don't think anyone does because somewhere, someone will have done the same thing. Plus, I am always looking for ideas and designs to try to copy or to try to tweak. The person with the top soap may have felt their soap was a tweak on a color scheme they saw but they decided to make the texture on the bottom heavier and use more ocean-like colors on the top. That may have been a spin in their eyes. I'm sure someone could present a scenario of a soap design that would make me question it, but in general, it seems like we all reinvent wheels or riff off of other people's soap. At least I do.

 

[Luv2Soap]

You know what...I think I'm coming around to understanding what you guys are getting at. For some reason it bothered me. Probably because I respect Handmade in Florida's talent so much, I hate seeing anyone getting ripped off. However, I can also see how this was someone's attempt to try to replicate a design. I guess at the end of the day, does it really matter?

 

[biarine]

You can imitate the looks but not everything. Like in my country Philippines we have very famous cake called mamon ( chiffon cake ) I can try from one bakery to another it's the same look and recipe but taste different.

 

[cerelife]

Just to add my 2 cents...I had an idea for a soap that I was really proud of, but I hadn't made it yet. And then in my endless soap perusing I discovered that another soapmaker had made almost the same exact soap! I swear that I had NEVER seen this soap or anything remotely like it before, and I was a little put off about making that particular soap since someone else did it first. I felt like I would be copying them even though I knew in my heart that it was my own idea and no one else's! Like others have mentioned, there's really nothing new under the sun, but it just didn't FEEL right, ya know?
So I ordered a bar of the soap from this soapmaker and it was (Ahem)...less than stellar. I knew I could do it better, so I went ahead with my idea and made a great soap!
What's kind of funny is that this same soapmaker introduced a new soap soon after that which was an exact replica of a soap I had been making for some time with the same exact name as mine!! And I'm about 99% positive that she came up with it on her own and it has nothing to do with MY soap
And yep, I ordered a bar of that one too. It may look the same, but the smell and feel are totally different!