PeggyLovesVintage Blog: Henson Robinson Zoo and a Free Vintage Santa Image

Hi Everyone

Are you ready for Christmas? I'm not! I really envy the individuals who are so organized that by this time they have all their presents purchased, wrapped and under the tree. Maybe one of these years I'll be that person. lol Probably only in my dreams, but that's ok, I'm still going to hope that one of these days I'll reach that lofty goal. lol

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from our local zoo - The Henson Robinson Zoo. They were getting ready to put on their yearly fund raiser that they call Holiday Lights. They decorate the zoo with Christmas lights and scenes and hold special after dark hours. Anyway, they wanted to know if I would like to provide some PeggyLovesVintage items for the gift shop and help with the fund raiser. I felt pretty honored that they would even ask me to participate and I was more than happy to try and help the zoo out, so of course I said yes.

I've never displayed my items in an actual store setting, so I had a ton of things that I had to do to get ready for it. So after about 2 weeks of work, my display was ready. So what do think?

I printed off lots of the collage sheets, created some cards and made lots and lots of hang tags. I pondered for a while on how to document what was on the individual CD's and finally settled on creating individual inserts that would contain a description and a few sample images. And of course, things like price tags and package covers had to be made for the physical store setting. It was quite the challenge but I'm pretty happy with the outcome. Now, I'm just hoping that my items sell so that I can say that I helped the zoo.

Here's a couple of the cards that I created for the zoo. I had planned on using the older post card style images for my Christmas cards and had made a couple of test cards. I really liked the way they turned out, so I decided I would make some up for the zoo. The three images are from Christmas Volume 13. You can find more information about this volume by clicking here. I kept them pretty simple, using just black and white card stock and Stickles to give a sparkle to the snow.

Please forgive me, but now I'm stepping up on my soapbox. A couple of posts back, I mentioned that a scrapbook paper supplier was using my images, without my permission, in their Dear Santa line. At that time I didn't share the company's name because I was hoping that they would be a stand up company and would stop using them. I contacted the company via email on October 14, 2012 and, when I didn't hear anything, again on October 24, 2012. Both times I explained my concerns and requested that they stop reselling my images. On October 15-16, 2012, Designs by Reminisce LLC removed the Santa sheet from the Dear Santa line on the web site but left the Snowman sheet as well as all the other items connected to the product line.

Well, the company, turned my email over to their attorney, Mr. Willey, who sent me a letter dated October 29, 2012 telling me that they weren't using my images, that I had no claim to the images, that they had been purchased in a legal manner and to stop contacting them. Here's the summary quote from his letter.

"Please cease your communication with my client on this issue unless and until you are able to prove: 1) my client used your images, and 2) you actually have rights to copyright."

On Novemeber 6, 2012, I sent Mr. Willey a response letter. I told him that Designs by Reminisce LLC owned by a Mr.Matt Gibson was indeed using my images for the Dear Santa line. I provided him with Mr. Matt Gibson's ebay user id, with the date that he purchased both my Santa CD and Snowman CD, with the PayPal transaction id with which Mr. Gibson paid for the CD's, and with the mailing address where the CD's were shipped. I also provided him with information on when the CD's were originally published and offered for sale, per current copyright laws, at publication, copyright protection is automatically applied to an item. This information was sent via register mail, so I know Mr. Willey recieved the letter on November 8, 2012. As of today, December 12, 2012, Mr. Willey has not responded nor have I heard from Mr. Gibson.,

Therefore, I feel compelled to tell my story to all of my blog friends. I have heard, although I have not been able to verify it, that Designs by Reminisce LLC may already be involved in a copyright infringement case with another individual. This information came from two different stores in totally different states. So I'm assuming that there is some credence to the information. Have you heard anything about this? Whether it is true or not, I cannot say, but it definitely makes me wonder about all the other items that the company produces.

I know that I will never purchase anything from Designs by Reminisce LLC either in-store or on-line at http://www.designsbyreminisce.com . How about you?

Ok, I'm stepping off my soapbox now. I have an awesome image to share with you this week. I love this Santa in his Model T. Make sure you click on him before you save it.