NEWSLETTERS (AND BLOGS!) 101 #29 Part Deux: Share Your Work (and Let Go of the Fear of Being Copied)

I’d rather spend my time making my art, and let go of controlling copy-cats.

3/23/2021 by Luann Udell
This post is by Luann Udell, regular contributing author for FineArtViews. She’s blogged since 2002 about the business side–and the spiritual inside–of art. She says, “I share my experiences so you won’t have to make ALL the same mistakes I did….”  For ten years, Luann also wrote a column (“Craft Matters”) for The Crafts Report magazine (a monthly business resource for the crafts professional) where she explored the funnier side of her life in craft. She’s a double-juried member of the prestigious League of New Hampshire Craftsmen (fiber & art jewelry). Her work has appeared in books, magazines, and newspapers across the country and she is a published writer.

Better question: What is the highest, best use of your time and money?

 (4 minute read)

 Nothing will totally protect your artwork from being copied, not even unlimited time nor deep pockets of money.

In last week’s article about our fear of being copied, I shared how the most commonly used practices to protect our online art images (watermarks, disabling ‘right click’ on our website, etc.) do very little to actually protect us, and end up simply annoying our true collectors and potential buyers.

In the original article that sparked this discussion, I shared how someone may have found my art tagline attractive, and adapted it for their own use. (Again…MAYBE.) After sharing my emotional journey from dismay to acceptance, and moving forward, a reader suggested I ‘trademark’ my slogan.

First, thank you for thinking of me! I know this came from a place of wanting to help fix this problem.

I have no intention of doing that, for many reasons. But I did become curious about what would be involved.

 I looked up what a trademark protects, what resources it gives us, and how much it costs. (Disclosure: Lori Woodward would have dived deeply into this, which is why I miss her highly-informative posts on topics like this. I did a cannonball in the shallow end of the pool instead, so feel free to go further with your own exploration, if you need to.)

Trademarks are indeed a way to protect our ‘slogan’. (Copyright protections do not apply to slogans and short phrases.)

However, they don’t automatically stop people from using our own words. They simply give us the means to increase our power if we decide to pursue our trademark rights.

That means, filing a lawsuit. Which costs time, and money. A lot of money.

·        First, it costs from $225-$400 simply to file a trademark.

·        It only lasts 10 years.

·        There are extra fees for extensions, amendments, and maintenance.

·        And it can take 6 months to a year to be approved.

·        It’s highly recommended to hire a lawyer to do the filing, to make sure everything is done correctly.

·        And lawyer fees typically run $125-$300/hour, and usually get to $500-$2000 per action.

That’s a lot of money to protect six words.

Second, trademark action is only supported if the copied usage creates confusion. Hence, we have Delta Airlines and Delta faucets, because very few people would be confused by the two companies. (I was going to say something funny here, but I decided not to.) (Actually, I couldn’t think of anything funny, but if you can, be sure to share it in the comments!)

I don’t think I’ll be filing a trademark application anytime soon.

So back to my original point: This person’s bio echoed my tagline. But their work did not. In fact, their body of work doesn’t even echo their tagline. (What I could find of it, anyway.)

And I don’t think anyone looking at their work, and my work, would ever confuse the two.

Furthermore, I never would have even seen the wordy resemblance, if a friend/artist back in New Hampshire hadn’t pointed it out to me.

So for a minimum of $725 up to $2,400 for protection, for ten years’ protection, is it worth it?

And again, that protection only makes my legal action more solid. I would still have to file a lawsuit, pay lawyer fees, take a lot of time off work, and a pile of energy I don’t have right now, to make that legal action stick. (Yes, sometimes a cease-and-desist letter will have the same effect, but that costs lawyer fees, too.)

Even if I won my case, and won damages, whoops, here comes another copy-cat! Let’s do it all over again! Oy.

We artists are not multi-million dollar franchises with corporate lawyers to manage this for us. Most of us are sole proprietors (or “soul” proprietors) squeaking through, hope to earn a nice income from our work. Or at least enough to break even every year. A very few may be lucky to have a spouse handling the business end of our art making, but I’m guessing even fewer have copyright/trademark lawyers for partners.

So I repeat:

How do you want to make the best use of your time and energy?

Dealing with those people who consciously or unconsciously tread on our toes? Defending our art like an angry, indignant meerkat, sending cease-and-desist letters, scouring the web for instances of people copying our work, our words, spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on “protection” we probably can’t afford, that won’t work anyway?

Or could we choose to count our blessings? Give thanks for our ability to create the work that makes us whole, that brings us joy?

Could we choose to be grateful for the ease of sharing it with the world freely (literally!), daily, in ways that lift the hearts of others?

Could we rejoice in the fact that we can choose every single day what we make, where we make it, how we make it, and know that, if we’re doing it right, our audience will instantly know, “That’s a Luann Udell!”?

I know what I will choose, every single day.

What will YOU choose, today?

Next week, another article on true forgeries, and what made me smack my head in disbelief. (If you haven’t already watched “Made You Look” on Netflix, you still have time!)

Your comments are always welcome, often insightful, and sometimes inspirational, too! Shares, the same. You can find more of my articles at Fine Art Views, and/or visit/subscribe to them through my blog.

TELL ME A STORY: Proximity

Continuing my series for Fine Art Views on using story hooks in your publicity and self-promotion…

I just figured out how to republish my Fine Art Views articles here! Duh…..

Tell Me a Story: Proximity
by Luann Udell

In short, the world is a pretty big place. But it’s still made up of countless communities. These days, our communities are far more than just the people who live near us. Take another look at yours. See if there’s a group who’d love to hear more about what you’re up to. […]

This post is by Luann Udell, regular contributing author for FineArtViews.  Luann also writes a column (“Craft Matters”) for The Crafts Report magazine (a monthly business resource for the crafts professional) where she explores the funnier side of her life in craft.  She’s a double-juried member of the prestigious League of New Hampshire Craftsmen (fiber & art jewelry).  Her work has appeared in books, magazines and newspapers across the country and she is a published writer.  She’s blogged since 2002 about the business side–and the spiritual inside–of art.  She says, “I share my experiences so you won’t have to make ALL the same mistakes I did….” You should submit an article and share your views as a guest author by clicking here.

A quick look back… Some people protested the validity of using ‘sex and romance’ as a story hook. As I said, it’s not for everyone. But here’s an example of how powerful this story hook can be: Andrew Wyeth and the ‘Helga’ Chronicles

As Mr. Knight points out, this story was so huge, it went ‘viral’ in pre-Internet days!

Let’s take the conversation back to safer ground, and talk about proximity as a story hook.

We use the proximity hook for a story that’s physically close to home. It’s why I run a press release in my local newspaper when I’m having an open studio. I want local people to know about it—my customers who live nearby and potential new customers. My customers who live four, five or ten hours away aren’t likely to attend, even if they want to.

And local people are the most likely to be interested because it’s…well….local! We’re always interested in things that take place in ‘our own back yard’.

That’s why most newspapers and radio stations will readily run a press release about a local event. They know it will be of interest to their readers.

Some artists don’t send press releases to their local paper. “People around here don’t buy art,” they claim, or “My customers don’t live here” or other reasons. I contend that people know other people and people pass on items to other friends who might be interested.

True story: I emailed an open studio notice to all my customers, even those who lived out-of-state. One out-of-state customer immediately called her friend—who lived in my town—to tell her friend to attend. That local woman is now a friend and a valued customer.

Another, more subtle reason to publicize yourself locally—it establishes your credibility and credentials as an artist.

And another true story: I was an at-home mother with no job when I started my art. I was known as ‘Jon’s wife’ or “Robin’s mother.’ After achieving some success with my work, I felt comfortable telling people, when asked for my profession, that I was an artist. But since anyone could say that, I sensed some folks took that with a grain of salt.

I began to send announcements to our local newspaper whenever a piece was selected for an exhibition or for publication. I announced when an article was published or when I received an award. Within a couple of years, I noticed I was now being introduced as a ‘famous artist’.

I still treasure the other titles, but I like the new addition.

Now, a proximity story hook is low-hanging fruit—it’s easy to get publicity just because you live ‘here’. The question is, just how far afield can we take proximity?

Consider: Where else do you ‘live’?

Consider other communities and homes we are part of.

‘Local’ is relative.

For our region, Keene is ‘local’. But for our state, the Monadnock region is local, so I can target regional newspapers for certain stories. My state is local for New England. And so on. I wouldn’t submit a release for an open studio to a national media. But I would if they were focusing on stories from New Hampshire or New England.

Former communities count.

My home town is a community. People in Gladwin, Michigan are always happy to see a local girl made good! I’ve sent press releases newspapers in my home town paper and others where I used to live.

My college is a community. As an alumni, I sometimes send press releases to my university’s art history and education departments.

People are communities.

My friends and family are a community, though they live all over the country—and world. Email and Facebook are good ways to let them know my news. Friends lead to friends-of-friends and the wave continues.

My customers, galleries and reps are a community. They all have a vested interest in my success. They’re delighted to hear about each honor and achievement. They want to hear about my new work, exhibitions, shows and good press I’ve received.

Peers are communities.

I subscribe to many professional and trade publications. Some of my news releases would be appropriate for them.

I belong to certain professional organizations, for craftspeople, polymer artists, jewelry artists. Ditto art and craft forums and other online communities. If I achieve some honor or win an award, these are also communities who would be interested.

My special interests are communities.

I volunteer for several organizations. My volunteer community and the organizations we work for are other potential audiences.

I’ve had articles and artwork images picked up by horse riding publications; boat magazines (my fish wall hangings!); archeology publications, etc. I sometimes post news to a group that collects antique trade beads.

In short, the world is a pretty big place. But it’s still made up of countless communities. These days, our communities are far more than just the people who live near us. Take another look at yours. See if there’s a group who’d love to hear more about what you’re up to.

And as always, be sure to share your unique communities here, too!

You can also read this at:
Tell Me A Story: Proximity

———————————————-
This excerpt appears courtesy of FineArtViews Art Marketing Newsletter by FASO,
a free email newsletter about art, marketing, inspiration and fine living for artists,
collectors and galleries (and anyone else who loves art).

For a complimentary subscription, visit: Fine Art Views