Blanket Woes

I love to learn new things. Sometimes, it is really frustrating how new things are learned.

I was recently educated on patents and infringement. I had this blanket listed in my ArtFire shop.

Earlier this week I got an e-mail from ArtFire letting me know that the company, Taggies, felt that my blanket was infringing on their intellectual property rights. I was a little confused as I had never heard of Taggies. I made the blanket using a pattern found in a book.

Anyway, after doing some research, I discovered that there are a lot of people on e-bay, Etsy, ArtFire, and even craft shows, who have had problems with Taggies.

I read through the patent that was sent to me after I asked exactly what was causing the infringement. I am by no means an expert on patents, but I was really surprised (and a little irked to tell you the truth) that someone could get a patent like this one to go through.

After reading through it until my eyes bled, and after reading about the problems that these people have had in the past, I thought that maybe it was just the loops that where to problem.

So, I sent this e-mail to the woman I was corresponding with at Taggies.

"From: Kristina Steffen [mailto:kaotickrafter@hotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2010 10:55 PM
To: Cristi Navickas; mid@artfire.com
Subject: RE: Intellectual Properety Infringment Notice from Taggies Inc.

Ms. Navickas,
I apologize for any harm I may have caused. I had no prior knowledge of this patent.

I have a question. If my item does not have loops, is that considered an infringement? I read through the patent but I did not see any reference to un-looped ribbons.

If you could please let me know, I would greatly appreciate it.

Sincerely,
Kristina
http://www.kaotickrafter.blogspot.com
http://www.jetisteffen.blogspot.com
http://www.kaotickrafter.artfire.com
http://www.craft4emma.etsy.com"

Here is the reply I received.

"RE: Intellectual Properety Infringment Notice from Taggies Inc.‏
From: Cristi Navickas (cnavickas@taggies.com)
Sent: Thu 3/04/10 8:11 AM
To: Kristina Steffen (kaotickrafter@hotmail.com)

If there are no loops there is no infringement.

Thank you,

Cristi Navickas
cnavickas@taggies.com"
(note, I added the bold for this post)

So, I will be re-listing my blanket making sure to specify that my blanket has ribbons that DO NOT form loops. It kinda sucks, but it is better then not being able to make them at all.

Anyway, I really wanted to share this in case there is anyone else out there having the same problem.

Feel free to comment and let me know if you have had problems and what you did about them.