Oh Etsy. Oh Valve. Why?

I think I pretty much jinxed it when I had my little rant about items being banned from Etsy because of complaints from Fox broadcasting and Microsoft about my Futurama T-shirts and Mincraft T-shirt .

Valve software complained to Etsy about one of my items, my Good Game T-shirt to be exact. And it was banned for copyright infringement. And shortly after it was banned, my whole shop was taken down, as I had ventured into the realm of the repeat offender.

I'm a little sad about it, I loved my Etsy shop and all of my customers. This is the item that was banned and lead to my Etsy shops uncompromising death.

I'm really shocked that they pulled this one up to be honest. Lets face it, its only text. Its not even full words! There is no reference to any of Valve's products here at all! 

My mistake was in using DOTA as a search reference for the item. I asked Etsy if I could get my shop reopened as this particular offence seems a bit unfair, and I have always done as they ask on these matters. But no, Etsy wont budge, shop closed and my request for my product data ignored. 

Either way Valve, I can't believe this is how low you stooped sending out your minions to deal with copyright infringement. Thanks for sniping the little guy. 

All is not lost though, there are plenty of other ways to get my creations out into the world. But it involves a lot of work (which I should have done a long time ago) So there will be a lot of fiddling with the blog and Facebook page in the next few days while I set things straight. 

Expect more frequent but much shorter posts on here relating to items. Mostly new product and maybe revisits on a few best sellers I haven't touched on yet. :)

Anyways on with plan Z

The ones that couldn't make it to Etsy

I thought I'd take a little time to shine some light on a few items I love but can't sell on Etsy since the owners of the characters shouted at me to take them down. These are now available on the mini shop I have here on the blog site, hopefully the big meanies at FOX won't hunt me down with pitchforks.

(I can't help but hear this Marge squirrel voice in my head)

I do think its a real shame that companies such as FOX broadcasting actually hire people to seek out fan made items and threaten legal action against the creator. Makes me think of a story I heard when I worked for my supplier, they had a brand that produced a black T-shirt with two white stripes down the arms, Adidas came along and sued them for millions as they didn't like how close it was to their three stripe design. I wonder if they realise how many people may have lost their jobs because of something so stupid and greedy.

Anyways...

First up, one of my favourites from when I first started out. Popular in both T-shirt and hoodie. This meme may be a little dead these days but even so Futurama is still amazing and one of my favourite animated series,. even if the nasty people at FOX did tell me off. If they come after me with a legal team I'll just attempt my best Zoidberg impression. WHOOOP WHOOOOP WHOOOP WHOOOP WHOOOP!  (I actually can't do it very well at all, good job really I wouldn't want them to sue me for that too) Why not Zoidberg Hoodie and why not zoidberg t-shirt

 

 Need a new T-shirt? Why not Zoidberg?

My other Futurama design that I had to take down from Etsy. Only simple but still good for the Futurama fans. I can almost hear the dragons at FOX taking flight to come seek me out and burn me down. Planet Express T-shirt and planet express hoodie

And the Minecraft creeper T-shirt, even though I'm not a huge fan of Minecraft I have a lot of love for this T-shirt. I didn't have much money at all when I first started out, and this one sold so well that it gave me the money I needed to be able to move back home when a relationship ended. It was a real life saver. However I don't think the owners of Minecraft would understand the sentimental value that comes from selling something I made for their fans. Oh yeah, I made a minecraft creeper hoodie version too.

Lego also shouted at me, but to be honest they still let me sell my design, they just wanted me to change how I use the name lego in my listings. So erm, small change - LEGO also shouted at me* - for not using their brand name correctly, but that's all fixed now. :)  So for the extreme LEGO enthusiasts we have the LEGO creator T-shirt

Lucky me hasn't had much trouble really, but when a message does come through telling me to take down a design it really does suck. I don't think I'm damaging anyone really, and the reason I have created these designs is usually because they are based on something I love, or a friend or family member loves, its a shame I can't share that with others. I thought I'd put the designs here so that Etsy isn't troubled by legal notices (and so they don't close my shop :( ) but if they send me legal notices directly these designs are going to be taken down for good, so get them while you can :)