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Tabberone is pronounced tab ber won |
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Embroidery Designers Group Cyber Cops Hall Of Shame Members Added October 21, 2010 |
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| Last Updated October 31, 2010 |
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FLASH! UPDATE October 25, 2010 - |
From: tabberone@hotmail.com |
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FLASH! UPDATE October 24, 2010 - |
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FLASH! UPDATE October 23, 2010 - |
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We recently discovered that the web site for the Embroidery Software Protection Coalition ("ESPC") was
down and we were wondering what happened. It appears that the Embroidery Designers Group has picked up where the ESPC
left off. Not only does the phony jargon on their web site sound similar but they have the same useless links to Department of Justice pages and to
the US Copyright Office.
Before we address the many flaws on the web site, we want to go over the Embroidery Designers Group's domain and the main cast of
characters. The live link to Great Notions we consider to be an indicator of their connection to the ESPC. We believe that
Great Notions is a major force behind the illegal and unethical activities of the ESPC. The connection to Great Notions and the ESPC
immediately makes the operations of the Embroidery Designers Group highly questionable.
The web site, embroidery-and-designs.com, is registered through a company called Contactprivacy.com which is
located in Canada. People register through companies like this so others will not know who really owns and runs the domain. A reputable company
would not do this - hide the identity of its owners. Disreputable companies and persons do this because they fear being exposed. We consider this
type of domain registration to be a sign that a con artist is hiding behind door #1. Be careful and do not trust them. Ever.
The overall tone of this web site is very vigilante. It lists, or did until they were removed, people who are alleged to be stealing digital embroidery designs
and selling them. Copyright laws grants enormous statutory damages for willful copyright infringement. So why not go after these alleged thieves
in court where you can really hurt them? Instead, there are threats and unsubstantiated claims of victory over the "scum". The original concept of
the group appears to have been hijacked.
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Anne Heath The Con Artist In Charge, the CAIC, appears to be one Anne Heath. Anne Heath is posting a wordy and very misleading threatening letter around the internet on various blog sites. She signs this threatening letter as "Anne Heath, Attorney at law, USA". There are a number of problems here. First, any reputable attorney would list the state in which they reside and contact information. Not listing the state and contact information immediately makes us suspect that she is either not a lawyer or she is like Carole A. Faulkner, in-house counsel for the Embroidery Software Protection Coalition ("ESPC"), someone we consider to be a liar and not to be trusted. The only contact information we have located for Anne Heath is anneheath@embroiderydesignersgroup.com and anneheath43@yahoo.com and she will not respond to our emails. Who are you, Anne? If you are a real person, why not respond to us with YOUR side of the story? |
| Attorney Anne Heath does not come up in a web search using Google except for a Anne Heath in North Bend, Washington. Google shows nothing about her except that she is an attorney. Perhaps she is the same Anne Heath? We do not know. The avatar for Anne Heath is to each side. Many people select avatars to reflect their likes and/or personalities. What the hell is that avatar for Anne Heath? Does she only come out at night to suck blood? For someone who has "been working in the commercial embroidery industry for over 30 years" there is remarkably no information available about her. Hey, Annie? We do not know about Great Britain but lying about being a lawyer is a criminal offense in the USA. Perhaps Homeland Security should add you to their "Watch List" in case you visit the colonies? |
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Employees Also listed as "employees" of the Embroidery Designers Group are one Stella Suleman and one David Spikeman. Stella Suleman is in the "Embroidery Designs corporate legal department" but a Google search for Stella Suleman only results in 7 hits and none are attorneys. David Spikeman is listed as "Corporate Lawyer for one of the largest solicitors in the UK. Specialising in Copyrights" yet a Google search for Solicitor David Spikeman returns no hit. David Spikeman alone returns only 63 hits. So, we ask, who are these eminent legal experts running the Embroidery Designers Group? They seem not to exist in the real world. Could it be that they are all fakes? Seems so. Glenn, are you a big fat lair? It certainly seems so. |
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Posting by Heath On to the threatening letter that was brought to our attention. Since the "employees" of the Embroidery Designers Group appear to be fictional, and the web site format mimics the now defunct ESPC, we do not find any of the statements by one Anne Heath, Attorney, USA, to be credible. A Google search for the Embroidery Designers Group turns up zero information not found in their web site's fictitious information.Starting with the first sentence, this posting appears to be lie after lie after lie. How is it that the Embroidery Designers Group has "closed down over 40 sellers across the world" without no buzz anywhere? All of a sudden this group appears claiming vast accomplishments, none of which have made the news or any blogs? We are not buying this lie. In the first paragraph we get a clue as to who Anne Heath really is. She uses the British spelling of digitizers, "digitisers", as she does again in paragraph 5 and paragraph 6 (twice). In the third paragraph we get another clue as to who Anne Heath really is. She uses the British spelling of realized, "realised", in her claim about the "war against those stealing our embroidery designs". Later on, she uses the word "neighbours", again the British spelling of the word. And her comment about waiting for a "letter in the post" is pure British. So who is this wench that is falsely claiming to be an American attorney? Can you say "Bitch" perpetrating a fraud? Is there really a person named Anne Heath behind all of this or is the name a fraud like the rest of the Embroidery Designers Group? Does BITCH have the same meaning in Great Btitain as it does in the US? She also uses the word "scum" three times to describe her imaginary enemies. Those voices in her head are repeating themselves. And she alludes to possibly losing court cases but the Embroidery Designers Group has no legal standing that we can see to bring any lawsuits. Those voices she hears need to slow down. How did this "organisation", hee hee, the Embroidery Designers Group, do all of what Anne Heath claims without getting any attention? From what they claim, they would thrive on publicity. So why is there none? Because their claims are false. Anne Heath is a phony. Her posting is one big fat lie. |
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Web Site Misinformation We already mentioned the same useless links to Department of Justice pages and to the US Copyright Office. The information presented is useless and oriented to the embroidery designers. We have never claimed that there is not infringement on the internet. There is and there is a lot of it. That to which we object is the Cyber Cops who seek out innocent users and demand extortion monies from them, like the ESPC was doing. We object to baseless accusations about copyright being made. Far too many "artists" think they own a design just because they "thought" of it. One company seems to think they own all designs of dachshunds. This is over-reaching. And we respond to companies and individuals who try to warp the meaning of copyrights.When you read what is posted on the web site, Anne Heath sounds deranged. She sounds borderline psychotic in her posting. They Will Find you and destroy you and your families - you lowlife scum! And what gives the Embroidery Designers Group any legal authority? Those voices that Anne Heath hears? |
"We have their address and evidence which will be used in a court of law." |
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Omega ID Tracker Besides the misinformation about copyrights (and the British spelling of words), the web site claims their "Omega ID Tracker" leads them to infringers. |
"Once a purchased design is opened on a computer, a copy of the code is released and embedded on the computer hard drive." |
| What? If embedding software on a computer without the knowledge of the computer owner is not illegal it certainly should be. That is how viruses damage computers and personal information is collected. The following paragraph was on their "Omega ID Tracker" web page but as of October 19, 2010, this entire paragraph was deleted from the page. We wonder why they deleted it? According to Glenn Harris, the ID Tracker is alive and well. |
"Once a purchased design is opened on a computer, a copy of the code is released and embedded on the computer hard drive. This does not harm the computer in way way. |
| If this is true then they are guilty of acquiring personal information about users without their permission. We doubt this is true as we have shown they are liars. Additionally, how do we know that they are "only" collecting information about the software? They could be collecting names and passwords as well. Any company that is connected with this practice should be avoided. They are engaging in criminal activity. |
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Emails We Have Received The first email came from digitizingbear |
"You are falsely giving out information on this site, three of the websites listed belong to me and we did not state we used the Omega system only that we encode our designs. We are small independent digitizers trying to make a living selling embroidery designs which have been taken, shared and almost bankrupted us. If you do not make this change to remove our sites from this you are opening yourself up to personal litigation as I know for a fact at least 6 of us are not using Omega tracking, we simply put our website initials in our designs". |
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digitizingbear makes a number of points. If it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, can we assume it most likely is a duck? The companies listed
below somehow "allowed" their information to be listed as "members" of the Embroidery Designers Group. The EDG web site, and the insane postings
by Anne Heath, indicate some sort of vigilante organization that has made claims of
secretly embedding tracking software on the computers of
unsuspecting purchasers. We speculate as to whether ALL of the companies listed below use this software but there is a certain amount of guilt
by association.
We agree there is a problem with digitized designs being stolen and misused. However, that is not the focus of these pages. We go after people and companies who abuse the system to persecute innocent buyers and sellers. Cyber Cops fall into that category and in our opinion the Embroidery Designers Group is a thinly disguised and out of control Cyber Cop. From madelinescully |
"I've just read your piece on the Embroidery Designers Group and am quite disgusted that you can plaster names all over the page claiming they are behind this group without even bothering to check with the deisgner if they even had any knowledge of it, let alone are part of it!" |
| Considering the number of companies that were listed on the web site (all names have been removed), contacting every one of them would have been impractical. If they even would bother to respond to our inquiries. Her anger should be more properly directed at the Embroidery Designers Group and Glenn Harris whom she claims used her name and logo without her permission. But, we have an email from Glenn Harris in which he flatly states he cannot add someone to the list without their permission. So who is telling the truth here? madelinescully goes on: |
"What gives you the God damned right to spread lies and deceit about me and ruin my business for no other reason than you read it on a website? If that is not defamatory, then goodness only knows what is! |
| But she then goes on to admit that she is very well acquainted with the group and its "work", in detail, and she had no idea her name was being listed as a member? Hmmmm, very interesting. She passionately denies being a part of the "group" but she then displays an intimate knowledge of the organization to which she does not belong? Inconsistent dialog coming from her. But what "lies and deceit" have we actually spread? We speculate as to which of the listed companies could be using the "Omega ID Tracker", we do not say they are. The web site gives the impression that many "members" use the tracker and we just reproduce that information for your reading pleasure. Perhaps she protests too much? More from madelinescully: |
"I used to respect your site for standing up against the ESP. I'm afraid to say I no longer have an ounce of respect for you or for what you do. |
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It was posted by the Embroidery Designers Group and we do not see any anger directed at them? Are you really mad because you got caught
or because the EDG used you and you did not care until now?
Copyright law allows for enormous statutory damages for willful infringement. If Gigatribe is doing what is claimed, there are a lot of attorneys who would love the case on contingency. The vigilante antics of the Embroidery Designers Group undermines its credibility and that of its members. Glenn Harris is on a mission and many companies willingly joined him. madelinescully appears to be one of the happy campers who dons her vigilante sombrero and goes charging anonymously off into the countryside seeking windmills, real or imagined, upon which to vent her anger. The key word being anonymous. She lurks; she does not confront. madelinescully - who are you, really? From sylviak66: |
"Also, please note that a number of the digitizers listed as "strongly recommend not to do business with" have said they do not use this program to track their designs, but rather include something in the design itself (like their initials) that allow them to see if a design is copied. Nothing illegal or dangerous about it." |
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Absolutely. And we agree about the design stitching. Glenn Harris certainly admits that there
are many members who are using the tracking device. The Embroidery Designers Group web site gives (actually gave until this morning) the strong
impression that many of its "members" do use the tracking software and the proud list of "members" did
not differentiate which do and which do not. A fact lost on the next email sender.
From Louise : |
"Whoever you are, I am so disgusted that you have the audacity to plaster a whole lot of websites as using tracking devices. You claim to be a cyber cop or something to that effect. If you do your job properly maybe us digitizers would not be in this predicament. |
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No where do we claim to be a Cyber Cop. Perhaps you need to slow down, have another cup of coffee, and re-read the web page. And we did not
plaster the names as you suggest but rather we repeated what was said on the Embroidery Designers Group web site. It is YOUR group to which YOU belong
that says that YOU and many other members use and/or condone the use of this tracking software. Your anger is misdirected. Like FOX, we report,
you decide.
From Debra: |
"I believe that you should remove most of the small digitizers from your list of those affiliated with the Embroidery Designers Group and your recommendation not to buy. It looks like the EDG listed every digitizer they talked to about the problem of piracy. I doubt if any of the small companies are using the tracker. At most, they code a marker into a design so that a pirated copy can be proven to be theirs. I've seen designs where the designer signed her initials into the underlay." |
| But Debra, you say that you "believe", not that you know. We disagree. See previous answer as to why. |
Diana Davis of Red Moon Gardens
| And Diana who owns red moon gardens is special. We received a lengthy and rambling email from her on Sunday, May 29, 2011. In this email she accuses us of ruining her business and a variety of other offenses. Not only does she not know where her CAPS key is located, she also does not understand the possessive use of an apostrophe. |
i personally never used the tracking program but said i did to hopefully scare off the type of "sharers" that resell the designs |
| Alright, so Diana Davis of Red Moon Gardens claims she was lying to people about her use of the tracking program. So she admits she is a liar. Was she lying then or is she lying now? Inquiring minds want to know. Why would she claim to be using a program that violates the privacy of her purchasers? No one made her do it. |
what disturbs me are the people that buy the design and then make a nice profit reselling |
| We agree that you are disturbed. And we have never condoned people reselling designs of any type. What we have found offensive is that the Embroidery Designers Group set itself up as police, jury and judge and employed tactics that we consider to be highly illegal. |
as far as your comment that they have the right to use these designs for non-commercial purpose |
| Whoa there, Nellie. Rein it in. We have NEVER said anyone could use the designs for non-commercial purposes. What is in that water in Upper New York? What we said was that the "non-commercial use of trademarks is fair use" under the law (see the email to Glenn at the top of this page). We were responding to his claims that we are infringing by using the trademark images on this web site. It seems you lack a certain amount of reading comprehension in addition to your lack of capitalization problems. We DO NOT, and we have NEVER, condoned the use, copying and/or distribution of designs that have been purchased. |
your list has eliminated 95% at least of my yahoo business ... nothing will scare people more than suggesting there is a possibility that we were misusing the program for nefarious reasons ... excellent pitbull tactic |
| While we would like to believe that our web site is having the impact you claim, we seriously doubt that your loss of business is due to our efforts. But we appreciate your warm feelings for us. "Pitbull tactic"? Thank you, thank you very much. We try. It is nice to be appreciated. |
well ... i was taught to stand up when you knew you were right ... i now know what that can cost you ... |
| Waaaaaa! Would you like some cheese with that whine? Were you right? Claiming to use illegal software to violate the rights of purchasers? What was "right" about that? No one made you join the EDG. You joined voluntarily. Crawl back under your rock. |
how i see this ... you protect people who share ... therefore protecting the resellers and the people that produced the products should just lay down and take it or you will ruin their businesses ... |
| Wrong, again. We have never said sharing or reselling designs were in the right. What we are saying is that the Embroidery Designers Group is/was employing illegal tactics in its vigilante attacks. We have always advocated that people fight back. Were you sober when you wrote this? |
also ... kharma is real ... i wouldnt want to be you if it decides to pay you a visit |
| Who is this "Kharma" character? The WWE superstar? Why would a professional wrestler bother with us? Oh. Or did you mean "karma"? Silly us. |
also ... i am willing to bet you dont publish this letter in total and unedited ... |
| Wrong again, stitch breath. Your lengthy and rambling email is published, in total, with not one but two links to it. |
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Companies Affiliated With the Embroidery Designers Group We Strongly Suggest You Do Not Do Businees With These Companies |
 Secrets of Embroidery http://secretsof.com/ |
Designs Mall |
 Ellen Jaye Designs http://ellenjayedesigns.com/ |
 SewAZ Embroidery Designs http://www.sewazdesigns.com/ |
 Granny Goose Designs http://www.grannygoosedesigns.net/ |
 Grama Debbies Designs http://www.gramadebbiesdesigns.com/ |
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We Strongly Suggest You Do Not Do Businees With These Companies | ||
 Designs Sew Fine http://designssewfine.com/ |
Designs And Bears Too |
 My Embroidery Store http://www.myembroiderystore.com/ |
 Songbird Designs http://www.songbirddesigns.net/ |
 Outback Embroidery http://www.glennharris.com.au/catalog/index.php | |
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We Strongly Suggest You Do Not Do Businees With These Companies | ||
 Stitches Galore UK http://www.crafters.plus.com/ |
 Sweetheart Embroidery Designs http://www.sweetheartembroiderydesigns.com/ |
Cute Embroidery Designs 4U |
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Red Moon Gardens Red Moon Gardens http://redmoongardens.com/ |
 Addie Pearl Designs http://addiepearldesigns.com/ |
Hayley's Creations |
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We Strongly Suggest You Do Not Do Businees With These Companies | ||
Huskey Embroidery |
 Embroidery Collectables http://www.theembroiderycollectables.com/ |
 Batty's Attic Designs http://battysattic.net/ |
 My Embroidery Club http://www.myembroideryclub.com/ |
 Wild Roses' Doodles http://www.wildrosesdoodles.com/zencart/ |
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We Strongly Suggest You Do Not Do Businees With These Companies | ||
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Federal Statutes Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. 5 | Digital Millenium Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. 12 | Lanham Act 15 U.S.C. 22
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