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  "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"
Edmund Burke


Jewelry Designers
Hall Of Shame Members
Category added October 10, 2010

Last updated - October 10, 2010


Jewelry can be copyrighted. That is, certain jewelry designs that are original are afforded copyright protection by way of registration. But the design must be quite original and the copyright only extends to the design, not the idea. For example, around 1970, Herbert Rosenthal Jewelry charged Edward Kalpakian with infringing Rosenthal's copyright registration of a pin in the shape of a bee formed of gold encrusted with jewels. The 9th Court of Appeals rejected Rosenthal's claim that his copyright would effectively prevent others from engaging in the business of manufacturing and selling jeweled bees. The court went into a lengthy discussion of copyright "ideas" and copyright "expression", ideas not being copyrightable.

This separation of "idea" and "expression" appears to be lost to many. The courts routinely slap down copyright owners who think they own an idea. If ideas were copyrightable there would be only one "super hero", such as Superman, instead of the many different expressions of the idea. Some people do not get it. Some of these jewelry jerks are aided and abetted by their bottom-feeding corporate lawyers and others are just stupid on their own. Not all of these jewelry jerks are claiming they own an idea. Some, like designers in general are trying to control the market place through trademark abuse and copyright abuse.


Bubble Charms / Diane Stewart

Who the hell is Diane Stewart and what is a Bubble Charm you ask? Diane Stewart is a whack-job who lives at 47 Vesey St., Brockton, MA 02301; Tel: (508) 584-3011. Her abode is public information from her copyright registration. She's also a VeRO Member who does not understand copyright law and uses the VeRO Program to harm perfectly legitimate eBay sellers of Bubble Charms. And, while improperly using the VeRO Program to deliberately harm innocent sellers, she is a copyright and trademark infringer herself. And not just minor infringement but willful, full-blown infringement that borders on criminal, not just civil infringement. According to Diane Stewart:

"I have worked very hard over the years creating/inventing this charm design and will not tolerate anyone infringing on my copyright/jewelry design."

Except that she is claiming she owns the rights to ALL bubble charms, not just the one design she copyrighted. That is why she is smelling up these web pages.


m3 girl designs
Maddie Bradshaw
Maddie Bradshaw is a millionaire because she took the idea of bottle caps, magnets, and teen jewelry to a new level. She began marketing bottle caps adorned with pictures. But not just bottle caps. Bottle caps with magnets on the back. She also designed a necklace that would hold the bottle cap and called it, you got it, a bottle cap necklace. She liked the idea so-o-o much she started her own company, m3 girl designs. Maddie also claims that she owns the idea of bottle cap jewelry and she, and her storm-trooper corporate attorney and general all-around asshole, D. Scott Hemingway, are actively involved is attacking anyone they think is stupid enough to use her idea. Even though she did not invent interchangeable jewelry, or magnetic jewelry or bottle cap art. But do not try to tell her that. And, to boot, she claims copyrights on images she stole from other sources. Bad, bad Maddie.


So she uses a few pictures from "Bewitched", you ask? So what? Ah, but that's not just the issue. The infringement goes on, and on, and on. As of this posting, here is a quick list of the obvious infringing being done. She has listed charms that infringe upon:
  • The Addams Family
  • Alice And Wonderland
  • Audrey Hepburn
  • Bewitched Cartoon
  • Breakfast At Tiffany's - Movie
  • Captain Kangaroo
  • Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - Movie
  • Dawn Doll
  • Family Affair TV
  • The Flintstones
  • Grace Kelly
  • The Great Zoltar Fortune Teller
  • Gretta Garbo
  • The Honeymooners
  • The House Of Wax - Movie
  • Huckleberry Hound
  • Ice Capades
  • Island of Misfits
  • It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World - Movie
  • It's A Wonderful Life - Movie
  • Josie And The Pussycats
  • Kenner Sparkle Paints Superman
  • Kris Kringle & Tanta
  • Land Of The Giants -TV Show
  • Little Lulu
  • Lizzie Borden
  • Marilyn Monroe
  • Marlene Deitrich
  • Mary Poppins Movie
  • Mattel Baby Small Walk Doll
  • Mr. Rogers And His Puppets
  • Pez Lady Silver
  • Popeye The Sailor
  • Rosemary's Baby - Movie
  • The Munsters
  • Rod Serling's The Night Gallery
  • Rudolph & Hermey
  • Tinkerbell
  • Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs
  • The Sound Of Music - Movie
  • Suzy Homemaker
  • Underdog Cartoon
  • Vincent Price
  • What Ever Happened To Baby Jane - Movie
  • Wizard Of Oz
  • Woody Woodpecker


Snicker
And this is just a partial (46 diff) list! This person, Diane Stewart, who sells under the eBay ID of yellowmonkey593, appears to "lift" pictures of things she likes and then sells them as part of her Bubble Charms. So we're back to your question again, why is this person in Tabberone's Trademark & Copyright Abusers' Hall Of Shame?

Because she is shutting down eBay auctions for Bubble Charms falsely claiming she is the "inventor" of Bubble Charms and that she has copyrighted the idea and no one else in the whole wide world can sell them except for her. We would insert the mad scientist laughing or the Wicked Witch of the West cackling at this point if we had sound effects.


Cackle

In her copyright registration, whack-job Diane Stewart titled her creation "Baby Boomer’s Bubble Charms" and claims a first use date of 2004 while the copyright is dated January 1, 2008. What whack-job Diane Stewart ignores, or about which she is totally ignorant, is that a copyright does not protect an idea but rather the expression of that idea. One example is Superman. The idea of a caped super hero isn't protected by copyright but the expression of a caped super hero in the entity of Superman is protected by copyright.

Whack-job Diane Stewart, apparently aided by her also whacked-out husband Kevin, claim to have "invented" this idea, Bubble Charms, in 2005. The actual copyright isn't for the "idea" of Bubble Charms but rather for one specific design of a bubble charm, a concept that has escaped both whack-job and whacked-out. Whack-job Diane Stewart claims she has "records to prove" that she is "the inventor/creator" while we have absolute proof that she is not and that they date back many, many years. We wonder how she "worked very hard on over the past years" to falsely take credit for an idea that has been public domain for a long time. It apparently doesn't take much work to lie about appropriating a commonly available idea and then using it to protect one's imagined market share, which for her is the entire market whether she has earned that share or not.

Crafter & author Sherri Haab published a copyrighted book in 2004 titled Designer Style Jewelry, which walks you through making bubble charms right down to the cutesy Public Domain vintage imagery. This author also published a book in 2003 titled Picture Bracelets that also discusses bubble charms. So, whack-job Diane Stewart, the idea of a bubble charm was already in public domain long before you attempted to capture and reserve the idea. Your claim to exclusivity is bogus and a lie. You are illegally terminating auctions of perfectly legal sales of hand-crafted jewelry.

Whack-job Diane Stewart should re-word her email to say that she has "worked very hard over the years" to steal ideas from others and the trademarks and copyrights of others to foist hand-crafted schlock upon unsuspecting buyers. But then, why should she begin telling the truth now?

 

 

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If you, or your company, have been referenced on these pages, and you would like the chance to post a rebuttal, we will post your rebuttal (provided it is in good taste) so others can read it. The rebuttal must be submitted in a format that can easily be converted into HTML. We reserve the right to alter the rebuttal to make it more readable. However, we will not alter the content (unless there is offensive material to be removed). We also reserve the right to comment on any rebuttal received. Emails protesting the content of this web site may be treated as rebuttals by us at our discretion.

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