Tabberone's Hall of Shame

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	SNOWHTE BOWS Hall Of Shame Member
Sno-wyte-bows, also known as Nicole Pauling, terminated an auction on eBay that was selling hair bows shaped and designed like gingerbread characters. The auction seller emailed her asking, "In detail, what exactly have I done that infringed on what exact rights you hold? Give me info, and I'll be sure to avoid doing it." On December 2, 2005, Snowyte responded: Your listing: Boutique Gingerbread Men bows infringe on my original character design which is protected by copyright as a visual arts work under U.S. copyright laws. While I understand that duplication occurs, I work extremely hard to come up with new creations and am now forced to protect my designs due to the numerous offenses that have occured. I apologize for the inconvenience and hope you can understand and respect my position on this. Thanks! Nicole She has not responded to subsequent emails asking her to identify the copyright she claims. Snowyte is claiming he owns the rights to "a useful article", which under Copyright law, she cannot have. And it certainly does not qualify as "visual art". From the US Copyright web site: Useful Articles A 'useful article" is an object having an intrinsic utilitar｛n function that is not merely to portray the appearance of the article or to convey information. Examples are clothing, furniture, machinery, dinnerware, and lighting fixtures. An article that is normally part of a useful article may itself be a useful article, for example, an ornamental wheel cover on a vehicle. Copyright does not protect the mechanical or utilitarian aspects of such works of craftsmanship.
We don't believe she claims she owns the copyright on a hair bow since a hairbow has existed for eons. Likewise, she cannot claim using a gingerbread design on a hairbow as being her exclusive creation because she cannot show she is the person who originated the idea (aside from her unsupported claims to her "creativity". The act of merely placing a design on an object does not automatically get copyright protection. The item must be "copyrightable". Hers is not.
To make matters worse, Snowyte is an infringer herself! As of December 4, 2005, she had eBay auctions that were plainly copyright and trademark infringements of the Dr Seuss characters as well as other characters!

Her auction #6823048934, titled 7ave Boutique Grinchy Christmas Bow Hair bow hairbow, plainly states (emphasis added):
I had so much fun making this bow!! You are bidding on a single bow entirely handpainted by me. Measuring approximately 5" wide, I started with quality white grosgrain ribbon, painting Mr Grinch on one side and Cindy Lou on the other. Topping it off are fun polkas and a few stripes with some glimmer in the ribbon. It is securely attached to a french clip barrette and ready to wear with all of her Grinchy Christmas sets.. so fun!!!
Please carefully note the statement in bold type above. While we applaude her artistic ability, drawing the Grinch onto ribbon and then selling the item is an infringement of the exclusive rights of the copyright holder, in this case, Dr Seuss. Using the image of the Grinch to draw attention to her listing is an infringement of copyright and trademark law.
Wanna bet Dr Seuss has registered the image of the Grinch?
She used this image to draw attention to her listing! We wonder from where she stole this image to use?

Click on either picture for a larger view

And, she doesn't stop there. Her auction listing #6822249922, titled 7AVE Boutique Rudolph Christmas Hairbows Hair bow, plainly compares her hair bow to Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, another copyrighted character! We bet there are more but we haven't located them. Even her eBay user ID is a possible infringement of the Disney character, Snow White.
In our opinion, she is abusing the eBay VeRO program to stiffle competition. She does not have any intellectual property rights as she claims and she has no respect for the valid intellectual property rights of others.
By becoming a member of eBay's VeRO program, SnoWhyte has forfeited protections and privacy. By shutting down auctions to which she has no valid rights, SnoWyte is opening herself up to potential federal court cases which will become a matter of public record as are the takedowns.

Rebuttals
In an effort to provide a balanced view, we make the following offer to anyone who feels they have been wrongly accused on this web site.
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.
We made this offer a very long time ago and as of September 2008, only AnimieHot.com, in our Hall Of Shame, and Charlotte Perman (Sevenarts in our Hall Of Shame) have chosen to submit a formal rebuttal.