The Social Article: Etsy's Crafty Balance: Fans vs. Trademark Holders

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When I created an Etsy treasury called "Out of This World Gift Ideas for the Spaceman in Your Life", I included a Doctor Who magnet set that featured more than 400 words synonymous with the show.

The listing disappeared soon after but not because it had sold or expired. Turns out the seller had been given a take down notice, apparently in response to a request from the BBC that all Doctor Who items be removed.

I felt sorry for the enterprising seller who had printed the words on magnetic sheet and painstakingly hand cut each one. She even offered to customize sets with a buyer's favorite quotes from the long-running British television series that has a massive cult following around the globe.

I don't advocate illegal copying and I'm no lawyer but this seemed to be in the realm of tribute art to me.

The incident reminded me of a share-worthy article on these issues in the CNET news column The Social by Caroline McCarthy published on October 27, 2010.

"Etsy's Crafty Balance: Fans vs. trademark holders" quotes Etsy Chief Technology Officer Chad Dickerson and the company's in-house lawyer, Sarah Feingold on trademark, copyright and intellectual property rights issues relating to tribute art - and downright knock-offs - that get posted on Etsy.

McCarthy notes there have been signs that some trademark holders want to capitalize on fan creations, citing NASA's partnership with Etsy in the Space Craft contest which challenged crafters to concoct their own NASA fan art.

As for me, I'm still pondering how a bunch of modestly-priced magnetic words like tardis, dalek, bees, mummy, regeneration, future, ghosts, ood, Cybermen, London, Wales, Cardiff, Torchwood, blink, Captain Jack, screwdriver, and daughter could have been so readily beamed up into a black hole in some galaxy far, far away from Etsy.

Whatever happened to free speech and a bit of modern English usage? Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!