Picture this: you’re a small creator, proud of the brand you’ve been building on Instagram for years; one day, you’re scrolling through and you see one of the designs you have posted is being copied by another brand without any credit to you whatsoever. Now, if this were just another small creator wanting to pass your hard work off as their own, you might send a strongly worded DM, asking them to please credit you for your work, at the very least. But if this is a larger company, say a multi-billion dollar company, with a pattern of theft (according to NPR, Daily Mail, and The Guardian, to name a few), well, that’s a different story. When we see this happen to creators, here at Bookstr, we use our words on a very large platform.
By that introduction, you’re probably thinking: how many people could have possibly had their work stolen? Today, we’re adding one of our own to that list: Graphic Designer and Bookstr Art Director Krysten Winkler. Krysten makes beautiful designs for us, as well as on her personal Instagram. One of those designs is currently being sold on SHEIN (on multiple bags!) without any profit given to the original designer. As we’ve said, this is hardly the first time a small creator has been stolen from, but our questions remain the same: Why does it keep happening, and what should creators know about protecting their work?
To answer these questions, we need to explore copyright law a bit. A copyright is automatic upon creation. However, fighting back against stolen work requires a registered copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office. You, as a creator, have to understand precisely what copyright your original work can be categorized as. Krysten’s work, for example, falls into the category of visual arts. This copyright only applies to work that “is independently created and sufficiently creative” and “reflects artistic choices like the subject matter, composition, depiction, and the use of the elements of design.” That means that simple works or emojis cannot be copyrighted, as they are considered “common”. Nothing about the creators or their art is simple, and to call it so would be an insult to the time and ingenuity that artists like Krysten devote to their craft.
The art must also be published. “For copyright purposes, artwork is published when the original work, or a copy of it, is distributed to the public by selling, renting, leasing, lending, or otherwise transferring ownership of that copy of the work. The public display of artwork, in and of itself, does not constitute publication.” Meaning that for a creator to have any “published” work, they must also be selling that work.
Another piece that needs clarification is “Works Made For Hire”. Works Made For Hire is a category in which an artist distributes art as an employee of a company, such as anything Krysten makes for Bookstr on @bookstrofficial. She is then no longer the copyright holder, as ownership of the work would fall to the company. However, we believe that the artist should be credited with creation (as Bookstr does with all creators involved in any collaboration with us).
With that knowledge, we still have to answer the questions posed above, and in truth, they are too entangled to answer separately. Larger corporations, like SHEIN and Temu, do this simply because they can. The process for obtaining a legal copyright may seem painless. Still, upon closer inspection, it is filled with obstacles that can prevent a new creator from moving forward with a copyright. First, as defined above, they must “publish” their work. Finding an audience for your creations takes savvy and skill in itself, but then to somehow flip that into a profit by “selling, renting, or leasing” is a difficult task for a creator to tackle, to say they have the right to own their ideas.
If a creator did meet those requirements, the Standard Application for copyright includes a fee of $45-$65 before you can complete the application. This is a fee that may not be attainable by all creators. The fee, publication guidelines, and application are drawbacks enough to give any creator pause about a legal copyright, leaving them vulnerable to stolen work. The best thing for any creator to do, is to make sure in any social media, especially if they do not have a copyright, is to claim their work as original in the caption of the post and, as many creators have done, call out larger corporations who do not provide the necessary accreditation.
Now, if you thought that the process for obtaining a legal copyright was complicated, fighting SHEIN (as many creators have tried) is nearly impossible. Crazy as it is, obtaining the official US copyright is step one in a very long and arduous process. First, a creator would have to hire a legal firm, use them to file a complaint with the International Trade Convention to pursue this in the U.S., which fast fashion companies tend to ignore. Then, if you try to take it into Chinese courts, brands need to have offices set up in China to even attempt to receive litigation relief. Even if this were possible to do, the expenses alone would be a hardship on any independent creator. This is meant to say, you could do everything right and still have your work stolen. SHEIN knows there’s always going to be more customers, and so the cycle of production continues, until something happens to disrupt it.
As for Bookstr and our case against SHEIN, we will do what we have always done: give a platform to small creators and call out injustices we see. In the meantime, you, our audience, can do something: support the creators mentioned in our social media post about this, as well as smaller creators, not under SHEIN’s umbrella. You can start looking at companies like Etsy to find your next buy. Boycotting SHEIN or Temu is another way to show your solidarity with independent creators. In addition, you can follow the link above to Krysten’s design, and add your voice to the many that are calling out Shein with a one-star review, demanding credit for her (and any other creators’ work, the internet sleuths discover that may be impacted.)
Happy researching, Bookish fam!
Want to hear more Bookish Opinions from Krysten herself? Click here
Interested in more articles about copyright law? Read here
