BrianHealy.net

Paperchase, an Edinburgh-based stationery designer is in the middle of a social media storm after apparently plagiarising the work of an independent artist on The Hidden World of Eloise.

Twitter is alight with Tweets about their use of some of the artwork of the artist without permission and the company’s steadfast refusal to even acknowledge her claims. With the prohibitive costs of launching any sort of court action, the artist has been forced to turn to the web to vent their anger.

As a keen – if not very good – photographer – I’d be well pissed off too, if one of my photos appeared in a calendar or other device which some faceless corporation was making money from at my expense.

The image at the centre of the storm is the girl featured in the illustration ‘He says he can hear the Forest whisper‘. Compare it with the image shown on Paperchase’s Wonderland Square album.

Do you see the similarites between the two?

Shame on Paperchase for their actions; I hope the guilt trip being laid on them by the internets’ many users makes them pull the design from their products and offer an apology at the very least. I hope they do they right thing.

Good luck to the independent artist involved; the other little guys and girls are behind you in support.

And no, I won’t be buying any Paperchase products in protest. Neither, I suspect will many hundreds of others if the comments on Amazon are anything to go by!

EDIT: It appears Amazon have withdrawn the product from their stock listing while Paperchase have issued an apology .. it’s not much, but its a start I suppose.

However, if they were aware of the copyright claim and had contacted the artist (as Paperchase claim they did), why did it take until today’s Twitterstorm for them to do anything about it?

No, it’s not an optical illusion, trick of the light or anything like that… this photo was taken by my wife, from her home office window a few moments ago.

Its a snow plough! Or, at least a JCB with a plough attached which, let’s face it, is close enough.  This surely disproves any notion that such beasts are a mythical entity or the stuff of folklore and legend.

As 2009 draws to a close I would to take this opportunity to thank West Lothian Council for their effort – or lack of it – in dealing with the cold snap that has affected the region over the past 10 or so days. Yes, they may have been battling to keep open the major routes through the area – the M8; the A899; A71; A89 – but really, what use is it keeping these routes open when people are having difficulty even getting out their housing scheme in order to reach these major routes?

I’ve yet to see a gritter in Livingston anywhere other than going up and down the dual-carriageway. I’ve just come along the A71 into Edinburgh, which is completely untouched after snow and -5 temperatures overnight. Driving was a bit hairy as a result but this isn’t the first time this winter I’ve had to drive on poorly-or-untreated roads and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

My own street in Livingston has a 9” high ridge of hard-packed snow and ice running down the centre of the road, where cars have tried to navigate up and down the street. This ridge scrapes along the underside of my car and if it weren’t for our attempts to clear the bottom of the street where the road bends, there would bound to have been accidents! Residents are struggling to park their cars and are abandoning them where they lie stuck, especially as the entrance/exit to the scheme is built on a hill. Clown drivers who park right on the bend at the top of the hill don’t help though.

The pavements haven’t been touched either and fresh snow on top of ice makes for treacherous walking conditions and even the ring-road – a bus-route – has hardly been treated, and I reckon its down to the traffic on the road that has kept the snow and ice to a minimum.

Now, WLC may claim that resources are stretched but I’m sure they won’t be slow in chasing me for my monthly council tax payment. I wonder if I’ll get away with the same excuse that my resources are stretched? I very much doubt it, but should any damage occur to my car because of WLC’s failure then they can expect to foot the repair bill.