Time to Fight Back

Imagine strolling through a bustling retail store or casually browsing your favorite online shop, when suddenly—BAM!—you stop in your tracks. Right there, in plain sight for all the world to see, is your unique card design. Except, it’s not. It’s been duplicated and slapped with a bargain price tag, offered to everyone at a fraction of what it’s truly worth. The shock hits hard—your creativity, your vision—replicated and undervalued in an instant.

This scenario is every creative’s worst nightmare—a moment where your hard work and originality are not just stolen, but reduced to something cheap and mass-produced, stripping away the value of your unique vision.

Sales of counterfeit card designs by foreign entities are a growing problem for GCA members. It is becoming increasingly frequent for GCA members to find their designs stolen, and the cost and complexity of fighting back against bad actors overseas is a challenge. 

In preparing for this article, one of the members that we spoke with was Robyn Kozlowski from R is for Robo, who has had over a dozen card design stolen. Of the issue she said, “It has been very exciting to watch my business grow over the past few years, but that growth has come with copycats. There’s nothing worse than coming up with something that you think is very original, just to have it replicated at deep discounts that small makers can’t compete with." One example that Robyn shared is the challenges she has faced on the popular platform Etsy. Robyn stated, "It is both a blessing and a curse to be successful on Etsy. The downside is that when your product gets a Best Seller badge from Etsy, you become a target of copycats. People who seek to infringe on others’ work browse Etsy looking for the best seller badge as an indicator of successful products to copy."

• ADVOCACY: GCA's Public Affairs Committee is in discussion with legislators and coalitions working around this important issue. The goal is to introduce and support legislation that will give muscle to our fight against copycats. Stay tuned.
• INFORMATION: Updates on the copyright infringement issues are provided as possible at our bi-weekly Town Hall and will be posted to our website. In addition, GCA will also host a virtual workshop in the new year on the issue and how members can fight back.
• ACTION: Sharing the significant impact of the problem with legislators is the first step of the fight. Be sure to share YOUR story by taking our quick survey here.

Jory Haslett, incoming Chair of the GCA Public Affairs Committee, emphasized the urgency of the issue, stating, “The rampant theft of intellectual property and the sale of counterfeit goods by foreign companies is crippling small businesses in the US. It’s more than just lost sales, it’s a direct attack on creativity and innovation. The time for action is now."