Don’t Play with Paperchase: Part II

This is an exact copy of the letter I sent to Paperchase today:

Dear Paperchase..

On the matter of Hidden Eloise, her artwork, your product and the allegation of plagiarism.

I know that you have received many, many complaints on this issue.  Many people have been very vocal and angry about this, and accusations of art theft have been rife. But, I see this as a transgression of integrity also. And I too feel I should add my mite.  I do so in the aftermath of the initial furore because it is now pertinent to take stock of the situation, and to address certain comments made by your CEO and quoted in the article written by The Daily Telegraph.

First of all, I do myself firmly believe, despite the assertion  made by Grow no Moss and yourselves, that the artwork in question used on your products is indeed a copy of Eloise’s original artwork, and in fact, so closely resembles the original piece that it is likely to have been traced work. I have shown the two drawings to many, many people, including artists, and non artists, and each and every one to a man has maintained unequivocally that the image adorning your product to be a copy.

Secondly, you had your chance to resolve the situation. Eloise did the right and honorable thing, and contacted you as you yourselves stated in November, and was dismissed. She could in fact have gone straight to her blog and the Internet as so many artists might have done in the same situation, but she gave you the chance to do the right thing.  Did you really think she would meekly go away? And why would she contact you again, did you expect her to do so? To what end? It would seem that you made it plain to her that she could expect nothing from you. No withdrawal of the product or remuneration. She did in fact what any of us would do, she took steps.

Thirdly, having done so and brought a shit storm over your heads for which you so rightly deserved, instead of putting your hand ups and claiming Mea Culpa, you continued to deny any such charge and then in desperation outed the design company. How craven.  Then in the Daily Telegraph, your CEO is quoted as referring to the allegations on Twitter as an ‘untruth’. The arrogance of this truly astonishes me, and further tacitly implies that a witch hunt mentality is at work on Twitter with the comment, “the issue raised serious concerns about the powers, and there in the danger of Twitter”. He maintains that “If we had been plagiarising, I completely understand why we would have received so many emails and Twitter posts concerning our business but we haven’t.” Additionally, “What upsets us as a whole is that a lot of our good customers have been angered by this and there is no reason for it”. That this man might actually believe this to be the case is truly startling.

The reason that this issue gained such notoriety so quickly is because of the obvious and fundamental truth at its core, and one that was obvious to EVERYONE who saw it, that Eloise’s work had been copied.

Now it would seem that the design company are frantically denying any such plagiarism as well they might, and have told Eloise that they have ‘evidence’ that backs up their claim, but which is inadmissible, ergo. She cannot publish. How convenient.

You have made a monumental error of judgment, and if you have an atoms worth of wisdom available to you and cherish any hope of redeeming your now unutterably tarnished reputation, I recommend that you make some kind of restitution forthwith and apologise to Eloise for the theft of her artwork.

For indeed, the last thing any company, no matter how big, can afford in these very troubled and hard times, is this kind of bad publicity. For people will not forget this in a hurry believe me. I have been a Paperchase customer for over 30 years, since I was a student in the early 19080′s. Whether I ever buy another Paperchase product again, remains to be seen.

No doubt there are glaring grammatical errors, but I wrote it straight, with no revisions as I wanted to convey my strength of feeling.  If you want to be kept up to date with events are they unfold, Eloise is ammending her blog post on this as events unfold.

ETA
I received two more emails after this. The first reply was stating the original designer had admitted to copying the work, that I take the matter up with them, and an email address with which to do so, and also a paragraph about how upset they were about the allegations against their ‘small’ company and they were not the stationery giants the press had made them out to be.

My reply was as follows:

Mr ******
In as much as Kitty Mason and the Design Company, Grow No Moss are at fault, I would like to point out to you, again, that Paperchase didmissed Eloise’s claims when she contacted you in November, and therefore your company is also culpible. This negation of responsibility is not only craven, but lacks any kind of integrity. Yes, Kitty Mason was at fault, yes so are the design company. But I feel that your company should have taken Eloise seriously when she first approached you and treated her claim honestly.

As for a small company. I beg to differ. Mine is a ‘small’ company, yours is not. Not a multi national may be, but again, not in any sense of the word ‘small’. I have been a Paperchase customer since my first purchase in 1981, I know exactly how big or small the company is, please do not insult my intelligence or ability to undertake thorough research.

The fact is, that your company at any point could have salvaged the situation by taking a portion of the blame. Your company’s refusal to do so, and moreover, point the finger elswhere is damning yourselves even further.

I received one more reply to this stating that the design company would be making a statement “exonerating Paperchase from any blame”.

I did reply:

My original argument still stands. And I think in time, you will realise your error of judgement, when it is too late.

And to be honest, for me there is really nothing else left to say.

ETA: 16th March, 2010:
It would appear that Paperchase finally woke up and got the ‘point’. They have issued an apology on their website and eaten some well deserved ‘humble pie’. About time.

READ PAPERCHASE STATEMENT