Buyers/Tail Makers BEWARE!!! MERMAIDREAMS.COM IS STEALING DESIGNS

[Miami Beach Mermaids]

What I am about to post is very disturbing and most artist who work very hard to be original an unique would totally understand. The reason I am putting this out there is because I want people to know that MERMAIDREAMS.COM (Taira Pons) Is a thief not only did she steal my business but she also stole almost every single accent I designed to add to a mermaid tail.

Just a little background on Taira Pons. She is from Spain and she lives in Miami FL. She is married to my Husbands Brother.

I started Miami Beach Mermaids in August of 2011 3 years ago and when I begun this business I specifically looked at several other mermaid tail makers and made sure to do something different from what others are doing. Because I hate copying I think its wrong and disrespectful.
After my first year I started getting very busy and could not handle the orders coming in. So I put an ad on Craigslist looking for a Seamstress. I was a little hesitant on bring someone into my studio and teaching them what I do because I was paranoid they would steal my ideas and creations. I am not saying I was the first one to come out with the Swimmable mermaid tail idea but my Accent Designs I have created are mine and this is what I feared for someone to steal my creations.

So along came Taira (My Sister N Law) She saw how busy I was and knew I was fearful of bringing in a stranger to help me so she told "I can Help You".
She assured me that I could trust her and that she would NEVER steal my business from me.

So instead of hiring an experience seamstress I agreed to give Taira a chance considering she had no job and is Illegal Citizen. She didnt even know how to sew I had to train her and Taught her almost everything I Know. Good thing I didn't teach how to do all my tops and accents.

6 months after working together we had a disagreement and she decided she did not want to continue working for me over something that easily could have been resolved.
But because of her ego and pride she could not let it go.

Soon after I noticed she put some ads on ebay advertising my designs. I had a meeting with her about this and she told me she invested in some fabric and made some tails for a event we did together and wanted to recuperate her money and after that she said she would stop and was planning to do something different.

Well guess what? She never stopped and continues to proceed with making her mermaid tail making business into a full time job Naming herself Mermaidreams and getting a Website up and running, posing more ads on Ebay.

Just to warn all you that Taira Pons has no shame and no respect for other peoples artistry and will steal your designs and could care less.

So far she has copied my DRAGON ACCENT, Starfish, Ariel Ruffle, Butterfly tips, My Big Scales tail design,Ruffle Fluke Accent, 22" Side Zipper and even steals verbiage from my advertisements and website because her English is not that great. She also copied Applejack Apparel Toddler Tail.

If you are considering buying from her I will to tell you that from my experience having worked with her and I know her sewing skills and believe me I had to fix many of the tails she sewed. Her work is very unprofessional and sloppy and it shows in her pictures.

I have tried to forgive her and make peace for the sake of the family and our kids. But she has proven to me over and over that she has no shame and has no remorse for what she is doing nor does she plan to stop. Never once has she showed any appreciation or said thank you to me for giving her the knowledge for this business. She is very ungrateful and abusive women.

At this time I do have a legal plan of action and will put a stop to her plagiarism and Copyright infringement.

But would like for who ever reads this post to help warn other about this Copy Cat and get the word out.

Here are a few picture collages I put together to show you all how much she is copying me:
24987
24988
24989

Also just look at her Ebay Store and website.
www.mermaidreams.com (http://www.mermaidreams.com)

[AniaR]

It does certainly look like she's copying you. You should look up your state laws, some places have a law where a person cant specifically work for you and then go start up a rival business using your materials. (it's an actual law here too where I live in Canada. And I personally know of a case with someone close to me where it happened and he was able to get 70,000$ from the person) it may be worth discussing with a lawyer.

Sadly we often learn these things the hard way, it's always good to have employees sign a disclosure or agreement. It's very standard in our type of business. (perfect example is Thom Shouse, one of the makers of the splash tail. He was allowed to use his knowledge to create a business, but he signed documents that he would not create a tail using the specific methods they used, nor would he make replication of the splash tail for commercial use outside of what he was hired for through the movie company)

I do remember seeing your company online when you first got started, bummer you're going through this. If it helps, I've never heard of hers.

[Miami Beach Mermaids]

Thank you, Yes I didnt relize until after the fact I should of had her sign a non compete agreement. With my new seamstress I took all precautions and had her sign a non compete agreement and everything,she is so cool I love her to pieces. She is such an amazing seamstress and really cares about details and her work. So I am very thankful for that.
I have spoken with a lawyer and I am not sure about the laws your telling me I will ask.
But for now I do have a copyright on my Designs and my lawyer said Legally I own the rights to them and she cannot copy, she sis committing Copyright infringement, which I plan to take action on this issue.

Thank you for your support and reply, I appreciate it.
I have been quiet about this situation for to long, I am done! Its time to speak out and take action!

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Good luck! I hope you win. I keep going back to your website just to see if you designed a siren tail yet... Overall, I do love your tails too!

[Alayia]

Your work really is beautiful and creative, but I think you've done a disservice to yourself by writing this post the way you did.

I find that in business, you have to let your work speak for itself. I never found it useful to lash out as you have here, specially name-calling. I've found there is always more than one side to every disagreement and, in my opinion, the side that's the loudest and rudest usually gets less sympathy.

If your work truly is the best, then trust that it will carry your business through. If you say you have a legal case running, then let it fight the battle for you. From what I can see, she does have her own creations and patterns, and from the photos you supplied, she has some similar stuff, but they're not EXACTLY the same as yours. Also, looks like she accepts customer ideas and patterns, so it's quite possible a lot of those were customer requests based on what they've seen on the web. There is no reason to publicly bash a competitor. It just shows weakness and bad form. I'm sorry you guys had a falling out though :-( If you had any hope of repairing your relationship seeing as you guys are family, this post really made it harder :-/ I like to see businesses that are alike merge instead of fight. Specially when it's mostly about kids.

Let's stick with what this is truly about: making us mermaids happy :-) There is no money or creative ownership in the sea :-)

[AniaR]

Not suspicious at all that you joined and this is your first post alayia,???

[PearlieMae]

Technically, mermaid tails are considered garments, and you can't copyright clothes design. That's why you never hear Chanel suing Kmart for knocking off their designs.

I'm afraid you are going to spend more on lawyers than it's worth, just to hear a judge tell you "that's tough".

[Alayia]

Yes, I did join these forums because of this post. It was linked to me as I know of both companies in question. I remain impartial to the work of both of these ladies, and I think my post reflects that. I did say I didn't like the bashing, but I also stated my affection for both their work. I've been a fan of mermaid tails (not specific to any operation) for a long time and I've been aware of both of these ladies as they started coming into the scene. As a Canadian myself (living in Oregon), I'm also familiar with your work, Raina, and enjoy following your videos!

[Mermaid Lunette]

I definitely think seeking legal action is a smart idea. Pearlie definately has a point that you might end up paying a lawyer for nothing, HOWEVER, Raina so wisely pointed out that you have evidence that she worked for you first, so like she said, you might have a case because of that fact, just make sure the outcome out weighs the cost so you don't end up feeling even more duped?

However, since you run a buisness maybe some of these things (just the personal comments) might have been a little uncalled for? mostly the unnecessary comment about her legal status and calling her a 'shameless B*tch'...might have been better left unsaid? of course I have not witnessed the things she has done so for all I know you were being modest and held back a lot of her bad behavior and are just really at the end of your rope. The only reason I bring this up is because this post could be linked to your business and a comment like that could be detrimental? and it would be unfortunate for something someone else has done to you could be what makes you look bad. I also point it out because isn't there a rule on this forum against doing things like that? (I am strictly speaking about the cuss word and technical name-calling, not everything else because that is valid and people need to know if someone is trying to sell copied and sub-par products)

I do hope you do not take this as me trying to de-rail how you have been wronged, I just don't want you to get in trouble for a few heated comments when all you want is justice for being wronged and to warn the community of a sketchy mer.


EDIT: again, just so it's clear, all I am suggesting is maybe editing your original post to take those more personal comments out so no one can claim you are being unprofessional? Just a suggestion though. If you seek legal action then she might be able to 'retaliate' and use this post as evidence and claim you are slandering her or something which could be harmful to you.

[shimmygoddess]

Stealing ideas is NOT ok! ever!!!!That little starfish accent on the fluke is a total copy and there is no disputing that!! I understand your frustration ... Good luck and I really hope you can get it resolved :(

[Starfrit]

You know, while I think that Miami Beach Mermaids's complaint is valid, I do kind of agree with Alayia on this one; I understand wanting to spread the word about Mermaidreams copying your designs and accents, but when you represent your business it's best to bring these issues up in a more professional way than, uhm... shameless bitch. Trust me, I get the frustration! You worked hard to make your items unique and now someone who worked with you is stealing them for their own rival business, but taking this sort of aggressive approach really reflects badly on your company. It almost becomes a "#teamnobody" situation for a lot of people and how you choose to handle something like this can scare off potential customers.

That said, I do have to wonder about you mentioning that she's an "illegal citizen"-- She's running Mermaidreams as a business, doesn't she have to report that on her taxes or something (which would be impossible as an illegal citizen)? I know nothing about this sort of stuff, but I get the feeling that if any actual legal action were to occur that would bring this to the attention of the appropriate authorities, she could land herself in serious trouble.

[Alayia]

This is what I'm saying :-( The whole post sounds like she's grasping a little out of frustration over something else. Looking at the pictures closer, ya there are some similarities, but enough to air out your dirty laundry with the intent of ruining someone's career/business/life when it looks like you're doing very well for yourself? I dunno...

Look at mermaidreams.com's website compared to Miami Beach's, she's done a good job at finding some unique patterns of her own, so I wouldn't call her a "copy-cat". Also, like I said, I've had dealings with both of them and I can tell you for a fact Tai's not how she's being portrayed here, quite the opposite, I challenge you guys to call her up and talk to her for a few mins... She's got a heart of gold. Like I said, two sides to every story... That was a bad move... Went too far. And because of this, I probably won't be dealing with Miami Beach in the future, which sucks because she really does a good job and I might've prior to seeing this. People skills and character is such a huge part of business.

[MermaidBrittany]

I think you have every right to be pissed. I would be outraged if I put my time and effort into training someone, as well as giving them the benifit of the doubt, and then have them stab you in the back! Hell, I probably would have been more colorful than that xD

I too think that it would be useless to take legal action, too much money. So id say rant away!
You know your situation the best, so I wont say too much. But on a positive note, it seems you have a leg, erm, fin, up on the community and are more established.
Best of luck!

[Mermaid Melanie]

I think its clear she has copied some of your designs, and especially since she worked for you previously. I can understand how frustrating it would be - I work in a foreign country and I have to pay the legal fees and the taxes and social security and all the other visa and work permit fees and for me if someone else came here and was taking business from me and was doing it illegally .... of course your going to be pissed off.... its not right and everyone has to pay their dues...so I think mentioning that she isn't legally working there should be an influence on peoples decisions to buy from her...plus I think the pact that your practically family means you know her pretty well ... Shame your going through this, hope you guys can resolve it.

[Talia]

I am so sorry this has happened to you. I found about your company in YouTube - I love your videos! They are so informative and so well made - the kids on them are so cute!

I hope things get resolved. It's frustrating working so hard and having your designs appropiated by someone in that way. Maybe you could talk to your lawyer about putting a note in your website saying something along the lines of "It seems some other tail maker is relying on my ideas to sell their products. We have been working on them since..., and we have no connection to them" and you put info about how you were there first. Her selling your designs as hers may take a toll in your business as customers can get confused about which tail belongs to which maker, as you say hers are of inferior quality.

However, I agree with Lunette about editing your first post, also about her current status in the US.

[AniaR]

friendly reminder to people, if you think there's an issue with a post all you have to do is press the ! and explain/report it to a mod and they'll be the judge of it. That way it's a mod speaking to the person and enforcing the rules instead of it feeling like a whole bunch of members ganging up. The mod can then decide if it requires editing and can go ahead and edit it with or without the member. Also helps in situations where people post and leave.

[Miami Beach Mermaids]

On my behalf I apologize for the name calling, and if the tone of my post was unprofessional to some it may not be right. But I have been quiet for a very long time and I am fed up. You cant even imagine how much pain and suffering she has caused. Enough is enough. Trust me the other side of the story is her being all about her self and wanting more than I can afford to give, when I was already giving more than enough. No one really knows her like I do, she seems like such sweet lady with a big heart but trust me you have no idea, its all false. Maybe I came off pretty harsh or sounded unprofessional but I am at the end of my rope. Its a betrayal that has gone to far and goes strait to the heart for no real good reason. "For What"?

Its not right for anyone to to steel your designs, especially family. It really hurts. I cant expect any of you to understand what I am going through and I hope none of you ever have to go through it.
Its a living nightmare. There is so much more that she is doing, that is totally wrong. But I refuse to go there on this site.

Honestly after all is said and done, I really could care less if she does her Mermaid business, anyone can do it.
All I ask is for her to please respect my business and my creations that I worked very hard for.
Try to come up with your own ideas and do your own thing. At least she came up with a few of her own designs, that's awesome! I really wish I could be happy for her and maybe one day in the future I will. But she has never once said thank you nor has she ever said sorry for taking my business, stealing my ideas and making it look like she did them first.

For those of you who think I am wrong for putting this post out there I hope you can see my point. I am human like anyone else, I have feelings. I am not a bad person.
I am just tired of being stabbed in the back and sitting back doing nothing about it.

I hope I am not being judged for expressing my personal issues on this site and I am sorry if I used offensive language or offended anyone.

Its a very tough topic, and I appreciate all your support and replies. Thank You!

[sirenitauk]

Dear mermaid tail maker,

I doubt of your professionalism and the integrity you want to show you have. Not only did you "attack" Mermaidreams and its owner, but you also show you are not that "original and unique" artist you claim to be.


As you mentioned, you are not the "creator" of mermaid tails and their accessories. In addition to this, you are giving very personal information that has nothing to do with the industry!
You claim that she is stealing your accents, I wonder if that is true. Where did you get your "own" ideas from? How can we know that some of those designs were not created first by Mermaidreams or other maker? The way you present this post is suspicious to me. It seems you do project more than anything personal hate. How do you want to gain professional respectability?


Focus more on your work and less in discrediting other people's work. As Alayia posted, "in business, you have to let your work speak for itself."


That is exactly what you should do! I reiterate what I said before: Be the professional you claim to be and focus on your work!
Good luck to you and your endeavors.


ps: You could revise your grammar and punctuation to improve your writing. Moreover, you want to show you are "professional" but you use very disrespectful words in your post; that shows your professionalism; well done!!





What I am about to post is very disturbing and most artist who work very hard to be original an unique would totally understand. The reason I am putting this out there is because I want people to know that MERMAIDREAMS.COM (Taira Pons) Is a thief not only did she steal my business but she also stole almost every single accent I designed to add to a mermaid tail.

Just a little background on Taira Pons. She is from Spain and she lives in Miami FL. She is married to my Husbands Brother.

I started Miami Beach Mermaids in August of 2011 3 years ago and when I begun this business I specifically looked at several other mermaid tail makers and made sure to do something different from what others are doing. Because I hate copying I think its wrong and disrespectful.
After my first year I started getting very busy and could not handle the orders coming in. So I put an ad on Craigslist looking for a Seamstress. I was a little hesitant on bring someone into my studio and teaching them what I do because I was paranoid they would steal my ideas and creations. I am not saying I was the first one to come out with the Swimmable mermaid tail idea but my Accent Designs I have created are mine and this is what I feared for someone to steal my creations.

So along came Taira (My Sister N Law) She saw how busy I was and knew I was fearful of bringing in a stranger to help me so she told "I can Help You".
She assured me that I could trust her and that she would NEVER steal my business from me.

So instead of hiring an experience seamstress I agreed to give Taira a chance considering she had no job and is Illegal Citizen. She didnt even know how to sew I had to train her and Taught her almost everything I Know. Good thing I didn't teach how to do all my tops and accents.

6 months after working together we had a disagreement and she decided she did not want to continue working for me over something that easily could have been resolved.
But because of her ego and pride she could not let it go.

Soon after I noticed she put some ads on ebay advertising my designs. I had a meeting with her about this and she told me she invested in some fabric and made some tails for a event we did together and wanted to recuperate her money and after that she said she would stop and was planning to do something different.

Well guess what? She never stopped and continues to proceed with making her mermaid tail making business into a full time job Naming herself Mermaidreams and getting a Website up and running, posing more ads on Ebay.

Just to warn all you that Taira Pons has no shame and no respect for other peoples artistry and will steal your designs and could care less.

So far she has copied my DRAGON ACCENT, Starfish, Ariel Ruffle, Butterfly tips, My Big Scales tail design,Ruffle Fluke Accent, 22" Side Zipper and even steals verbiage from my advertisements and website because her English is not that great. She also copied Applejack Apparel Toddler Tail.

If you are considering buying from her I will to tell you that from my experience having worked with her and I know her sewing skills and believe me I had to fix many of the tails she sewed. Her work is very unprofessional and sloppy and it shows in her pictures.

I have tried to forgive her and make peace for the sake of the family and our kids. But she has proven to me over and over that she has no shame and has no remorse for what she is doing nor does she plan to stop. Never once has she showed any appreciation or said thank you to me for giving her the knowledge for this business. She is very ungrateful and abusive women.

At this time I do have a legal plan of action and will put a stop to her plagiarism and Copyright infringement.

But would like for who ever reads this post to help warn other about this Copy Cat and get the word out.

Here are a few picture collages I put together to show you all how much she is copying me:
24987
24988
24989

Also just look at her Ebay Store and website.
www.mermaidreams.com (http://www.mermaidreams.com)

[sirenitauk]

Thank you Tieri,

your post could not have been better written.

Thank you

[Mermaid Wesley]

Have you introduced yourself yet? Nobody knows who you are yet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AniaR]

Honestly, I have no problem with a new person coming here and posting their experience with someone else stealing from them. After all, the very reason we created mernetwork was because a certain tail maker was doing the same thing to many, and scamming many, and this forum was meant as a place where people could share their experiences and their evidence- and that's what Miami beach mermaids have done. We've had some people make accounts clearly not to join the community, but only to argue here- without providing any evidence. It just makes me further believe Miami beach mermaids. I don't see any actual arguments for what has been presented. Just Alt accounts (which I bet are all from the same person) criticizing the way a post is written because they can't offer up any counter evidence or actual defense. So that's how they deflect. People can argue about professionalism all they want, but I sure as hell posted all over the forum when I had an issue and so does everyone else here.

I kinda feel like, don't like it, don't read it. People have posted very similar posts about their tail designs being stolen by other parties, with lots of expletives. It's not like professionals either mermaid or tail makers don't consider the possible ramifications of posting on mernetwork. But most of us decide it's worth it anyway to have record of us sharing our stories and having our voices heard. I mean seriously, when mertailor nicks someone's design, no one here has any problem coming up with some of the most creatively nasty things to say.

[PearlieMae]

Thanks for putting that into perspective, Raina. :)

[AniaR]

Sometimes I think newer members either dont know, or forget, this is exactly the sort of stuff we made this forum for. There's a lot of underhanded dealings in the merworld and pretty much have been since it's inception. Original members were super bullied, harassed, and threatened into silence. Mernetwork was made as a place where people could post their true experiences with their proof (as she's done- context aside there's no arguing those photos and screen shots) to at the very least have their voices heard and get some validation, and maybe get some help.

Mernetwork has been so known for it that everyone rushes here to post their bad experiences in hopes of putting pressure on tail makers to act appropriately.

[Mermaid Wesley]

No I am fine with the original post. I was referring to the post from sirenitauk.

[AniaR]

yup I know, so was I ;)

[Seatan]

I think maybe people responded that way to the original post because they are also a new member, not an "old face" around here that people feel like they personally know. That makes it more difficult to know the full story when you don't have that bond. I think this post is perfectly appropriate, however I believe that if the other party wants to post their side of the story and defend themselves they should feel free to do so and not hide behind anonymous accounts (which may or may not be what is happening.) Everyone should be free to tell their side, so there is no need to hide or pretend to be a third party when you are actually involved. That just discredits you. Like I said, I can't be sure that is what's happening, but if so know that it is better to speak for yourself.

[Echidna]

Miami Beach Mermaid has given lots of info and pictures to prove her point.
The guys deploring her post make ad-hominem attacks and just complain about her person.

I'm inclined to believe the OP, and I'm also eye-rolling a bit at the PC peeps who disapprove of her stronger words. It's clear she feels passionate about her work.
If it had happened to you, you might want to say the same.



ps: You could revise your grammar and punctuation to improve your writing.

Pot, calling kettle black.

[Talia]

and I'm also eye-rolling a bit at the PC peeps who disapprove of her stronger words. It's clear she feels passionate about her work.If it had happened to you, you might want to say the same.

If you are talking about my advice to MBM to edit her post, it is not about any PCness or strong language, and I wholeheartedly agree that she has every right to be angry and to express it any way she sees fit.

My advice is about her stating the person "is from Spain" and being "an illegal citizen", which are moot points in the conversation about copyright infringement anyway. She stated she is married to her brother-in- law. A member of my family went to the States to work and ended up marrying his wife, a US citizen. I know first hand all the hoops they had to jump for him to get his green card, even though he was there legally and with a work permit; the Immigration Department was over them for months.

So, if this person she talks about is indeed legally married, and at any point this person decides to bring charges against MBM, those claims could be construed as libel and an attempt to discredit her and put her in legal trouble, which would not help her cause at all, and could indeed backfire on her.

That being said, each person owns the words she talks. If she states those claims are true, she probably knows better than I.

[Spindrift]

Does anyone else find it awfully annoying when someone attacks someone else's intelligence/professionalism on grammar/spelling? Like, I get it if people are crazy bad at readability (lyk, bby, etc) but most people try to be careful about that stuff. And there are times where people just miss a typo. And then someone goes "wow your stupid it's "TOO" not "TO". And I'm just like, "you're obnoxious".

[ShyMer]

Some forums are really particular about writing well. I think generally we're more patient here. I do think it's irritating when people bring it up because they couldn't find anything else specifically wrong with something someone said.

Writing mistakes bother me, but I try not to correct people, because I know most people find that to be obnoxious.

[AniaR]

I think maybe people responded that way to the original post because they are also a new member, not an "old face" around here that people feel like they personally know

I mentioned in my first post I'd seen them around online for a while now, I think others have too. It's be like any other tail maker or mermaid who is known online but doesnt have an account yet. Everyone starts out as new!


Does anyone else find it awfully annoying when someone attacks someone else's intelligence/professionalism on grammar/spelling? Like, I get it if people are crazy bad at readability (lyk, bby, etc) but most people try to be careful about that stuff. And there are times where people just miss a typo. And then someone goes "wow your stupid it's "TOO" not "TO". And I'm just like, "you're obnoxious".

I'm having eye problems and I know my post quality has gone waaay down. I'm on a wait list to have my eyes checked I suspect damage from all the chlorine. I find 9 times out of 10 someone only corrects someone else as a way to power trip/humiliate/ or undermind their argument. I was in a support group once where people were trying to be brave and ask for help and share their stories and one guy wouldn't stop assessing their language and it upset me a lot.