Printable View
So:
Lorelie designed/drew the fluke and posted it on Mernetwork.
Eric printed it out from Mernetwork and gave it to Matt to sculpt. Eric claimed credit.
Matt sculpted it.
---
What's going on at this point? Matt is making it available as a Merrowfin fluke? Eric is claiming it (design and/or sculpt) belongs to Mertailor? No one is giving credit to Lorelie for designing it?
this...kinda just proves that he knows this design was stolen by eric from someone and he is using it anyway? this doesn't really redeem or prove anything good for matt...this screen shot just proves that he now KNOWS that is a stolen design and yet he is going to offer it to his clients anyway? (at least that is what I understand so far? am I understanding this correctly?)Quote:
Originally Posted by VanoraSirene
like, that is the 'whole story' people were already concerned about a few posts ago isn't it?
if he is not going to use the fluke and he is just showing it as an example of his sculpt work or something? or if he gets permission from Lorelei? then I could see that being ok...but if not...?
Lorelei designed it.
Eric stole it.
Gave it to Matt to sculpt.
Matt sculpted it.
Later found out it was stolen.
Claimed his sculpture.
Did not claim the design.
I don't know how much clearer I can make this.
If you NEED someone to blame, blame Eric for being shady.
ok so he isn't gonna use the design? then there isn't a problem? i am pretty sure it would have been more clear if someone has just said he was not going to use the design for his tails? i am pretty sure no one was accusing him from stealing the design, just worried he might continue using it, but if he is not gonna use i then i don't think there is a problem.
like, lorelei was only concerned about him using the design as merrowfin, no one thought he originally stole it. no one was attacking, i am pretty sure everyone was just asking and wanting to make sure.
so, issue resolved then. he is not gonna continue using the design so no worries? pretty sure that's the only thing peeps were worried about right?
Exactly this. Well said Lunette.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mermaid Lunette
No one was thinking he personally stole this. The concern was since he had the picture up, that he might be offering it to Merrowfin clients. But since you have cleared that up there is no issue. There is no need to get harsh and defensive. She was just concerned that history might repeat itself.
I feel like this definitely got a bit blown out of proportions. Lorelei's concerns are valid. Glad this was resolved, though.
I feel as if though this issue should not have been brought up on a Merrowfins post. I understand your concerns Lorelei, and I could only imagine how frustrating it must be to have your design stolen. My only concern was that it seemed like Matt was getting negative reaction for something that he had no control over, it might have been better to contact him personally and ask if he was offering that design before posting on here. People might have mistaken your post as a shot at Matt for something that was not even true. I apologize if my posts seemed harsh, I was not meaning to come across as rude. But all in all, your design was stolen by Eric of Mertailor. And your design is not being offered by Merrowfins.
I don't want to sound rude, but I believe the only person who mistook her post as a shot at Matt was you, Vanora.
I don't want to sound rude, but I am the only person who contacted Matt and resolved the issue of the fluke.
Actually legally that's not how it works. Matty actually detailed his work terms with Eric in a video.Quote:
Originally Posted by VanoraSirene
Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk
You didn't say that. You said if he sculpted it with his own hands he owns it.Quote:
Originally Posted by VanoraSirene
I get you're a happy client but that doesn't give you the right to invalidate Lorelei for a well documented issue long before your time.
Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk
I don't want to cause anymore ruffled feathers here, but this is suppose to be a safe place to voice our thoughts, opinion, concerns, and experiences in the world of mermaiding. Lorelei was completely within her rights to voice a concern here and we do not know if she may of been planning to contact Matt herself at a later point when she had some free time to sit down and write out her thoughts in a more calm manner. It is not fair to just assume that no one planned to give him a fair chance. We want to see him succeed as a tail maker, so please give the community some breathing room before trying to tell others to keep their opinions and concerns to themselves.
You are being rude. You jumped the gun and made assumptions and invalidated someone else.Quote:
Originally Posted by VanoraSirene
Personally I think Matty is great and I support him, but in this instance he knows the design was already stolen. It would be better for a better working relationship with the community to not use it. Don't just repeat Eric's bad habits.
I think most of us think Matty has a lot of potential but would like to see him fully separated from Mertailor. With new designs.
Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk
He owns the sculpture. Its his.
The design is Loreleis.
Matt is not offering anything that has to do with this fluke and is not claiming it as his own original design.
I think its unreasonable for people to be frustrated for something that isnt happening. So if no one wants to go to the source, I will. And I did. And I resolved the issue.
No one is saying that the physical sculpture does not belong to him. And at this point we aren't frustrated over the design we are frustrated with how you are behaving.
"If Matty is saying he designed that fluke (the one in the back), then I have some serious issues with him."
Thats Loreleis exact words. So I was only trying to help and let her know that hes not saying he designed it. She didnt even ask if hes offering it. So I figured I'd help ease her mind and ask Matt. I posted his response. I cant understand why everyone is being rude towards me when I was trying to help an issue since Im close to Matt. I apologize for trying to settle people down. I did not discrediit anyone except for Eric.
Well hell, this turned into a shitstorm while I was a work...
This basically sums up my feelings. (And a big thank you to everyone who understood I was literally just asking a question because I was confused and didn't want history to repeat itself.)Quote:
Originally Posted by Saelyyia
Quote:
I wish someone would get the whole story before pointing fingers. Here you go, from Matt himself.
Vanora, you need to calm down. You are being very rude, as other's have pointed out (and nicely at that).Quote:
Originally Posted by VanoraSirene
I get that you are happy with your experience and your product from Matty. That's great and I'm truly happy for you.
That does not give you the right to ASSUME anything about me. As Raina and a couple of others pointed out, you didn't even ask if I was planning to talk to him. You literally posted once before running to Matt and not so subtly suggesting that I was pointing fingers without any information. If I'm correct, you weren't even on Mernetwork when the debacle with my design went down originally. What gives you the right to decide what information I do or do not have about a topic that clearly doesn't involve you in the way that it involves me?
As for me being unreasonably frustrated... just stop. You have zero history with me or this situation. This is an issue spanning YEARS. It has literally tainted my mermaiding experience from the beginning. I have every right to be damn frustrated that my design keeps popping up.
Next, you assumed I was trying to throw mud. I'm not. I WAS AT WORK. I was going to wait until I got home and had a chance to really sit down and engage with him on the matter. Instead of giving me a chance, you decided that I just wanted to be monstrous and basically assumed the worst from me. Thanks for that.
Ugh. I will start by saying this entire post is incredibly rude and I don't think you even see it. I didn't see you trying to help me in any of your postings. I saw you point fingers at me accusing me of being mean to Matty, but I don't see where you're trying to help me out.Quote:
Originally Posted by VanoraSirene
And hun, we aren't being mean to you. We'd simply like you to take a step back and let people make their own decisions. If you had approached this without thinking everyone was trying to 'Take Matty out', maybe we would have had a constructive conversation.
Finally, I can't help but laugh at your last sentence. You DID discredit other people, myself especially, in your haste to defend Matty.
I'm not going to say anything else on this matter, and I personally will not be revisiting this thread anytime soon. Thank you to everyone who tried to see the situation from my point of view. I appreciate it.
Just wanna say, apparently when I made my replies, a good 12 messages were not showing up in the thread for me so I missed a huge chunk.Quote:
Originally Posted by VanoraSirene
If you are a paid contractor, paid to sculpt it by a parent company, you don't own it. http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview...ght-ownership/ Your being paid transfers the rights, unless you make the employer sign explicit forms naming you will still be rights holder.
I know this because I literally just went into a legal battle over this exact thing and the laws are the same across North America.
If a work is created by an employee in the course of his or her employment, the employer owns the copyright. - See more at: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview....BOzU0i7M.dpuf
He knew it was stolen, he may not have control over it being stolen, but he has control over whether or not he uses it. And this is the merrowfins thread. Perfectly acceptable place to bring it up.Quote:
I feel as if though this issue should not have been brought up on a Merrowfins post. I understand your concerns Lorelei, and I could only imagine how frustrating it must be to have your design stolen. My only concern was that it seemed like Matt was getting negative reaction for something that he had no control over, it might have been better to contact him personally and ask if he was offering that design before posting on here. People might have mistaken your post as a shot at Matt for something that was not even true. I apologize if my posts seemed harsh, I was not meaning to come across as rude. But all in all, your design was stolen by Eric of Mertailor. And your design is not being offered by Merrowfins.
mernetwork is messing up for my tonight guys, I apologize for the same sentence being repeated that wont delete regardless of how many times I try to edit.
A perfect example of this is as follows:
Thom SHouse was a subcontractor (like Matty) on the splash tail. Robert short got the movie credit at he was the lead and the contractors worked under him. Neither of them could recreate the splash tail as it was owned by touchstone pictures (they paid for it and bought it therefor transferring those rights) and had to sign papers saying they would not make replicas of that EXACT tail. (Thom has made variations) Even though Thom physically did sculpting etc, he does not own it.
Similarly If I hire my mermaid contractors as photographers for our mermaid events, I pay them, the rights transfer to me, unless I explicitly say they do not.
This is how contracting works in the art and business world. It's not opinion.
Vanora, I've noticed a few times how quick you were to jump to defend matt (like when members commented on how we didn't like the scales or the untextured flukes and you made it a point to continously tell us that you liked it and matt is doing X, X, and X) yes, you can be a happy customer and still critique and let others critique his work. I think you need to assess how you come off when you jump on other people for an opinion. Just because you like something doesn't mean everyone else has to.
Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk
Merrowfins is my company's tail maker and I am beyond happy with him :)
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I made half the payment already and i haven't even received a sketch yet that I was promised. Should I be worried?
Have you emailed him and asked, yet?
Ya I've been texting hin
Everyone else said that he is very responsive and good at communicating but I'm afraid of happening to me what happened to other people with mertailor. They pay and then never hear from them again
He has iMessage so I know he's seen it
He could be busy. I know I check my messages while working but can't respond right away.
Send an email and give him a few hours. Maybe post on his facebook page?
Do you remember the giveaway Merrowfins did a while ago? I posted a link in our Belgian mermaid group and guess what? Someone in our pod won a full silicone tail from them! :D
Ya so did i
Given he seems to have been so good with everyone else, I wouldn't worry - although I know that's easier said than done! Hopefully you'll hear back soon. I love the colours of the fish you posted, and can't wait to see what Matty does with it! You'll make one gorgeous tropical mermaid!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Guys my company put in a huge order for tails back in January and also a custom tail he's making new just for me as a performer. This could be taking up amor of his time and back order. Just saying.. Sorry
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
A lot oops haha
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Matt is an awesome tail maker his work and tails seem to be going far good for him hope he gets more success along the way.
Sent from my Z936L using Tapatalk
I wanted to bump this thread back up because I noticed that Matt has posted quite a few tails recently onto instagram (including what I believe is Vanora's). Has anyone else seen them? If so, what do you guys think?
One of them is mine. Here's a quick video of what it looks like.
https://youtu.be/hQ-FkhvPazU
oh man! that's beautiful Vanora!
Thank you!