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Like small-time music recording, Carlene Davis, a 52-year-old grandmother from Idaho, USA, admits that pattern poaching has been going on for years, though perhaps not in the quantities the Internet now invites. "We would just send one or two in a letter with a recipe or something. The shortage of good needlepoint designs encourages sharing," she argues. "There are not many stores that carry needlepoint patterns anymore, and what they do have is usually tacky. Who wants to cross-stitch a woman with a pineapple on her head and then frame it? Not me." A true enthusiast who lacked the variety she so desired, Davis went online to scour the Internet for alternatives. She discovered scores of other frustrated stitchers who directed her to websites and servers filled with hundreds of pattern books all saved in electronic format. Everything was there, from one-off individual designs to cartoon characters straight out of Disney blockbusters. All the women needed to do was press "print". Davis might bemoan the shortage of needlepoint designs, but it is a modest trade with few major suppliers. A development like this can easily undermine the entire trade, as Sharon Wainwright, president of the International Needleart Retailers Guild, is anxious to point out. "Without a doubt this is having a disastrous affect on the industry," she says, in a virtual state of panic. "Needlework is a very cyclical business, and in today's quite affluent economy people tend to spend their money on other things. Overall, we're stuck in a downward spiral. A lot of needlework shops have closed recently, and this is just another factor that is influencing that process." Sales at design shop Pegasus have dropped over 40 per cent since 1997, and its founder, Jim Hedgepath, is ready to attribute it, at least in part, to the Internet swaps. Such is his concern about the cross-stitch pirates that he has grouped together several companies and a legal fund has already been established for the prosecution of those who are pirating the designs. "Right now, we are waiting to see what the big companies like the Disney and Time-Warner are going to do, but at some point in time, we are going to file legal action in order to make a statement that this really is against the law," he says. Leavitt-Imblum, a designer who makes a healthy salary from her needlepoint art, is one of those who have already started taking action. She has ordered her attorney to begin gathering evidence against those she describes as "the scourge of all that is decent and right". But the image of the poor, elderly granny who is too frail to make it to the nearest hobby shop is doing their campaign no favours. Their first aim is to quash rumours that this is a war waged against old ladies. "It's all ages, from teenagers upwards, and they not only know they're doing wrong, but they are actively encouraging it," says Hedgepath. "There are a few sites that insist that people must steal two or three patterns before becoming members. They say it's to prove that everyone who joins is genuine, but the real reason is so that if they go down, all the subscribers go down with them." This is exactly how PatternPiggiesUnite ! operates. " I am only sharing the patterns with my friends and their friends," said Carla Conry, the mother of six who runs the 350-person Net community of stitchers recently forced "underground" and made password-accessible only. But despite her proclamations of innocence her site reads like that of an experienced hacker. Nowadays, two house rules apply. Number one: have fun. And number two: "No talk of copyright." Meanwhile, the majority of paying consumers are rallying around the producers, anxious that this could tip the balance against the business and signal the end to their pastime. "I really expected a negative reaction, but we're getting a great deal of support from the public," says Hedgepath. "They know their stores could go out of business and that they'll end up having to pay more because of these people." But while everyone has an opinion on how the future of the pattern industry should be managed, few people have any control over it. The outcome of the conflict will most likely be resolved in a totally separate case elsewhere in the USA. Once again, Napster, the pattern poachers' adopted big brother, rears its head, and people on both sides of the debate await news about the fate of the online music club. It is likely that, in the case of Napster v the Recording Industry Association of America, if Napster triumphs, so will the pattern poachers too. However, if the recording conglomerate wins, then the needlepoint industry is likely to breathe a heavy sigh of relief. Right now though, the only thing the pattern piggies and the pattern producers have in common is a hope that the ruling in the San Francisco courts will somehow go their way. — By arrangement with |
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