New Section: Fighting Piracy

[Joan Marie]

Previously there was a section on this forum visible only to deck creators who had signed up to see it. It was intended to focus on fighting counterfeiting and piracy of tarot decks.

Long story short, the group I tried to form, INCOTA (International Coalition of Tarot Artists) simply didn't take off and I decided my efforts were better spent elsewhere. This doesn't mean the issue isn't still a top priority.

So I have set up this section for those who wish to continue the discussions and share ideas and concerns on this topic.

IMPORTANT: This portion of the forum is open to everyone. DO NOT post links to pirate sites here as we do not want to advertise them.
The exception to this is when there is something concrete we can do together to get a site removed, for example an etsy store selling fakes. Include links and instructions for reporting.

Thanks everyone!

[reall]

Happy you decided to make this topic open to everyone! I still think your idea for international association is good!
but imo it should be Open to everyone to join & Not just artist but Deck creators collectors readers etc I think would All like to have membership card or pin medal of Internatonal Tarot Coalition? Tarotist International United? earned by joining our effort to rise awareness & educate about importance of keeping Everyones Good Working Spirit by Supporting legit deck creators printers, publishers & sellers & fighting pirates!
also just noticed fb notice Effective October 1, 2020, section 3.2 of our Terms of Service will be updated to include: “We also can remove or restrict access to your content, services or information if we determine that doing so is reasonably necessary to avoid or mitigate adverse legal or regulatory impacts to Facebook.” hopefully it will help remove pirates from fb! & etsy & others will do likewise!^^ All Saying We Are Seeing Results!^^ Yey! lol

[Joan Marie]

That's good news about FB changing their policy. They may (definitely will) need people to push to get them to adhere to it, but if it is in place then they will have to.
It is definitely a good sign.

The reason I had limited membership to deck creators and publishers was because the purpose of the group was intended to be an actual force when going up against printing companies and selling platforms.

To say "we are 500 artists and publishers who will take our business elsewhere if you don't comply with some basic requirements" would have carried weight to get printers to take our demands seriously.

To add other tarot users would have been nice and I can see the benefit, but to the people we are trying to work with for change, those extra members would just be padding if you know what I mean. Only deck creators hold sway with printers.

Buyers of course do hold sway with sellers, but for actual creators to pull their shops off ETSY (for example), threaten them with copyright infringement, etc, and have the backing of the organisation would be something else entirely. Solidarity among the stakeholders would have power.

INCOTA was meant to take real, concrete action on behalf of its members, its members being the actual "content creators" if you will, that printers and selling platforms depend on.

That was my thinking. It was a much larger undertaking than I initially anticipated requiring some really sophisticated organisational skills and massive, enthusiastic buy-in.

But I agree, it's nice to just open this topic up to everyone to discuss.

[reall]

Oh! That IS a good point & would definitly work with printers publishers & even etsy if we Had Every Creator Join! I would keep our membership list open to new creators who knows with time we may actually have that number to work with!

[BlueStar]

I'm sorry to hear this didn't take off as expected. But who knows...it may just be the seed that grows into an oak tree eventually:)

One thing I think would be really helpful from deck creators is if they provide a list of genuine online places their decks can be purchased from, if they are selling places other than their own site. Or state on their site that any decks purchased elsewhere are not legit (not sure how that would cover buying used decks though). Maybe some do already on their own sites, but it's not something I've personally seen when looking into buying decks. Perhaps that's something that could be supported in this initiative somehow? Even if it's just deck creators posting somewhere here in the forum, or maybe have a special section for it (it might pull in new members too from it:) ). Just an idea.

[Joan Marie]

One thing I think would be really helpful from deck creators is if they provide a list of genuine online places their decks can be purchased from, if they are selling places other than their own site. Or state on their site that any decks purchased elsewhere are not legit (not sure how that would cover buying used decks though).

This is a really good idea. I had once thought about some kind of "seal of authenticity" that could be posted on legit websites and etsy stores. The problem is of course how could you stop anyone else from using it? It could totally backfire, people seeing the "seal" not realising it's not authorised to be used.

If there were a database that a buyer could check against (that link on the seal) that might work. The database would of course be maintained with only legit websites. Something like that. But in the meantime, I like the idea of stating that your website is the legit place to purchase.

Additionally, The Library of Decks that we have here on this forum is an attempt at creating a resource not just of decks but also of links to legit sites to purchase them. These links are provided by the artists themselves.

I am always accepting decks to be added. There is more information at Library of Decks.