{"id":284028,"date":"2026-01-14T14:41:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T14:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/284028\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T14:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T14:41:13","slug":"designer-feels-violated-by-copy-of-jewellery-on-fashion-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/284028\/","title":{"rendered":"Designer feels ‘violated’ by copy of jewellery on fashion site"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sarah-May BuccieriEast Yorkshire and Lincolnshire<\/p>\n

\"BBCBBC<\/p>\n

Emma Farley says she felt “horror” after “copies” of her work were promoted with her own photos<\/p>\n

A jewellery designer says she feels “violated” after a fashion website listed a “copied” pair of her earrings for sale, with her own photos used to promote them<\/p>\n

Emma Farley, 49, from Burnby, East Yorkshire, said she felt “disbelief” when she saw the jewellery being advertised on X-ZIPO, which is based in Hong Kong, for less than half the price of her originals.<\/p>\n

“They don’t even try and hide it,” she added. “They’re using my images.”<\/p>\n

In a message to Farley, which the BBC was copied into, X-ZIPO apologised and said the product had been removed from its online store.<\/p>\n

Farley said she noticed what appeared to be a copied pair of her sterling silver earrings for sale on X-ZIPO after an advertisement popped up on another site.<\/p>\n

The listing, titled “simple and compact plant flower earrings”, included pictures she had taken to advertise the earrings on her own online retail pages.<\/p>\n

“I was in disbelief,” she said. “Then it turned to horror, as I realised this is nothing to do with me.”<\/p>\n

\"EmmaEmma Farley<\/p>\n

This photo of the original earrings, taken by Emma, was used to promote the copies<\/p>\n

According to its website, X-ZIPO sells “unique fashion products from our independent designers, using high-quality materials and reliable production”.<\/p>\n

In correspondence sent to Farley, the company said: “We sincerely apologize [sic] for the inconvenience caused. The related products have been completely removed from our store, and the corresponding posts on our social media platforms have also been deleted.”<\/p>\n

It went on to say that the company had “absolutely no intention of misusing” Farley’s copyrighted material.<\/p>\n

The company added: “Our store carries a large number of products sourced from multiple suppliers, and as a result, there may have been an oversight in copyright verification among the extensive range of authorized [sic] products. <\/p>\n

“We fully respect original content and intellectual property.” <\/p>\n

Farley said it was the second time her work had been copied and listed for sale on a larger website.<\/p>\n

The practice had a “massive impact” on designers, not least because profits from the earrings she sold went to her wildlife charity, Little Silver Hedgehog.<\/p>\n

“I know of other designers and makers who have gone out of business \u2013 it’s just not viable,” she added.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Artist Eve Marshall says it feels “deflating” when artworks are copied<\/p>\n

Eve Marshall, a 43-year-old artist from Indigo Crow Gallery in Lincoln, also had an artwork copied and sold online without her consent.<\/p>\n

“It was very deflating, the time I spend on a piece is massive,” she said. “Then someone else takes that idea\u2026 it’s really disturbing.”<\/p>\n

She believes the practice is common. <\/p>\n

“Lots of cheap sites are selling knock-offs of people’s artwork,” she added. “It’s such a shame.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mel Langton says more needs to be done to protect artists’ work<\/p>\n

Mel Langton, who co-owns the gallery, avoids advertising her work online because she is worried about artificial intelligence “scraping” and reusing it without consent, despite her work being copyrighted.<\/p>\n

She said the process of registering designs often put the onus on the artist rather than the copier.<\/p>\n

“It feels like, this is my house, you can steal my things, but it’s my job to get them back,” she added.<\/p>\n

Although copyright protection is applied automatically to original works, artists can apply for additional legal measures such as design registration, trademarks and patents. <\/p>\n

Dids Macdonald, co-founder of the campaigning organisation Anti-Copying and Design, said protections for artists should be more accessible.<\/p>\n

She also called on the government to introduce tougher deterrents for people who intentionally take the work of others.<\/p>\n

“It will send a very strong message to those large organisations,” she said. “Especially the Goliaths in this world who think that they can get away with it scot-free.<\/p>\n

“The theft of a designer’s original pieces of work is absolutely not acceptable.<\/p>\n

“Imitation isn’t flattery if it costs you your business.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sarah-May BuccieriEast Yorkshire and Lincolnshire BBC Emma Farley says she felt “horror” after “copies” of her work were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[18,117,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-284028","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115893980037769020","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}