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An ethics question

Rennie Heuer

Rennie Heuer

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I was contacted today by a past customer. She has fallen in love with a particular bedroom set that is made in the UK. She has been able to buy a couple of parts of the set but the two 4 drawer dressers she wants are not available for sale to the US. She has investigated ways around this but has come up dry.

Here's the question - she has asked me if I would be willing to build replicas of the dresser for her. I would be working primarily from pictures to her dimensions and I could pay a visit to her home to see the pieces already purchased. Although the pieces might vary slightly in overall dimensions, they would be copies of someone else's design. Do you see an issue with this? Is building something really close to someone's design infringement of any kind? (I should note, this is from a large manufacturer, not an individual artist)

I've built a bunch of stuff that was designed by others like Stickley, but his designs are practically generic at this ppoint. I did build a table designed by Darrell Peart, but I asked him first. Usually, I think, so long as you don't try and pass it off as an original you are OK.

Your thoughts?

Oh, BTW - not even sure I can take the job. Although time and money are not an issue for her, the complexity of the build might be a little over my head.

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looks like a face frame over the case. rabbet them, and you're home free. as for ethics, how long ago did she buy them? if it still bothers you, talk with her, and see if you can make some changes, similar, but not exact.
 
I'm surprised something like that isn't readily available. It looks like a fairly generic dresser. I wouldn't think that making a variant of it would be a problem.

Are the drawers riding on slides, or are they 'fitted' drawers with won-on-wood construction? Just making the change from one design element to the other ought to make it 'your own.'

I wouldn't hesitate to make it.

There's hardly any furniture piece (unless it's a really far-out "Art" piece) that's original any more. For instance, several years ago I made an end table with an original-to-me design, I thought. A couple months later, on WoodCentral, a guy in Scotland posted pictures of a nearly identical design, but in a different wood, and a bit larger than mine. Neither of us knew about the other, and both of us thought we were being original. Great minds do sometimes think alike! :rolleyes:
 
Unless you are planning to sell more of these designs at the retail level I can't see any ethical concerns here. Copying a design off of a picture pretty much guarantees that some parts of the end result are going to be different than what is in the picture.
 
Rennie Heuer said:
...Oh, BTW - not even sure I can take the job. Although time and money are not an issue for her, the complexity of the build might be a little over my head.

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I can't imagine something like that would be over your head or beyond your capabilities. It looks quite straight-forward. Relatively simple construction You've already made things much more complicated than that.
 
Thanks for all the input. My initial reaction was that there was no professional or ethical reasons I could not build it, but the customer actually raised the question so I thought I should get an opinion other than my own. I see no reason I could not move forward with this.

As for construction, it does not appear to be a face frame cabinet as I understand the term. It looks like the face is structural. My concerns are with the curved, almost Maloof like, joinery. I would have to hit those details right on as these will sit in the same space as the originals, begging comparison.

The wood appears to be something like white oak, but might be something indigenous to the UK and not even available here. That could be an issue as well. I need to do some more research!
 
That design is pretty similar to the hand-me-down dressers we have in our bedroom. They were new to LOML's parents in the '60s. I don't see any ethical issue with you building something to match what your client has already bought.
 
I agree that I would have no professional or ethical reasons to pass on makinga "one-off" set of items to the client's spec or with your ability to make them. My challenge would be getting close enough on the 'look and feel' and the color to match existing items. I'll PM a side conversation ;-)
 
I seriously doubt you'll make them with 100% identical construction, and especially since they're entirely unobtainable.. I would have no moral qualms with this one.
 
From a practical standpoint, everything we build is a "close copy" of something we have seen somewhere. To give the client what she wants, you'll have to copy what she has to a degree. If you take on the project, make it as close to her other pieces as possible.

Along a different path, most of the plans I've seen in woodworking magazines include a statement to the effect that it's free to build for yourself, but you must get permission to sell what you build. Totally different situation.
 
No issue build it. If you decide to start mass produce, then could be an issue.

When youngest daughter built stuff for 4-H, she used plans from FWW. She would give credit to the original maker/ designer with a note on the bottom. I actually ran this past the Covington group one evening, they felt the was above and beyond.
 
It's a go. I'll make arrangements to see the pieces I need to match up with. If I think it is within my ability I will take the job.

Thanks everyone for the input. You have all confirmed my initial thoughts. It is good to have confirmation. :)
 
Don't go into production and it will be fine. Your dimensions and some small details will likely be different anyway.
One or two for just one customer? In my opinion, you have nothing to worry about.
Fifty pieces to many customers is when the legal teams start attacking.

Charley
 
Charles Lent said:
Don't go into production and it will be fine. Your dimensions and some small details will likely be different anyway.
One or two for just one customer? In my opinion, you have nothing to worry about.
Fifty pieces to many customers is when the legal teams start attacking.
Charley
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I don't know ...I made ONE(1), bottle stopper from Spectraply Dandelion pattern, green and yellow, and mentioned in my listing on ETSY that it was similar to John Deere colors... I got a cease and desist letter from John Deere..... Also had a set of my wood stemmed wine glasses that were green, yellow, red, and orange... one glass each.... in my listing I used the words "it's a fiesta"....got a cease and desist letter from the people who make the Fiesta stoneware....

Just don't use the actual manufacturer's name as part of your description.
 
Chuck Ellis said:
...in my listing I used the words "it's a fiesta"....got a cease and desist letter from the people who make the Fiesta stoneware....
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I would have told Fiesta Stoneware to go pound sand. It's their responsibility to prove that you infringed on their trademark, and from your description, you weren't even close.
 
Actually, I think they were Fiesta glasses that I picked up in a KARM (Knoxville Area Rescue Ministry) retail store....but I had made significant changes by putting the wooden stems on them and didn't actually call them Fiesta... only said "it's a fiesta" -- a party.... but because they were listed on ETSY, the listing was deleted by ETSY, so I had to change the listing wording.
 
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