[Jewelry making - Article 01376] - Re: [Orchid] Signature to Identify your work?

[Daniel Spirer]

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    I'm always amused by this subject as it comes up repeatedly on
    Orchid, but in my humble opinion, in the last 30 years I could count
    on one hand (maybe part of a second) the number of new designs I
    have seen created that are truly "unique" and "new"  By this I mean
    something that has never, in the history of jewelry making dating
    back 4-5000 years, actually been done before and deserving of true
    copyright protection.  Actually I have noted that it seems that the
    people who spend the most time and money protecting their copyright
    (the best example is David Yurman) actually have copyrighted designs
    they really did not create (Yurman's are based almost exclusively on
    Celtic jewelry made 1000 years ago). 

    But here's the real problem as I see it.  How much time are you
    going to spend attempting to protect something that may be unique
    (but that may have been done by someone else but you just haven't
    seen it yet)?  How much money are you going to make from a
    particular line or look and is it worth your time to go out and deal
    with lawyers and lawsuits and everything else involved.  I mean
    aren't we all jewelers???  Do you want to spend your time making
    jewelry or fighting other jewelers?  Time is something you can never
    get back (the older I get the more I realize this).  If you take all
    of your efforts defending your product and devote it to continually
    turning out new ideas on the bench you don't have to worry about
    whether someone else is copying your work because you'll already be
    one step ahead of them. 

    In my book the same thing applies to all of the peripheral elements
    of running a business.  YOU don't need to know how to fill in a tax
    return. Let an accountant do that.  In the time required for you to
    research and fill out the darn thing you could have made enough new
    pieces to pay the accountant and a bookkeeper.  You don't need to
    spend days trying to take the perfect picture for your ad because
    there are photographers out there who can do that while you spend
    your time making beautiful new things.  Do what you do best (for
    most of you that's making jewelry and being idea people)!  Let
    someone else deal with the rest of it. 

Daniel R. Spirer, G.G.
Daniel R. Spirer Jewelers, LLC
1780 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02140
daniel AT spirerjewelers.com
www.spirerjewelers.com

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