Controversy over earrings with ILY handshape
On Saturday, Brittany Castle, who is a deaf artist that owns and operates 58 Creativity, posted on social media that she had to take down new “ILY earrings” that she started selling on Friday. Castle said “a deaf business accused 58 Creativity of design patent infringement” and that she decided to take down the earrings to avoid legal action.
The other company is RoseBYANDER, a jewelry company that is founded and operated by Alexis Kashar, a deaf woman who is also a civil rights attorney. RoseBYANDER has featured its ILY jewelry on a number of deaf celebrities. Kashar is also influential as she has worked with the NAD in their relationship with the NFL to bring in deaf signers for the Super Bowl pregame and halftime ceremonies.
There was controversy on social media as people commented that no single company should have a claim over the ILY handshape. Others were irritated that a deaf-owned business would move to bring legal action against another deaf-owned business.
Kashar owns a U.S. Design Patent for a pendant of the ILY handshape. RoseBYANDER sells sterling silver or gold ILY earrings on its website with prices ranging from $160 to $380.
This is what Castle’s earrings look like. She was selling them for $19.99 and they were made of stainless steel. I reached out to Castle for an interview and here are her comments.
Brittany Castle: I released it on Black Friday and I was excited. The ILY design was from last year when I created stud earrings that had a background material on it. It came from a pin design that I had. I cleaned it up and made some modifications before selling the earrings. Some customers made a request for hook earrings. I thought it might be too heavy if I included the full background so I removed it. I thought it was pretty. When I looked at it I did think of the other business but when I compared the designs, I saw that they were different. Three or four fingers look different. The thumbs and pinky fingers. It was clearly not an exact copy. So I felt good about releasing it. But about two hours later they contacted me to please remove it, that my work was the same as their work. I was like, “what?” They mentioned that they had a patent and I was bewildered. I took another look to really compare and I was like, “No. This is impossible. It is not a copy.” But they consider it a patent infringement and I can’t use and sell the ILY design. Because I “copied” their work. I was so confused and had mixed feelings. They emailed me to demand that I remove it from my social media and website, I was confused. I emailed them to say that their patented design looks different. Their company has rocks on it and it just looks different. But they disagreed and said they got messages from their people that their work looks just like mine. So I didn’t know what to do. It was on a Saturday and I didn’t know how to contact an attorney for advice. Their offices were closed. So I decided that the best option was to take it down. It’s best for me because there were just too many emotions. I’m confused because the ILY handshape is very commonly used and nobody owns it. It’s just like the font “A.” Who owns it? Nobody. There are many different kinds of fonts. Just like the ILY handshape, there are many. The ILY handshape is not original. But they’ve claimed it. I’m like, “okay.” I felt really hurt.
Alex: I reached out to Kashar/RoseBYANDER for comment and Kashar directed me to look at their Instagram video responding to the controversy. Here it is.
[Video credit: Instagram/rosebyander]
Alexis Kashar: Hi, I’m Alexis Kashar, the founder of RoseBYANDER jewelry. I wanted to take a minute to help clarify some misunderstanding I am seeing in our community about the sign that represents the concept of “I love you” and ownership. Before we get into it, I want to thank you, the community, for caring. This is what makes us special as a community. Now, as for the sign or symbol of “I love you” and who owns it? Nobody does. Who does it belong to? This sign and symbol belongs to all of us. My company, RoseBYANDER, has a design patent on a very unique and specific design that we use for our jewelry line as well as other things. This means we own the design rights to that unique and specific design. This does not mean we own the sign or symbol of”I love you” at all. We fully support all Deaf creators and all of your effort to spread love through your own designs and creations. We’d love to see more. Love you.
I asked follow-up questions on what specific design features RoseBYANDER considered to be infringing but did not get a response to this specific question.
So this is a recap of the controversy over ILY earrings and design patent infringement.
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[Sponsored video from Convo: www.convorelay.com]
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https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/ab/c9/f5/48eafacf3926a5/USD779369.pdf
https://www.instagram.com/p/ClgwHyJJGDr/
https://www.rosebyander.com/online-store/Earrings-c121937343