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wm de morgan on copyright

updated thu 31 oct 96

 

TCOLSON@raychem.com on tue 8 oct 96

Hi All-

Here is William De Morgan's reply upon being exhorted to go after
those who were pirating his designs:

Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Pottery

I've seen a lot his work and a lot of the copies and there ain't no
mistakin' one for the other! In my mind, his response plays well with
Ruskin's statement about how there is no product that can't be made
cheaper by making it shoddier, and that those who consider only price
are the imitators lawful prey. (His words are a whole lot more poetic
than my paraphrase, but then again, that shouldn't suprise you!)

My 2 cents...

Tom Colson
tcolson@aimnet.com
Tiles On The Web: http://www.aimnet.com/~tcolson/webtiles.htm

....getting out the asbestos undies to defend myself from the flamers
who think the WdM wasn't really a potter anyway and that Ruskin was a
kook. Well, maybe WdM was "just a designer", but he was a helluva
designer. And Ruskin may have been a few cards short of a deck but his
best words still knock me cold.