Annie's Battles Online Piracy

Berne, IN, January 11, 2017 --(PR.com)-- Annie’s, a leader in the crafts market, is engaged in an ongoing struggle against Internet pirates.

Annie’s is well known for its innovative craft designs that are sold both in print and as digital downloads. Its copyrights are periodically violated by outlaw websites that illegally reproduce and distribute Annie’s designs without payment or permission.

The company has long defended its intellectual property and the rights and royalties of its family of designers against copyright infringement. It devotes hundreds of hours every year to document and pursue reports of stolen patterns and books.

With a brand spanning multiple magazine titles and other programs, all dealing with curated and developed proprietary patterns and other information, Annie’s is literally defending the lifeblood of its business. Crafters the world over know the Annie’s name, and look to the company for high quality instructions and the most innovative designs.

“It used to be that copyright infringement happened at the individual level,” said Annie’s Executive Vice President Michele Fortune. “The advent of technology has allowed theft to occur at a global level, where with a click of a mouse someone can duplicate and distribute illegal copies of a pattern to thousands of their closest Internet friends.”

Annie’s battles daily to educate users about the toll that copyright infringement has on the crafting business as a whole. “Crafters need to understand that free doesn’t always mean legal,” said Fortune. “In almost every case, if a crafter finds a pattern that is both for sale, and for free on a different site, the free pattern is stolen.”

“Unfortunately for the crafters who download those ‘free’ patterns, many times they are a delivery mechanism for malware and computer virus attacks, so those patterns can cost much more than expected.”

What can consumers do to help fight piracy? Annie’s provides forms on every website they own to allow their customers and fans to report infringing websites and groups. Each report is reviewed and appropriate action taken.

Annie’s personnel have worked with groups across America to take down pirate groups and sites, and been successful in working through foreign consulates to help mitigate the threat overseas, as well.

Annie’s (Annies-Publishing.com) is part of the third-generation Muselman family business headquartered in Berne, Ind., near Fort Wayne. Its products—including print and digital magazines and patterns, kits and supplies, online classes and TV programming—are targeted to home and family interests, including crafts, nostalgia and home decor. The Muselman business began in 1925 with the founding of Economy Printing Concern in Berne. EP Graphics, as it is known today, is still owned by the Muselman family.