The trademark dispute
That’s where my own story ends, or at least the bulk of it.
In February, I learned Emily’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were removed by a company with the same name in another country, who owns a trademark for the name in that region. The owner of the trademark, also posted Story Highlights on her Instagram with screenshots from other women who claimed they had been infringed, mistreated, or harassed by Emily and / or her followers.
She also posted screenshots of bullying and threats from Emily’s followers towards herself and her 13 year old daughter, which is really upsetting. I am not going to share her content here as it’s already public.
Admittedly I felt a little less alone knowing I wasn’t the only one who had a negative experience with her, and I sent Jane (not her real name for privacy purposes) a short summary of my own experience to offer moral support. She then asked if she could share my message, without my name and I told her she could. Since people may figure out I’m fairy #5 though, I felt at this point I needed to be clear about my stance on this.
I am not involved in her GoFundMe in any way and do not endorse her current approach. I disagree with many of the assumptions made regarding Emily’s income, and other details. I was open with her about my concerns but they were blown off.
She also had told me no when I asked her specifically if Emily never responded to her at any point in all of this, but her own screenshots posted in her archives showed conversations between them with Emily offering to change her business name and url, as well as asking how much they could pay to buy the mark. There was also a private phone number displayed which is considered doxxing, but has since been removed, as she’s said that was not intentional.
The dishonesty about contact between them is a deal breaker for me, as it is with anyone.
The short of it is, I’m not really pleased with how Emily dealt with my copyright issue with her, but I’m also not pleased with some of the ways Jane is approaching this issue.
I’ve only spoken with one of the other ‘fairies’ who’ve had bad experiences with Emily, one who says they were to collaborate on a design, only to have Emily post the design later without crediting her and cutting ties. I can’t verify the other women’s stories for you here, I can only show you my own. Perhaps the other women out there who allegedly share this type of experience with Emily will also feel a bit less alone. Maybe they’ll even come forward with their experiences.
As for who deserves to own the trademark? I have no idea honestly. It seems like a grey area and I’m not going to go over all the details of international trademark law here, but I did see public records that Emily applied for trademark registration for the names Fairy Armor and Disco Lemonade in the US, stopped selling in the trademark owner’s country under Disco Lemonade, and made a new website under the Fairy Armor name to sell her products in that country. I’m not as familiar with trademark law as with copyright, so I’m not going to judge whether or not that is enough to make it legal as their urls are indeed very alike and that might be disputable. That’s now between the two of them to figure out.
Publicly telling the ‘fairy army’ to cease harassing Jane and her family would be a good move as well, and I’ve told Emily she should be doing at least that rather than remaining silent.
I wish both women well. My only aim with this entry is to tell the truth of my experience with these entities.
If anyone carries out any harassment or bullying in my name, I will report them myself if possible and block them on social media. No matter which side they’re on, there’s no excuse for threats against someone’s family, attacks on one’s appearance or anything else about their identity. You’re welcome to share my story on your own accounts.
