$11 Temu Earrings Shock Algonquin Bead Designer Who Says They’re Her Creation

An Algonquin seamstress claims that one of her designs was stolen and sold without her knowledge on a major online sales site for nearly a year.

Melody Markle saw a post from a fellow bead designer warning artists about copies of their designs appearing on retail sites without permission.

So Markle went to Temu, an online retailer (similar to Etsy or Amazon) that offers products through third-party sellers, to see if any of her work was listed there.

“I was scrolling through the screen and I came across what looked exactly like my design,” said Markle, who is from Long Point (Winneway) First Nation in western Quebec.

“At first I was quite surprised… and then I got a little angry when I looked at it more closely.”

It’s an unfortunately common experience for Indigenous artists, according to Meika Ellis, an intellectual property lawyer based in Ottawa. Ellis, who is Gwich’in from Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories, does not represent Markle and did not comment specifically on Temu or its policies.

Ellis says the process of removing stolen designs is complicated and potentially expensive. Most people choose not to hire a lawyer, even if they know it’s an option.

“It is incredibly easy to infringe on rights and much more difficult to enforce them,” she said.

Another problem, Ellis says, is that artists don’t always know their rights.

Training artists

Canadian Artists Representation (CARFAC) is sharing information on how artists can protect themselves and what to do if they believe their work has been stolen, including through their Indigenous protocols. They are also educating non-Indigenous artists and businesses about respectful collaboration.

Larissa Derosiers, of Couchiching First Nation in northwestern Ontario, is a program director for CARFAC and said copycat designs “diminish the value” of Indigenous artwork.

Meghan Markle is selling her chickadee earrings for $300 to $350. The pair on Temu sells for around $11.

The price of Markle’s earrings includes the cost of natural materials, like feathers and caribou fur, which she harvests and dyes herself, as well as items traded with other artisans across North America, she said. It also reflects the time she puts into her work and the skills she’s cultivated over time.

Derosiers said she was happy to see that pearlers know the value of their creations, and was disappointed to see it undervalued by online retailers.

“(The quality is) not at all comparable to the actual quality of what these artists are selling,” she said.

Additionally, cultural teachings and differences are erased when beaded art is sold without proper context, Derosiers said.

While Temu’s chickadee earrings are described as “boho-chic,” Markle says her designs come from her Algonquin culture.

“Birds have been a big part of my life and have been carrying messages since time immemorial,” she said.

“They still sing our original songs…and they are gifts from the Creator.”

Markle and Derosiers both said they believe Indigenous artists are targets of design theft because of the beauty and uniqueness of their creations.

“When (colonial society) couldn’t commercialize their Indigenous identity, then it was rejected. And as soon as you realize you can commercialize it, it gets hijacked,” Ellis said.

Deleting copies

A cease-and-desist letter to the seller of a stolen design can be a first step in getting a work removed, Ellis said, but on some platforms, including Temu, there is no direct way to contact a seller or even find out who is behind the account.

She said such cases rarely go to court and compensation for stolen designs is rare.

“It’s very difficult to get companies to take down a work, let alone pay damages,” Ellis said, adding that a lawsuit can cost more than $100,000.

In an emailed statement, Temu said it is continually working to improve its intellectual property policies, including a new online complaints portal. The company also said it has improved its efficiency in handling complaints and is now resolving “over 99% of takedown notices within two business days.”

According to Temu’s statement, artists “often do not have sufficient copyright protection for their works,” although copyright automatically applies to all completed works in Canada.

Registering a copyright with the government is not mandatory, Ellis said, but it is helpful to have the registration number to easily prove ownership.

Anyone can register a copyright (with or without the help of a lawyer), which costs between $63 and $81, but it’s not something many artists seek out.

Derosiers explains that this is often because artists don’t know it’s an option and because it can be expensive to register each work.

After sharing her experience online and seeing numerous comments from other pearl designers who said they had similar experiences, Markle said she decided to hire a lawyer.

She spent about a month trying to get Temu’s tit earrings removed before they disappeared from the seller’s page without notice.

Now she wonders what she can do to protect her job in the future.

According to Ellis, placing a copyright symbol on any online image can be an easy first step.

“A lot of it is about being very clear about the disclaimers and making it very obvious that the work belongs to someone,” she said.