You may be familiar with my Gaia shrug pattern:
Perhaps you can see the resemblance to a pattern published by Drops:
We have a growing trend here. Large yarn industry companies are ignoring the rights of smaller, indie designers by stealing our patterns to sell their products. The most recent is the issue with Trendsetter Yarns and the Wingspan pattern by Maylin. This gained a lot of exposure, but there are many cases, like mine, that fly below the radar.
I was happy to see a resolution between Trendsetter Yarns and Maylin, although TY’s apology was lacking. If you’re a fiber enthusiast, please support the rights of indie designers and not companies that choose to exploit their works. I have tried to contact Drops about the Gaia pattern situation, but they have never responded. There may not be anything I can do about them removing the pattern, but I can choose to boycott their products and the products of any company that partakes in similar business practices.
The Yarn Bearer 