HELP! Zazzle sent me 27 emails from content review and deleted all products in less than 5 minutes

[GabrielaG]

Hi, I am so upset at the moment. A few minutes ago I received 27 back to back emails from Zazzle letting me know that  there was a problem with the products from one of my collections and that they were going to be removed "shortly". Since I have the rights to all the images used on my design I thought the problem must be on the title, description or tags. The only thing that I can think could be causing a problem is that I used the tag "very peri purple". In less than 5 minutes all the products were deleted!! so I didn't have a chance to make the simple tag change.

I sent right away an email reply to Zazzle's content review team but it did not went through. I got an email back letting me know that the Zazzle's content review team mailbox is full and can't accept messages now. Please try resending your message later, or contact the recipient directly!

I keep receiving emails as we speak, I guess the entire 37 products from the collection are getting removed!Can I please get a Zazzle moderator help me out. I took a huge deal of work and time to create all these products, I really hope there is a way to retrieve them and change the tag which would take a few minutes for each product.

Thanks in advance for your understanding, help and guidance.

For everyone else: please don't use "very peri" purple tag. I thought it would be fine as is been widely used on Pinterest and internet. I have even seen invitations with "very peri" on their title!

Gabriela

One2inspire Designs

[Baylee]

So sorry you are going through this... it happens frequently to creators but there has never been any way for us to stop the deletion from happening. I can understand why items are taken down immediately but do wish there was another solution that wouldn't negate all the hard work done to create those items.

I will be anxiously awaiting to hear if use of 'very peri' is the reason your products have been deleted because I've used that in some of my tags too. To the best of my knowledge it was OK to use Pantone color names as long as we didn't use the word "Pantone' anywhere. Here's a link to an older discussion about this issue:

https://community.zazzle.com/t5/ask-a-question/can-we-use-pantone-color-names-in-titles-and-tags/m-p...

[GabrielaG]

Thanks Bailey. I too thought it was okay to use pantone color names and I did not add "Pantone" on the tag, just "very peri purple".

I do hope a moderator can see this and get back to me as soon as possible as I can not think what else could have cause a problem.

It does feel horrible to have some many products deleted in just a matter of a few minutes with no chance to re-do them or make a tag or title change which would have been a very easy fix. It probably took me about 15 working days to create them!

I'll keep everyone posted, but just in case, I hope everyone check for any purple product that you might have with  "very purple" in a tag or title and change it before you loose it!

[Baylee]

I did take your issue as a warning and went and changed all my 'very peri' tags just in case. 

[tiffjamaica]

I think you're right about the color being the culprit. I had products up for a long time in the marketplace, and all of a sudden they were removed recently. I was so confused and had no idea why. It turns out one of my tags was a Pantone color (and I did not use "Pantone" as a tag if I remember correctly).  Sorry about your products - I totally agree there should be a 24 hour window or something where we should be able to edit the product. I don't understand why they can't just be hidden.  

[GabrielaG]

My thoughts exactly. I feel so disrespected, as if all the work invested was non important for Zazzle. They were also good seller products, so it is not just my loss, it is Zazzle loss as well!

[GabrielaG]

I do understand they take the products out of the market right away, but there should be a way to get them hidden and give designers some time to get back to the product and fix whatever was the problem. I'm not asking for a lot of time, just something reasonable. This time I was right in front of my computer at the moment I received the emails and got right away to check them out, but all 20+ products were  erased in less than 5 minutes giving me no chance at all to fix them. Soooo many hours of work deleted in a matter of a few minutes, just doesn't seem right! 

[RodneyK]

It is a reasonable to assume peri purple could be Pantone intellectual property and not use it without seriously researching it. The research is not worth the trouble because the term does not contribute to the product meta data only in the sense that someone might be searching for peri purple as a Pantone color. That tells the story right there. Peri purple is only useful as a Pantone color search. Another descriptor could easily be used instead.

[GabrielaG]

Since Pinterest is full of very peri purple wedding ideas a lot of brides search for their invitations and event products like that...Still, I just wish I had the opportunity to change the tag which is a simple change and would have taken me only a few minutes by product!

[GabrielaG]

Oh no! While I was writing this forum post 9 more products were deleted! I guess that means it actually is the "very peri purple" tag causing the problem as two of those products were from another "purple" collection!

[Deseades]

I can feel your pain - I had some products removed too (I used the quote that was copyrighted even though used casually) and no chance to correct the design... So, I think it would be a great idea if the product taken from the site was available for EDIT!   

[Barbara]

This is a long-standing issue. On Zazzle's end of things is the absolute need to avoid lawsuits, and we do know how much people or corporations love to bring lawsuits. It seems that Zazzle uses a search algorithm that feeds on a database of all the words and phrases that are copyrighted or trademarked, and the take-down emails are automatic along with the deletions. Right in there lies the problem. Though it's easy for them, it's a mini-death for us. We've all requested that there be some sort of holding period, giving us a chance to correct the words, but as far as I know, they've never posted a response to our pleas. If we at least had an explanation of why there can't be a holding period, it would help. Could it be that the deletions happen more often than we realize and thus it would require a load more work for reviewers? I don't know, but I sure would like to.

Colorwash's Home

[SimplyDesigned]

I've explained it before, there is no "privatizing the design, holding it back, removing from marketplace to be fixed" because as long as the item in question exists zazzle opens itself up to lawsuits. Sites like zazzle, Amazon, YouTube, Twitch are protected from lawsuits as long as they follow through with the cease and desist and remove the offending content when asked. If they receive a order to remove someone's IP and ignore it, they open themselves up to be sued directly. 

It sucks for us but, I have never had a product removed because I know how serious even attempting to use someone else's IP is. It's our responsibility to do our due research in the first place. I read this year that pantone wasn't going to allow us to use their color names, I've never used them.

Even though I'm not from zazzle, you don't have to work there to know these things, it's pretty basic. Hope everyone has a good weekend and tries not to stress over this.

[WHS_Designs]

good advice not to use Pantone or their color names (although it seems patently (and yes, I mean to use this descriptor) unfair that some of the more common modifiers are also used by Pantone -- e.g. Deep Blue and Classic Blue -- to say nothing of the more esoteric ones like Mykonos Blue or Mediterranean Blue).

I thought colors couldn't be trademarked (I recall that not 30 years ago, at least one business (whose name has escaped my memory) wanted to copyright "blue" as part of their brand but had to modify this to "blu", but apparently since 1995, they can, as per the article below:

Understanding Branding: Can Colors Be Trademarked? - CDFS Law (carterdeluca.com)

[Barbara]

Colors are such an odd thing to trademark. For instance, anyone can describe something as being brown unless it's being used to compete with or indicate UPS. Pantone, on the other hand, uses fancy names for colors they've concocted, and it appears it's only their fancy name that can by truly protected unless they run around with chemistry kits testing tubes of artists' paints. As for things other than color, there are companies like Daisy (sour cream) that can protect their name only in instances of like products, examples of which are all over the place in TESS. I've a number of products featuring a daisy or two and without ramification.

Tough to figure out all this stuff.

Colorwash's Home

[WHS_Designs]

let's not even get started with Crayola! 😉

[Connie]

The thing is, I checked TESS, and it doesn't look like Pantone even has "very peri" trademarked! How can they legally take something down if it doesn't have a registered trademark?

[ievajen]

 it's trademarked in UK
The VERY PERI trademark was assigned an Application Number #UK00003237433 by the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO). Trademark Application Number is a Unique ID to identify the VERY PERI mark in UKIPO.

 

[Connie]

Oh, I see. That's sad. Is Pantone a UK company? It's strange that they would trademark it there, and not here. Maybe UK is even more lax with trademarks than the US is?

[ColsCreations]

That's not related to Pantone though. That's for an entity who registered it as a wordmark back in 2017 under Class 43 (services for providing food and drink; temporary accommodation; restaurant, bar and catering services; provision of holiday accommodation; booking and reservation services for restaurants and holiday accommodation; retirement home services; creche services.) There are actually two other live registrations for it in the UK, image marks that also fall under the scope of Class 43.

In the US, it was registered in 2022 by a NY corporation under Goods & Services: gift baskets consisting of hosiery, slippers, jewelry and accessories.

[Barbara]

It's nice that you've never mistakenly used a phrase, place name, object that's copyrighted/trademarked, but watch out for famous last words.

Colorwash's Home

[Connie]

Practically every word in the English language is trademarked, frivolously or not, so it's only a matter of time until something gets taken down.

[Connie]

If Zazzle has the product hidden so that nobody but the designer can see it, how can they possibly be open to lawsuits?  The people trying to sue don't know it exists!

That's good to know about Pantone- we've always been allowed to use the color names as long as there was no reference to Pantone. They've been getting extremely greedy lately, though, so it's not too surprising.

[whimsywhim]

That's my question.  At the very least, there needs to be some sort of 'get it out of the marketplace' pause for many products.  For example, a couple of years ago, I had a Van Gogh painting taken off of several products because someone at Zazzle thought it was a joint.  It wasn't - it was a cigarette.  This could have been easily resolved.

Also, that's completely insane that we can't use the phrase 'deep blue' in tags or the description.  Is 'dark blue' next?  

[ievajen]

probably machines through the back end can read those hidden products and see, so zazzle protecting itself; machines doing the job, as sending emails with random image from the design, although the tag/title is the problem... 

[Barbara]

As per @RodneyK , I sat here wondering just how many customers search for Pantone colors specifically. I even wondered about true names such as cobalt blue, cerulean, cadmium orange, etc. I bet most people who are set on a specific color search for blue, blue-green, orange, and so on. Down, I say, down with Pantone!

Colorwash's Home

[Polenth]

This might be too late in this case, but in future, if you see everything getting removed and you think it's a tag issue, get in there and empty out the tags, description and title of the survivors. Let it go default. It might not save them, but you might get there quickly enough. Then after talking to the content review people, you can find out which words were the problem and rewrite the text. They won't bring the products back up for you to edit the tags. Only if they decide the removal was a mistake.

[Barbara]

I'm not sure how Pantone operates, but my guess is that they sell their specifically formulated colors to, say, a dress manufacturer for use on dresses and with the name of that color. Thus, they don't want any old dress manufacturer doing the same without paying for it. I'm using an older version of Photoshop where there's a complete set of Pantone colors that can be used for whatever a person wants to use them for. Anyone using one of the newest versions of the software? Can you take a look to see if the Pantone palette still exists there?

Freshly back from looking into color problems, I found that a company can't trademark a specific color, negating its use everywhere else. The lawsuits occur when a competing industry uses the same color or color combination. For instance, Sprint can't use T-Mobile's magenta, and Kubota can't use John Deere's iconic yellow and green. We, in our designs, can use magenta or yellow and green wherever we want just as long as it doesn't indicate either a phone or a tractor.

But Pantone? Our safest way is too stay away from mentioning fancy color names. Even if they aren't currently in Pantone's list, they could be next year.

Colorwash's Home

[WHS_Designs]

I'm using Photoshop Elements 2023 and can confirm that Pantone color swatches do not show up there. 
No big loss for me, I never really used them anyway. 

[Barbara]

I tried them years back, but couldn't be bothered. Adobe may have felt the same way.

Colorwash's Home

[WHS_Designs]

back in the day when I was working as a salaried graphic designer, I would be sent Pantone swatches regularly (and I would also be getting those gorgeous hardcover books from Getty Images too several times a year).

I tossed them all! 🙂

[ColsCreations]

From a .pdf on Pantones website about their rules

To me, I take that as pretty clear their color names are off-limit in tags. You can't have a hundred different designers self-describing their design color as "very peri" to get in on a trending search. And regardless of how close a shade might appear to be to the actual Pantone color, Zazzle isn't using the Pantone printing system with their proprietary inks to produce that color so it wouldn't officially be Pantone's "very peri" or whatever.  I would interpret calling it that as an unauthorized claim/reference. You can Google up lots of info on how the Pantone Color Matching System (a spot color printing process) differs from CMYK printing, but here's two links that sum things up nicely:
What’s the Difference Between CMYK and Pantone? 
Ways You’re Using Pantone Wrong: Fact vs. Myth

Anyways, despite the above, there are lots of items still in the MP using not just Pantone color names but also "pantone" and "pantone color of the year" and etc and sometimes in the title as well as the tags so I don't know what triggers a big take-down like @GabrielaG experienced but I would steer well clear of using such tags. As has often been said in the forums, just because you see something on other products doesn't mean its ok, it just means they haven't been caught by content review yet.

[Connie]

Who decides what is a Pantone color name, and what is just the standard name of the color? They shouldn't legally be allowed to make broad statements like this, when they have standard color names like classic blue, deep blue, etc. I sure hope their awful company tanks after they broke up with Adobe. Since Adobe is the industry standard, there's no point in the industries using a color system that isn't compatible with the industry standards! And when they take down everybody's listings that use some of their precious color names, so that customers can't find what they are looking for when they search using those names, pretty soon those names will become irrelevant!

[mblue]

Pantone is a company and they make the color names.  They are considered to be a leader in design- even designers that design homes, clothes, and other graphic artists use their color charts.

I'm sure they can't do anything about standard names like the classic blue, etc that you mentioned, but the periwinkle name is probably different enough for them to threaten legal action.

[GabrielaG · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone, thank you for all your comments. I recently heard back from Zazzle and it was indeed the "very peri" purple tag that caused the issue. I will be extra careful with the tags I use from now on.

Just wanted to let you know, in the hope you don't experience this problem.

Thanks again for all your comments and support.

Have a wonderful weekend!

[chuamishael]

This is the first time I heard of this, I don't know that colors like this have trademarks, thanks for posting this! I learn something new today. 🤔 😘

[jophb]

I REALLY wish they would just take the products to hidden and force a tag change. They just did this to me on dozens of products because I accidentally used one wrong word in tags.  They should be the ones that have an auto detector on common problem words that don't even allow the use at creation.  I would HAPPILY have changed the stupid tag if they informed me. It's such an unfair way to do it.

[Barbara]

So many of us have railed against the practice over the years, and not only hasn't it improved, but we've never been given an explanation. The algorithm must be using a database, a database that's flawed as evidenced by things such as I experienced about a year or so ago when quoting a Mother Goose rhyme containing a word that must have been altered by dirty-minded street children after Mother Goose's era. The product went directly into review, which isn't always attended to. After waiting about a week, I gave up and had to redo the rhyme, re-posting as a new product. Maybe Zazzle doesn't have the manpower to deal with all of it.

But there's that database the algorithm. Couldn't it be set up to send us an automated email naming the errant tag with the product placed in review and timing out after, say, a week so those who aren't here on a daily basis might spot it, correcting it and making it it public again? No work for Zazzle--after, of course, the algorithm has been redesigned. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe redesigning the algorithm would be a lot more work than I'm imagining.

Anyway, all the above is just me rambling through the things I've thought about. You have my complete sympathy because I know how upsetting it is.

Colorwash's Home

[sargesgiftshop]

 I got an email back letting me know that the Zazzle's content review team mailbox is full 😳
Wow, that is telling us something right there! 🤡

[sargesgiftshop]

Isn't it a shame they couldn't tell you why right away?
We've been asking for that for years (14 years for me). 😭