08/24/2020
What’s in a name?
Recently it’s come to my attention that my company name, Papillon Press, has been STOLEN by a company in the US. This “father daughter design team” also makes letterpress products, and to add to the confusion, uses the same CP & Co. press as we do. The owner of this company sent me a very unprofessional message on Instagram, attempting to leech information as to whether or not we were still in business (e.g so she can swoop in and take all my handles and domain names).
Although we have downsized the letterpress side of the business, Papillon Press is still very much alive and is not going anywhere. Joel and I spent a decade of our life developing the brand and the level of quality we put into our original designs and printed products. We poured a decade of blood, sweat, tears and not to mention money into the name Papillon Press. We came up with an original business name that meant something personal to us, created designs that were 100% unique in the stationery world, traveled to industry tradeshows in the US, craft shows, maker faires, etc. worked hours and hours to achieve the quality and originality associated with Papillon Press products.
The owner of the other Papillon Press ignores all that. She couldn’t care less. She only recently changed her company name to Papillon Press (in July 2020). A cursory ten-second Google search on her part would have revealed the name to have already been in existence, as well as several pages of Google content dedicated to OUR company, since we are well-established.
What does she hope to accomplish by co-opting our name? Your guess is as good as mine. She has not responded to my email, and continues to operate under the same name as us, going so far as to take out Google Ads for her website. Is she hoping to capitalize on our Papillon Press brand recognizability? Maybe, but our products are far different and superior to hers so I doubt that will happen. Does she want to take our buyers? Again, this is unlikely to happen since her products could never be mistaken for Papillon Press originals. Is it shameless profiteering? Maybe. Is it a case of “they’re in another country so it doesn’t matter”? Probably.
What is likely to happen is confusion, because this is what always happens when one company names itself after another. Confusion from buyers, store owners, suppliers, you name it. It’s also an incredibly stupid business move. There is no business course out there that would advocate: “go forth and thieve your company name from another” as a recipe for success.
It is NOT OKAY to steal another company’s name for your own fledgling business. It is unethical, unprofessional, dishonest and just plain wrong. We put so much work into building the original Papillon Press, and to have our identity stolen like this feels very personal. :(
Thanks to all our customers and supporters over the years!
Original Papillon Press products are still for sale on our Etsy store: www.etsy.com/shop/papillonpress
-Chantal
