Being Guilty of Plagiarism

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism involves taking someone else's work or ideas and presenting them as your own. Although online, it violates Google's User Policy, it remains a significant problem.

In recent years, Google has become increasingly aware of the issue of plagiarism and has made every effort to combat it. Many who plagiarise content from online sources make every effort to pass it off as their own. 

However, a company that I stumbled upon purely by chance diddn't bother with that. They simply copied several information pages from my website and pasted them directly into theirs.

The only change they made was replacing 'Stone Mania' with 'Lumina Jewellery', and it didn't stop there. 

I'm fairly certain that Lumina Jewellery only came about after the business owners discovered Stone Mania.

I landed on their website in 2017 while searching for information on a particular stone. The style of their jewellery initially caught my attention, however, I quickly realised that everything about their website looked strangely familiar.

At the top of their homepage, there were links to an 'Order & Returns Policy,' a 'Shipping Policy,' a 'Terms & Conditions' page, and another called 'Our Photos.' The names of the pages and the position of the links were exactly the same as on my website.

This wasn’t a predesigned e-commerce platform like Shopify or Wix; this website had been built from scratch.

After following each link, I found myself reading pages of information that I had written for the Stone Mania website some years earlier. They had even kept the internal links that I built that connected to other pages on my website, but the destination had obviously been changed to different pages on the Lumina Jewellery website.

Astonishingly, this company was using the Terms and Conditions and Order and Returns Policy that I had written for my business. Other than changing the company name, the content was exactly as I had written it.

The more I explored their website, the more shocked I became. Lumina Jewellery had copied the design of my site, the way my products were presented and even replicated photos I had taken while abroad on buying trips.

In addition to trading online through their website, they also did markets and retail events, just as I did. From their photos, I could see their retail stand was set up almost exactly like mine. Even their display equipment was virtually identical. 

Husband and wife team Sara and Picky Saund set up Lumina Jewellery in 2008. Two years later, in 2010, they launched their website.

In an article on their homepage about the company, Sara says, "Although this site acts mainly as a portfolio of our work we are more than happy to do mail order and can process payments over the phone."

By 2014, thanks to Stone Mania, they had a fully functional website with a completely new look.

Explaining how they came to set up Lumina Jewellery, Sara writes, "It was a very deliberate lifestyle choice for us. What we wanted was a way to work together which would allow us to use our brains and our creativity and also allow us to spend time together as a family. Neither of us have any formal training in jewellery design but we were both drawn to working with stones."

However, the truth was really quite different. Instead of using their "brains and creativity" to create something original, they plagiarized everything from Stone Mania.

Looking back, I believe they saw me trading at one of the many markets or regional retail shows that I did at that time, and liking what they saw, went on to set up Lumina Jewellery.

Like most businesses, I was aware of my competitors and was familiar with the style of their jewellery. Until discovering Lumina Jewellery, I had never seen another company whose jewellery was so similar to mine.

Everything in my collection was handcrafted by a small team of local artisans in Jaipur, India. My pieces were predominantly large, chunky gemstone rings and pendants.

The similarity in the style of jewellery sold by Lumina Jewellery, including how and where it was made, the variety of gemstones, and their focus on rings and pendants, was more than just a coincidence.


On their website, Sara explained that during regular trips to Jaipur, each gemstone was carefully chosen before making each ring or pendant. She mentioned they worked closely with local artisans and that each piece was handmade. The article included photographs of them selecting stones and of pendants being made.

Aside from the name Lumina Jewellery and a few other minor details, I could have been reading about my own business. This was exactly how I operated Stone Mania and had been doing so since setting the company up in 2002.

Using the internet archive service Wayback Machine, I was able to pinpoint fairly accurately when the plagiarism began. The copied pages from my website first appeared on the Lumina Jewellery site in late 2014. By March 2015, I had updated four of the pages, but the text on their website still reflected the original versions.

My Terms & Conditions, Shipping Policy, and Order & Returns Policy were detailed and specific to Stone Mania. They were clearly perfect for what Sara and Picky Saund needed for their newly created business.

The only changes made to the Shipping Policy were the company name and some minor details towards the bottom of the page. They even retained a line that said, "Jewellery will be sent in a stylish gift pouch."

I wonder if they ever bought anything from Stone Mania to see what my gift pouches were like. Maybe they even bought the same pouches while in India. Picky Saund is of Indian heritage, and photos on their website showed them in different situations while in India.  

The only plagiarised page Sara altered was the one explaining how I took my photos. Bear in mind this was 2014, so the quality of photographs taken on a cameraphone was not good enough for use on a website. Furthermore, their product photos were far too large to have been taken on a phone.

This first screenshot is from my website, and the second is from Lumina Jewellery.

Regarding the design of their website, there were far too many similarities for it to be just another coincidence. In May 2015, my website was updated, but the design they had copied was the previous version. This also enabled me to pinpoint quite accurately when the plagiarism began.

The banner at the top of their website, which featured photos of their jewellery on a rotating loop, was the same as on my website, the only difference was that mine was on a white background. Their company name, logo, search field, shopping cart and company tagline were all in exactly the same positions as on my site. The thin grey-coloured bar was identical.  

Their choice of colours was also uncannily similar to what I used for Stone Mania. Their logo had clearly been designed for them and unsurprisingly, featured an octagon-like shape.

When creating a design for a website, a graphic designer needs something to work from, however, their designer clearly lacked the skills to create something unique.

Even their tagline, “The natural beauty of gemstones combined with creative use of silver to breathtaking effect”, was similar to mine, which at the time was, "Transforming magnificent gemstones into breathtaking pieces of jewellery.”

The rings on their website were organised by size and alphabetical order by gemstone, the same as on my website. They had a section called 'Stone Directory', but instead of writing about each gemstone individually as I did in my 'Gemstone Directory', there was just a long list of gemstone names.

The audacity of these two individuals was unbelievable. Creating a website takes time, money, and effort, and since launching the online side of my business in 2002, I have invested a significant amount of all three.

These two lazy people clearly believe whatever they see online is theirs for the taking.

Just when I thought I'd seen everything, I came across a photo of their trade stand at a regional retail event, and finally, it hit me, I knew exactly who they were.

I had seen their stand at a few fairs that I attended as a visitor. I had looked closely at their jewellery because it was so similar to my own.

The first time I saw Lumina Jewellery was at a travelling market that visited St Albans. I saw them again at the Rock n Gem show at Kempton Park Racecourse and finally at Winchester Cathedral Christmas Market. Needless to say, I traded for many years in all three locations but now only trade online.

During my visit to the Winchester Christmas Market, while looking at the Lumina Jewellery trade stand, I spoke to Picky Saund. I mentioned that I had a business called Stone Mania and that the style of my jewellery was very similar to his.

I asked if it was made in Jaipur, India, and he confirmed that it was. Despite no other customers being present, he was aloof and unfriendly, and now I understand why. 

Where Will it End?

Wanting to find out more about Lumina Jewellery, I turned to Facebook and found this photo. I have erased their faces for privacy.

If you're wondering why photos of loose cabochons is relevant, you'll see when you look at the next photo, which was taken by me while buying stones for Stone Mania in Jaipur.

I used to have many photos like this on my website and on social media. Each time I bought cabochons, I took a photograph like this.

This was now getting beyond a joke, but there was still more to come.

Take a look at the next couple of photos. The first is also from the Facebook page of Lumina Jewellery. I'm assuming it's them and their supplier in India choosing labradorite. 

What follows is not another photo of them choosing labradorite for their collection but a photo that I took with my supplier in India.

This photo has been on my website for several years (it's here). The original which is here was taken on 6th January 2007. Lumina Jewellery began trading in 2008.

This was more than plagiarism, it was downright freaky!

From another photo of their retail stand at a regional show, I noticed how similar their setup was to mine.

This next photo is from one of the very first regional shows that I did in 2002. The next photo is Lumina Jewellery at the Royal Berkshire Show many years later. 

In 2007 I had new display boards made. This photo, taken at the Winchester Christmas market, was the year before Lumina Jewellery began trading.

Copyright Infringement Notice Served

By this point, I had seen more than enough and filed a copyright infringement notice with Google. I then sent an email to Lumina Jewellery.

They were neither brave nor courteous enough to reply, but the plagiarised pages disappeared from their website within minutes of receiving the email.

Sara Saund believed that deleting the pages would remove any trace of them. She's obviously not familiar with an internet archive service. Websites like Wayback Machine enable you to go back in time to see how a page once looked.

The plagiarised pages that she deleted will remain available to whoever wants to view them for many years. I'm still able to view pages from my original website from 2002, even though that site is long gone.

Sara deleted the plagiarised pages on 17th April 2017. This next screenshot was taken eight months later, in December 2017, from Wayback Machine.

When I updated this article in 2022, I added a link to the original plagiarised 'Order and Returns Policy' on the Lumina Jewellery website. Here it is, but please be patient, being an archived page, it may load slowly.

The best part about this is that she even included a copyright notice on her website! The sheer audacity defies belief. 

Protect Your Business from Plagiarism

This article demonstrates that, although rare, there are people out there ready and willing to plagiarise other people's work.

Worse still, another business which at that time, sold exactly the same products and was less than fifty miles away.

I genuinely find the extent of this plagiarism strange and unsettling. It almost felt as if they were stalking me. 

When most people set up a business, they strive to create something unique, exciting, and original. However, that wasn't the case with the owners of Lumina Jewellery.

Despite stealing everything from Stone Mania, they had the audacity to write on the home page of their website: "It was a very deliberate lifestyle choice for us. What we wanted was a way to work together which would allow us to use our brains and our creativity."

Stone Mania has come a very long way since the company was established in 2002. Everything I've achieved comes from years of hard work, dedication, and an unwavering desire to succeed. As this article shows, Lumina Jewellery had a totally different mentality.

This next screenshot, which comes from the 'reviews' section of their Google business listing, sums them up perfectly. If you're going to leave a fake review for your own business, at least have the common sense to use a different name!

The final screenshot in this article is from Lumina Jewellery's original website, which can be accessed via Wayback Machine. It states that they were looking to collaborate and were drawn to working with stones.

I'll always wonder whether the idea of working with stones came about before or after they discovered Stone Mania.

My advice to these two people is instead of plagiarising other people's ideas and hard work, use your "brains and creativity" and come up with something unique of your own.