Chapter 42 Copied Work
Joanna quickly left the office to take the call outside. "Mrs. Stone?"
Joanna thought Linda Stone was calling to persuade her to enter the competition again, so she said directly, "I really don't have time lately, and I haven't tried designing gowns in over three years."
"No, Joanna!" Linda interrupted urgently. "I've been busy with the Blue Ocean Design Contest recently. There's a submitted work that looks a lot like your style, but something seems off. I've already asked my assistant to compare it with your previous work, and I've cc'd you on the copy. Check your email and see if this work looks familiar to you."
Linda was suggesting that one of Joanna's previous or recent works might have been stolen.
Joanna frowned. She didn't remember designing anything recently, but she opened her email anyway.
The submitted gown was a strapless dress with butterfly elements adorning a light purple satin skirt. Lace adorned the strapless bodice, and the overall cinched-waist design with back tie closures looked increasingly familiar to Joanna.
"Mrs. Stone... what competition did you say you're in charge of?"
Linda repeated, "Blue Ocean Design Contest!"
Joanna felt like she'd heard it somewhere before, so she quickly looked it up and got some info.
Competitions at this level were usually open only to the top companies in the business. Originality really mattered. If someone just got inspired by her old designs, that didn't count as stealing.
But for some reason, Joanna had a bad feeling inside. She thought carefully for a long time and finally remembered where she'd heard about this competition.
She asked somewhat hesitantly, "Is this work... from Cooper Corporation? And the designer's name should be... Cynthia Dern?"
Linda was somewhat surprised.
Normally, entries were supposed to stay secret until the official announcement.
She was taking a risk by having Joanna confirm this, only because she thought it looked too much like her design style.
Also, to protect the privacy of contestants, she hadn't mentioned which company's work it was. She didn't expect Joanna to guess it.
"Joanna, do you know this company? Or did you work together with their designer to polish this piece?"
Thinking of Cynthia, Joanna quickly understood why the gown felt familiar.
The butterfly element represented her longing for freedom.
During the three years of marriage to Chris, she had tried to pick up her pen and left some sketches in the studio.
When she went back to the villa last time, she hadn't gone to the studio to get these works.
She had thought they were just discarded sketches that no one would find.
But she never expected them to become Cynthia's competition entry!
Joanna took a deep breath and said, "Mrs. Stone, I tried designing a sketch last year. The style of this gown was my simple design, but the fabric, color, and lace on the strapless bodice were added by someone else."
In other words, this work was almost entirely designed by Joanna!
Cynthia hadn't even modified it. She just added a few touches and submitted the work!
Designers all value their work highly. After figuring this out, Joanna felt very angry.
She knew Chris had brought Cynthia back to the villa, but who gave her permission to go through her sketches!
This kind of plagiarism was looked down upon by everyone in the industry!
Linda had her doubts at first, but she didn't think Cooper Corporation would actually rip off Joanna's design.
She was also angry. "I'll reject their work right now and stop accepting their submissions!"
Joanna spoke up, a bit unsure. "Mrs. Stone, let's not rush it. I need to go back and see if I can find my original sketches. If I can't, they'll just accuse your panel of being unfair."
She didn't want her teacher to be criticized because of her.
Calming down, Linda knew Joanna's approach was more rational, so she agreed.
After hanging up, Joanna endured the thoughts swirling in her head, waited until the end of work, and took a taxi to Hillside Villa.
Chris also came home relatively early today, and the two happened to meet at the entrance.
Chris's lips curved upward. He knew Joanna would come back to beg him!
As he lifted his chin, ready to watch Joanna's pleading attitude, Joanna rushed into the studio on the second floor of the villa with an anxious expression.
Chris didn't understand what she was doing, so he followed up.
“Joanna, have you finally decided how you're going to apologize this time? I'm running out of patience. You haven't acted like a wife for over a month!”
As he spoke, Chris irritably loosened his tie.
Joanna searched through the room, ignoring Chris's mood.
She carefully searched twice, checking both where she originally stored the sketches and where the maids had put them away, turning the studio inside out.
But the result was that none of those sketches were there anymore!
Joanna's chest heaved violently, getting angrier the more she thought about it. "Chris! When you brought Cynthia back before, did you see her touch anything in my studio?"
Chris frowned, dissatisfied with her attitude. "You can't even draw. They're just waste paper from random scribbling. Who would look at them? Joanna, have you forgotten that Cynthia is an excellent designer? Many of her works have won awards. She wouldn't even look at your worthless garbage!"
In the three years of marriage, when Joanna first wanted to set up the studio, Chris had been puzzled.
He didn't understand why Joanna, who studied medicine, needed a studio.
Later, after bringing Cynthia into the company, Chris understood.
Joanna just wanted to compete with Cynthia. Even as a stay-at-home wife, she needed to prove she was just as good. When Cynthia's design skills turned out to be impressive, Joanna couldn't accept it—so she set up her own studio. But in three years, she barely even used it. To Chris, it all just seemed childish.
Joanna never expected that the work she had poured her heart into designing would be dismissed as worthless garbage.
And these words came from the husband she once deeply loved.
Her chest tightened with pain. Eyes red, she said, "She wouldn't even look at it? Then why did she use my design for the competition?"
Chris's eyes went wide, then he let out a mocking laugh. "Joanna, are you serious right now? Why would Cynthia ever need your work? She spent weeks working with the company's design team to develop her entry. What, you think you can design gowns now? You probably can't even tell one fabric from another, let alone know the brands!"
Joanna didn't want to waste words with him. When she confirmed there were no sketches in the studio, she started thinking about how to explain this to Linda.
She couldn't let Cynthia enter the contest with her design. But without the sketches, how could she prove it was hers?
Chris looked mockingly at Joanna's defeated appearance and was about to say something more when Matthew's call came in.
"Mr. Cooper! You need to check online right now. Someone leaked that our entry for the Blue Ocean Design Contest might have copied a student of Linda Stone, the famous gown designer!"