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It seems like one of the common themes on the Forum, comes from members who are worried about having their designs ripped-off. Is this really a wide spread problem or not? Put another way, who's out there ripping-off designs, and what can you do about it if it happens to you? Has anyone been hit by a design thief?
Fluid is correct...and if someone does rip it off...you now are faced with problem of getting an attorney, filing action...assuming you have your item copyright or trademark and then decide if it is worth it...as the bad guy will no doubt be across the country or across the globe... Unless you have megabucks there is not much you can do. The 'theft' is normally considered a civil matter..not criminal and very few jurisdictions are willing and equipped to handle such matters. So I guess the bottom line is that you are just on your own.
I don't believe so, I think people are just paranoid (and often with an unhealthy serving of self-importance). I mean sure, it happens, but mostly to larger brands.
There's probably about a 200:1 ratio of "oh noes! I'm going to be ripped off!!!" to "Someone copied my designs, what do I do now?" posts here.
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Originally Posted by TripleT
who's out there ripping-off designs
Bootleggers out for a quick buck, kids who spent the 90s pirating mp3's and don't have much of a concept of intellectual property theft (but will scream bloody murder the day someone copies them), soulless corporations... the usual fun bunch in the corner at parties.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TripleT
and what can you do about it if it happens to you?
Cry, hide under the bed, sue the crap out of them, or shrug it off as you release the new hot thing (to name a selection).
There's probably about a 200:1 ratio of "oh noes! I'm going to be ripped off!!!" to "Someone copied my designs, what do I do now?" posts here.
That still works out to an awful lot of worry. And for those who think they have been ripped, an awful lot of frustration. But so far as the courts are concerned, I agree with the posts above - forget it.
Well I guess this is a good time to quote my grandfather who always said "you can either worry about or look forward to, either way whatever is meant to happen will happen"
If someone is going to rip off one of your designs, you can either waste time getting a lawyer and trying to prove it or not worry about it, move on and concentrate on improving SEO so that buyers view your site first and purchases it from you. I guess you can look at the positive side, if someone ripped you off, your design must be a good one.
Today I was researching other t-shirt sites to get some template ideas for my new site that I am building and I saw the same design on 5 different sites. Sure the colors were changed but one of those sites had to be the first to design it.
I think that if your design it unique and stands out then there will be less chance of it getting ripped off. Most of the ones being ripped off are common quotes or slogans like " My pen is huge" (which was on 3 sites) or " You look better on myspace" ( which was on 5 sites) because it is easier to get away with since many sites have the design.
For what its worth, my advice is spend your energy designing unique shirts and not worry about those who are not talented enough to design their own.
__________________ Script Tees "Just making conversation"
for those of you doing text only slogan type stuff it's probably hard not to get ripped, you come up with something witty or funny, they change that font and BAM! the've designed a shirt. seeing some sites that sell that type of stuff, i bet they have a hard time keeping fresh, original ideas.
Also sometimes its just possible for 2 people to have a really similar idea without even knowing that idea pre-existed! There's so many people with so many ideas flying around that sometimes they collide!
Just go to your mall and look around...you really dont think all those tees that look exactly alike in every store are origonal conceptions start to finish.
agree. Also how many squirrel nuts, Big (male) chicken/rooster, etc. shirts have you seen. Seems every text shirt out there has multiple versions.
Exactly. In terms of straightforward funny shirts, you can pretty much guarantee that someone's done basically every reasonably simple gag you can think of. In such cases, I think it's best just to to try and make the design your own and give a little more graphically than the text only shirts.
Also sometimes its just possible for 2 people to have a really similar idea without even knowing that idea pre-existed! There's so many people with so many ideas flying around that sometimes they collide!
I agree, I came up with a few myself and then when I went around researching other sites I came accross the same thing (modified of coarse) I was thinking of. It's a bit of a dissapointement when that type of thing happens though, you don't want to take something that's already been done which it seems damn near everything has already been thought up of or done.
I have had people rip off my ideas...I've not bothered with them since I don't think there's much I can do about them redoing an idea or a slogan I came up with. However...I've also had people reproduce my concert posters on shirts and on paper and as soon as I became aware of that I sent them a cease and desist email and a physical letter if I could get an address. I copyright all my art and try to protect it if I can. But that's artwork, not an idea.
You ripped-off my design! 
