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Would you sue?

Bigcat_hunter

Bigcat_hunter

New Member
Ok here is whats going on. I sell thousands of decals/stickers each year online. I design all of my own designs which are created in illustrator/photoshop. A few designs I sell are very popular. Every couple of months we discover someone selling counterfeit versions of our designs. We usually contact them and let them know that our designs are our's since we created them and that copyright belongs to us and that they cannot recreate them and sell our designs. Usually this works but if they refuse we hire our copyright lawyer to send them a letter that basically says we will sue unless they stop.

So far that has worked every time. Now I have this a-hole selling our design and he refuses to stop because we don't have a registered copyright for the said design. The copyright office refused to issue a register for this design because it only has words and a symbol which they said that is not enough artwork to register. My lawyer says it doesn't matter since I created the design and have proof that I did.

This guy stealing our artwork is really hurting my pocketbook and I am about to file a lawsuit and spend every dime that I have to to ream him a new one. This stuff really pisses me off, the amount of unscrupulous people I encounter is disgusting. Has anyone had any similar experiences? If so how did it go?
 
H

Hicalibersigns

New Member
Ok, going to give you my .02 worth. Not saying do it, not saying don't. Just make a good BUSINESS decision. Your lawyer is going to charge you plenty. So my experiences with these matters is that from a business / monetary perspective, if you lose you lose, and if you win you lose. Your mileage may vary, but I have seen this many times in my rather lengthy career. People get so wrapped up in "tearing someone a new one", that they forget to run their business and make a living. And who wins when this happens.....the lawyers.
 
HulkSmash

HulkSmash

New Member
First. 50% Revenue from 1 stolen image? Blame Economy, because the guy having your ONE image isn't the reason.

And hiring a lawyer is going to be awesome for your lawyer and not you. You're going to pay out more then you get in the whole thing. And if you win in court, which you most likely won't,
they can't pay you if they don't have the money. Been there done that..

You can pay for a cease and desist..from your lawyer... but that's about it.

can you link the image? I'm curious how simple it is.
 
Bigcat_hunter

Bigcat_hunter

New Member
It could be the economy but we make a lot of money off of a few designs. When one of these designs is being stolen we take a big hit. I will pm you a link.
 
Bigcat_hunter

Bigcat_hunter

New Member
Coloradosigns said:
First. 50% Revenue from 1 stolen image? Blame Economy, because the guy having your ONE image isn't the reason.

And hiring a lawyer is going to be awesome for your lawyer and not you. You're going to pay out more then you get in the whole thing. And if you win in court, which you most likely won't,
they can't pay you if they don't have the money. Been there done that..

You can pay for a cease and desist..from your lawyer... but that's about it.

can you link the image? I'm curious how simple it is.
Click to expand...


Curious why you think we wouldn't win. If you make counterfeit rolexes and rolex sues you I would think they would win.
 
WeekendDirectionals

WeekendDirectionals

New Member
Most designs on your website seem to fit your statement of text with a simple image, I would think you may be out of luck. Perhaps it's time to look at product diversification. BTW will the lawyer take it on a contingency basis?
 
JgS

JgS

New Member
When you're in court don't forget to pat your lawyer on the butt for good luck. This is going to be a tough one to prove. you can't sue for the design because you don't have a copyright. The only way to win is to prove that the other guy is deliberately profiting from your intellectual property without your permission. In order to do that you have to prove that his customer would have bought the sticker from you if he wasn't selling your design. Then you will only be awarded the profits from what you can prove. IMO not worth it.
 
Bigcat_hunter

Bigcat_hunter

New Member
I could care less about getting $$$ from him. I just want him to stop stealing and it looks like a lawsuit is my only option. It shouldn't matter how simple the design is. It was created by me and he doesn't deserve the profits of my labor. If it costs me ten or fifteen grand to the copyright lawyer to secure 100k of profit from that design next year it seems like a logical option for me. Who knows. I hate thieves.
 
Bigcat_hunter

Bigcat_hunter

New Member
JgS said:
When you're in court don't forget to pat your lawyer on the butt for good luck. This is going to be a tough one to prove. you can't sue for the design because you don't have a copyright. The only way to win is to prove that the other guy is deliberately profiting from your intellectual property without your permission. In order to do that you have to prove that his customer would have bought the sticker from you if he wasn't selling your design. Then you will only be awarded the profits from what you can prove. IMO not worth it.
Click to expand...

I may not have a registered copyright but that doesn't matter. Federal U.S. Copyright Law 17 U.S.C § 501. If you create it, it's yours.
 
MikePro

MikePro

New Member
creation/copyright/okie dokie....like McDonald's golden-arches? or a Subway logo? sounds a tad hippocritical to me, just sayin'.

if it were me, and my business, then I would just keep building a record for a more solid case down the line. count my blessings, keep growing my business, and forget about this loser.
 
ProWraps

ProWraps

New Member
if you make $100k/year off of a zombie hunting permit decal let me know how it turns out cause i got my stolen uncoprighted design ready to print across all 3 printers....
 
HulkSmash

HulkSmash

New Member
ProWraps said:
if you make $100k/year off of a zombie hunting permit decal let me know how it turns out cause i got my stolen uncoprighted design ready to print across all 3 printers....
Click to expand...

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL lololo!!
 
letterman7

letterman7

New Member
Unless the artwork is something special, you will have a hard time enforcing it. Just perusing your website, one of your firearm stickers is a simple block white copy on black. Anyone could come up with that. And I've seen multiple versions of some of your zombie hunting licenses here on the east coast... does that mean they also stole from you? If you're losing that much money on one decal design, it may be worth pursuing... if you can prove unequivocally it's yours.
 
Bigcat_hunter

Bigcat_hunter

New Member
letterman7 said:
Unless the artwork is something special, you will have a hard time enforcing it. Just perusing your website, one of your firearm stickers is a simple block white copy on black. Anyone could come up with that. And I've seen multiple versions of some of your zombie hunting licenses here on the east coast... does that mean they also stole from you? If you're losing that much money on one decal design, it may be worth pursuing... if you can prove unequivocally it's yours.
Click to expand...


Yep.
 
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