[Mattie7777]

Hey everyone, hope your all alrite!

I was searching through the net this morning and have come across an imposter who has stolen a piece of my work and is selling it off as one of his own! I have emailed the guy and he responded saying he new he took it off the internet and has asked for my permission to put it back on the website with my name on...the cheek! this guy wants to make money out of my work!

Right im only a student so I know i probably cant do much but im quite angry and upset that people can get away with this, I just hope he hasnt made any money!

He has taken it off the website now but is still asking for permission to use it.

Has this happened to you before? What can and should I do?


On happier notes I just finished an interview with a design company and have been given 2 weeks work experience! Very excited :)


Thanks. Matt

[Boss Hog]

If he's removed it at your request then there isn't really much that you can do about it, I'm sure you could take it further if he has made money out of selling your design but is it really worth the aggro?

Tell him not to use it again, or, come to a deal where he pays you to use it, either a lump sum or % of sale.

Congrats on the work experience

[shazi]

Hey this is a good point tho...is there a way to protect others copying our work? Surely no-one really goes to the trouble of copyrighting everything? And if you do - then how?

[Boss Hog]

Originally Posted by shazi

Hey this is a good point tho...is there a way to protect others copying our work? Surely no-one really goes to the trouble of copyrighting everything? And if you do - then how?

Take a read here....

Ownership issue

Hope that helps

[Mattie7777]

I have just spoke to a neighbour of mine who has told me if you put your work onto a cd and send it in the post to yourself but dont open it, this is a way of copyright and no-one can argue with you if it isnt opened as it will have the original date.

So everyone start sending their work to themselves!

[dot design]

The cheek a! I found a blog post on the website that was linking back to me. Turned out this guy had copied and pasted one of my posts and had changed the odd word (badly) then posted the whole thing as his own. Its fine to quote or link through but he'd listed the whole post and only seemed to have linked to me by accident.

Anyway, I posted a comment below and he obviously wasn't moderating as I posted the following.. "hey great post, shame its mine with the odd word changed, I've got an idea why don't you write your own blog posts instead of ripping off mine"

He had taken the post down by the following day!

[Mattie7777]

I cannot belive people do this thinking they get away with it!
I argued with this guy about the copyright of my work for 3 days and he was begging me to use it, he even asked if he bought a shirt off himself with my design and then produced then as he had "bought" one is that ok?
I told him he could pay me for the work and he offered me $5!
Some people do not understand!

[bigdave]

Basicly, as the original creator you explicitly own the copyright to it. Dont let him offer you a royalty fee, tell him how much you want! Assuming he is printing your design on a t-shirt and selling it for $20, he's going to be making at least $10 form each sale. depending on the size of his operation he could be selling upwards of 10 a week so thats $100 a week off your back! if you think $5 is enough for all your hard work then fine but I would but in a demand for closer to $600.

[Mattie7777]

Thanks for your reply!
After a few days of arguments the guy has decided to give in and has taken my work off his site and is no longer selling it!
I just hope this doesn't happen again.

I shall take it as a compliment that he thought my work would sell!

[bigdave]

A compliment would have been contacting you and commisioning a series of designs to sell. He's simply tried to take the piss and leech off others! What is his website? It may be viewd as a bit unethical to name and shame but if this bloke is stealing designers work I think we should be able to find out who else is a victim.