Copycats

Vex Willems

I work for a manufacturing company and many of our own products have been copied over the years, not a lot you can do about it.

I noticed today an ad in a paper for a product very similar to one of ours, again little we can do as the patent is long gone.

However, when I went to check out their website and see if I could get any information on their version. I didn't find anything on their one but did find a picture of our one, not only that but our own picture we use for promotional.

Now that gives us something to go on. What do you think we should do? Send bill for unauthorised use of photo?

mneylon

If it's your photo that they're using without permission you could pursue them. I'm not sure if sending a bill is the best way - how much is this worth to you?

Mrs OBumble

Your lawyer could send a letter threatening to sue for unauthorised use of copyright material. Talk to them about what standard of proof they would want you to have.

antoinolachtnai

As a first step, I would order one of these products and find out what these guys are at. You really need to understand what they are doing and how they are doing it (quality of manufacturing, quality of service, costs, etc.). I would advise doing that in advance of commencing any sort of litigation.

Duckett

I agree with antoinolachtnai - box clever and figure out what they are about before jumping to action

milli milli

I work in the design business and when this kind of thing happens, you send the person a Cease & Desist letter.

If it's a small operation, then it usually scares them into stopping. Funnily enough, the bigger the operation (up to multinational level) the more they ignore this and the bigger the brass neck on them.

Check this out for templates
http://thompsonhall.com/cease-desist-letter-template-example-sample-forms/

Vex Willems

Thanks for the responses. Only getting back to this now. I'm not sure it would even be worth doing a Cease and Desist.

The product appears to be an exact copy only with a different finish. Their brochure has their own images. My guess is they used it to see if there was any interest in the product and may have forgotten about it.

Was thinking of just posting a screen cap to our Facebook page and leave it at that.

dbran

milli milli wrote: »

I work in the design business and when this kind of thing happens, you send the person a Cease & Desist letter.

If it's a small operation, then it usually scares them into stopping. Funnily enough, the bigger the operation (up to multinational level) the more they ignore this and the bigger the brass neck on them.

Check this out for templates
http://thompsonhall.com/cease-desist-letter-template-example-sample-forms/

Not sure what relevance posting a link to a lawyer in Minneapolis has to a legal situation anywhere else in the world other then Minneapolis :rolleyes:

dbran

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

I'd be looking down the line of common law legislation, under passing off. Essentially by using an image of your item and copying your product (if this is indeed the case) you can establish that they passing off and would be entitled to take them to court for the full amount of sales that they have generated from their marketing of this product and damages. Chances are they would settle out of court, I've experienced this scenario several times before. Obviously check that they can afford to pay before marching them through the courts.

*I'm not a lawyer and don't pretend to be one on the internet. The above is opinion and as such I recommend to Seek qualified professional advice.*