Corporate Retailer Plagiarizes Independent Designer

I wasn't sure if or where this sort of phenomenon has been discussed on ILX before, but this has just happened to a local designer (and friend-of-a-friend) and I'm doing what I can to spread the word. As an independent artist selling self-made merchandise, I'm not sure that pursuing a case of copyright infringement is a viable option.

Here's the deal.

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/312818_10151181771998002_1649989687_n.jpg

At right, a sweater made by RI-based designer Joseph Aaron Segal. At left, a sweater being sold by retailer LF Stores.

no justice, no peace

this actually happened to WWC a couple of years ago.

once she found out, she contacted the perps and actually got paid.

^^^ yeah was gonna say

i don't really see the similarity. clearly the sweater on the right is many shades darker.

also, number of cats is different ..

we had a really long thread about this somewhere, didn't we? not wcc's specific thing. in general. maybe i'm misremembering.

yeah, i thought so too, but i couldn't remember the title or the proper search terms to find it

urban outfitters does this all the time right?

It was a thread that got moved to its own secret board for the sake of privacy.

And, yeah, this is bullshit and should be pursued hardcore. And if it comes down to it, dude should start his own legal defense fund that I'm sure people would be happy to contribute to.

yeah urban outfitters is notorious for lifting ideas

i guess i can comprehend, on some level -- independent designers don't have the resources or the clout to push back when their ideas are stolen, so why not cherry pick appealing ideas and copy them outright because, well, what are they gonna do about it?

but that's "the way the world works" and it's still really shitty and upsetting when this happens, especially to someone you know, who is being deprived the rewards of their work

Yeah, I mean, really...what's to stop corporations with millions or billions of dollars and their own legal teams from just lifting whatever IP they want from "little people" and selling it as their own? People have to be willing to go through the hassle of fighting it and not many are. I guess molotovs are a viable alternative.

Big company rips off small folk. No, don’t think I've heard that before.

thieving fucking robber cheat assholes

I dunno if this would fly legally but I've always dreamed of having a product with a licensing agreement that explicitly allowed me to use unlimited copies of your intellectual property by your even having viewed mine. So for example if you were ripped off by Urban Outfitters, that license would allow you to in turn release knock off goods of everything in the Urban Outfitter's catalog.

This site tracks stuff like that:

http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3/

good link!

Liking the idea Nunez.

Yeah, thanks for that link! Had this happen to a friend of mine on a smaller scale when someone from Bulgaria (I think?) started selling rip-offs of her prints on Etsy. Good to know there's a public forum for shaming the shit out of these people.

Oh, this sucks. Also, EA, I'm pretty sure one of my friends is good friends with that designer guy and used to model his sweaters for his etsy listings.

yea, i don't really know the designer myself, but one of my friends owns a boutique that sells his stuff, and i have other friends who are close with him. but yea, the creative community is pretty tight in PVD,