“Caring” that someone has ripped off your ideas costs money, lots of
it. It is up to you to financially defend your designs in court. If
you win, great, you could probably recoupe your court costs as part
of the judgement. If you lose, well…then your out even more money
and the design is still stolen. Double edged sword, if you ask me. In
my opinion, if you put something out there into the great beyond we
call the world, it ceases to belong to you. Everything is recycled
anyway. I worked for a manufacturer in NYC who regularly tore pages
out of magazines and gave them to his factory rep from China
saying,“Make me one of these.” This is especially true for the
fashion industry where the past is recycled on a regular basis. The
present is as well. A design walks down the runway in Paris and
eventually finds its way into your local retailer in a dumbed down,
cost effective manner. My advice is, if you have lots of money than
fight tooth and nail to preserve your original idea if it means that
much to you. If you are like me, and don’t have the money to help a
lawyer buy that third sports car, or pay off his beach house, then
say,“That’s the way of it,” and let it go. Who really benefits the
most from lawsuits anyway? Hmmm…I guess you can figure out what I
would say to that.
Augest Derenthal
Cry Baby Designs