PDA

View Full Version : Copyright and how do they get away with it?



Karen.
11-11-2009, 06:20 PM
A stall has been set up in the centre of our very busy shopping centre today. Now the centre is usually very expensive and also very fussy about what they will have in there. This stall today has appeared selling coasters. The quality of the print on most of them is awful, faded parts to the prints and some images are terrible quality - the colour on some is completely off as well. Now he is selling loads of football club badges on coasters, film, tv and music stars, car and bike logos and just about every other breech of copyright you can think of. I was seriously thinking of reporting him tbh.
One things that drives me mad is breaking copyright, why should they be allowed to get away with it? There are a several well known logos (mainly car and bike related) that I own a license to print and if I see them on there then I will have absolutely no hesitation in reporting him to the people I work for with these images and he will definitely find himself with a £50k fine, as one of these companies in particular are very hot on copyright

JSR
11-11-2009, 06:37 PM
Unfortunately, unless he is reported, nothing will happen. We can only hope that he paid more for his stall than he made in profit given his poor quality products.

People do this kind of thing for one reason only - they're selfish. They rip-off others because they don't have a creative bone in their bodies and try to make a fast buck.

I don't infringe copyright for one very simple reason - I wouldn't want anything of mine ripping off, so I don't rip-off something of anyone else's. It's not the likelihood of being caught, or big fines, or summons, or legalities that stops me doing it. It's just the old adage - do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

People who purposefully, and with all knowledge and forethought, infringe someone else's intellectual property are the scum of the Earth. Right down there with nefarious hackers, thieves and pirates.

Karen.
11-11-2009, 06:53 PM
I know what you mean. The two reasons I will not do it are: because I wouldn't want it doen to me and also because I think it look awful on your business. I would rather hold my head high and known that I am acting legally and as a business that can be trusted, not some illegal 'dodgy' dealer. With me it is also not the fear of being caught that stops me doing it and I turn business away almost everyday due to being asked to print items that we or they do not hold the copyright to.

Unfortunately this particular stall today appeared o be selling loads at £1.99 each or 4 for £6.

jennywren
11-11-2009, 07:38 PM
I pay for a license and if there was a conflit with what I pay for and in the same town I would haved had no quelms in reporting them, to be honest if there was not a conflit I would not bother, thats sounds harsh but I have to look after what effects me, it your living and I would have reported him.

Paul
11-11-2009, 08:09 PM
hmm... this subiect is ery close to me lately :(
this guy sells websites layout and include my templates for mugs :( Merseymugs.co.uk and I have a proof here http://www.mugsnprints.co.uk/
this guy never bought them of me :(

GoldRapt
11-11-2009, 08:41 PM
Im lost here Paul,
I see loads of mug templates all over the web that match both sites.
How do you know which is yours please? How would I know that either site had copyright permission if I bought say a jonnie depp mug?

As for Karens problem....I apologise Karen but you are wrong, as a copyright purchaser you should read the small print whereby it should state that you have a DUTY to report copyright theft to FACT and the copyright owner.
Purely because it is their job to decide if it is legal not yours, if the stall holder is legit they will tell you its ok and you could sleep easy.
Apologies if anyone takes this any other way than "best meant".

Paul
11-11-2009, 09:28 PM
how do I know? becose I have record os sold templates plus I contacted sellers as somone else... and they both propose me to sell MY OWN templates! one of them tryed to charge me more then I charge for them!

GoldRapt
11-11-2009, 09:49 PM
Paul,
I wrote how would "I" know.
How are you protecting your original ideas?
When you sold your templates to this person did yu make it plain as to what they could be used for?
If your T&C's dont state that yout templates are not for resale then your T&C's need tightening up to protect your interests.
Have you written to these people via snail mail to complain?

jennywren
11-11-2009, 09:52 PM
None of the big football teams give anybody the right to use their images, (only brand names) none of the big clubs at all, I was ask to wholesale to someone that did football stuff. if I do do his mugs coaster,ect the answer was no but he did find someone else to do it, I know that you do your own design and use the red and blues ect and not say Arsenal but call them gooners ect, but when ever I see football clubs I know it been used unlicense, and they cannot chase everybody and thats how a lot of people get away with and as GoldRapt say we have a duty but we would always be on the phone, but if its what for I'm license what I phone and leave it up them. The rest is not on my list otherwise the phone bill would be huge as its everywhere

Stitch Up
11-11-2009, 10:07 PM
Copyright rip-offs or whatever you want to call it is here to stay, just take a quick browse around Ebay.

Yes, it's very annoying if someone rips-off your designs and, unless you've got deep pockets and lots of time to pursue litigation, after you've sent warning letters etc, I'd forget it.

I pursued a case on 'principle' once. I always remember my solicitor telling me 'principles cost money'. He was right, I won the case, it cost me a lot of money and I didn't get a penny back.


My advice, spend your time making money not chasing principles.

Paul
11-11-2009, 10:24 PM
Paul,
I wrote how would "I" know.
How are you protecting your original ideas?
When you sold your templates to this person did yu make it plain as to what they could be used for?
If your T&C's dont state that yout templates are not for resale then your T&C's need tightening up to protect your interests.
Have you written to these people via snail mail to complain?

so is that mean I can a book and photocopy it ion million copys and sell as my?
copyrights stay with the owner for ever! it does not mater I state that in my licence or not. if you know this picture is not yours so you can not claim as your property and start asking for money for it!
this bloke did.

this is whats on his web site under my templates collection:
Welcome to our brand new Wedding mug section! As im sure you will agree, our design team really have done us proud!

and this is email I recieved from him after I asked if psd templates (my own) r included:

Hi There,
Yes all included, the photoshop ones took me weeks to do! the photoshop templates belong to me and the others, i got from the public domain so you dont need any licence. everything you need is included to get your mug business of the ground
my @!*%# ! arsenal badge etc as public domain...
I dont think there is excuse...

jennywren
11-11-2009, 10:44 PM
I've brought some of Pauls templates and the were fairly priced but I would still not give them to anybody because if they want them they can go and buy them of him, plus you can claim some of it back on your tax returns. We can go round in circles about copyright but it does go on all time and if you've brought the license you can go to them and they deal with it, on your own doorsteps thats just bloody cheeky but I expect it eats at you but there will always be somebody that will do it. :x

castlegategiftcreations
11-11-2009, 10:48 PM
These guys have set up various websites - we bought a website off them a couple of years back - at the time they were called "Mugs by McCarthy" and claimed that they were really big in the Merseyside area and they had dealt with programmes such as Loose Women and Hollyoaks. We were new to sublimation and didn't really have a clue about websites etc so when we spotted this guy selling his website we thought "why not".

The guy was selling up due to him not having enough time to run it anymore and also due to his wife being ill or something. We were told that he would change all information over to our company name and it would be up and running very quickly.

Yeah right - we only paid £60 for it but we are still waiting for him to change everything into our name!!! I can't even remember how to log into the site now it has been so long.

Not long after we bought it he sent us some disks with all images on it - he also said that he got from a public domain so didn't need a licence - meaning we could use all filmstar, celebrities, football badges, cars etc without having to worry about copyright!!!

Needless to say we have never used these images and now have a proper website almost finished.

For anyone thinking of using these guys - one word of warning - "DON'T".

Paul with regards to your templates - we bought from you a disk with hundreds of them on - a couple of quick questions for you -

1 - do we have permission to put them on our website (not to sell them on but to let people know they can have a background image on there mug). That's if I could figure out how to get them on there so they are noticed.

2 - you did say some time ago that you were hoping to put together a catalogue with all images - have you ever managed to do this. I have printed out about 100 of them but we have so many and it is very time consuming.

Paul
11-11-2009, 11:00 PM
Julie anne! I new iremeber your name :) it was you asking me about catalogue. I had them done but dont know where they r. I will do this again for you.
Reards to your question.
Yes you can publish them on your web site. Thats why you brought them for. you can show them off. No problem. Only resselin is not allowed.

Thank you
Paul

GoldRapt
11-11-2009, 11:07 PM
.
Yes you can publish them on your web site. Thats why you brought them for. you can show them off. No problem. Only resselin is not allowed.

Thank you
Paul

So maybe you need to sell your stuff off with a re-seller licence Paul.

JSR
12-11-2009, 12:43 PM
Yes you can publish them on your web site. Thats why you brought them for. you can show them off. No problem. Only resselin is not allowed.

Thank you
Paul
Hi Paul

I've just been browsing your site (I'm interested in some Christmas-themed templates) and I noticed some of your templates use the Superman-S logo (the diamond shield with the S) in the corner - re: http://www.frames4photoshop.info/duze/5.jpg (5th row up from the bottom). Isn't that logo a trademark of DC Comics or Warner?

Where do we stand with using that template? Are we likely to have DC/WB legal bods banging down our doors if we sold mugs with that logo on?

If you have license to use/sell that logo on a template and someone else then starts selling your templates without that license, then you could get DC/WB to come down on them like a ton of bricks - and they would. History is replete with examples of people trying to use that logo, and variants of it, only to be sued to the wall.

Thanks for any info.

J

Paul
12-11-2009, 01:32 PM
Hi jsr. i dont know about that one. I dont have licence for it. But i have resale licence from my artist. He own all licences needed.

Jsr. You say if i redraw diamond and put "p" inside as "paul" would that be braking copyright? On this template is not superman picture. Only drawed little boy dressed as a super hero. I am sure this is legal.

Regards to christmas ones just let me know what ones you like.

JSR
12-11-2009, 01:50 PM
Hi jsr. i dont know about that one. I dont have licence for it. But i have resale licence from my artist. He own all licences needed.

Jsr. You say if i redraw diamond and put "p" inside as "paul" would that be braking copyright? On this template is not superman picture. Only drawed little boy dressed as a super hero. I am sure this is legal.

Regards to christmas ones just let me know what ones you like.
Hi Paul

I just noticed the logo with the S in it at the top-left - which is the Superman S-logo. I'm not sure of the legalities of a figure flying through the logo like in the bottom right. I'm no legal person, so I don't know how far the logo needs to be modified until it's "legal" - such as putting 'P' in the middle of it (my gut instinct is that they wouldn't like it, but I don't know). I know they protect the word "Superman" in the style of the 3D text and if you were to use the same style for "Paul's Frames", they would complain about that.

A trademark is different to copyright, Copyright is the word, trademark is an identifying mark (a style or design that's identifiable to the brand). Google "Superman copyright" or "Superman trademark" and you'll find plenty about the legal minefield of who owns what and who can do what with what etc. I wouldn't want to risk it, myself, because there's no black & white answer.

However, if your artist does have permission to let us use the shield logo on that template, then I'm sure it would be a very popular mug.

Re: Christmas ones. I'm pondering trying out some of your frames on mugs via my website. For now, I don't want to be buying the whole lot because I'd never get them all on the website :lol: . But a couple of Christmas ones would be worth a go to see how it works - Santa, a starring night, candles, that kind of thing. The only Christmas ones I've found on your website are in the £34.99 set and I don't think I'm ready for that kind of outlay in these early stages.

Do you do a "Christmas pack" of half-a-dozen or so designs for a few quid?

Thanks
J

Paul
12-11-2009, 01:59 PM
Well... Is hard one... Coz i dont realy know :( just in case i will delate this logo layer... Iam not a thief so don want any troubles....


And i can do little package with santa for you :) i think it will be about 15 maybe 20 designes...

JSR
12-11-2009, 02:05 PM
Well... Is hard one... Coz i dont realy know :( just in case i will delate this logo layer... Iam not a thief so don want any troubles....
I didn't mean to cause any trouble. I just noticed it and thought "that looks good", but then my conscience kicked in and said "is that legal?" I'm sure we'd all be richer people if we didn't have a conscience. ;)


And i can do little package with santa for you :) i think it will be about 15 maybe 20 designes...
Sounds great to me.

Paul
12-11-2009, 04:19 PM
.
Yes you can publish them on your web site. Thats why you brought them for. you can show them off. No problem. Only resselin is not allowed.

Thank you
Paul

So maybe you need to sell your stuff off with a re-seller licence Paul.
yes!!! fantastic idea! then go on ebay and wach people sell for £1

I think microsoft should do this same with windows. sell it with resell righs...

jennywren
12-11-2009, 07:01 PM
The bad bear taste is copyright, I know someone thats sell those, that you could report him for, thats was a quick look, Bad bears would proscute, I'd trawl through it, and see what else you spot if they changed their name is a soild guess that they've been closed down before. But good website

castlegategiftcreations
13-11-2009, 03:50 PM
Thanks Paul - our customers love your templates so it will be great to be able to show them off in a catalogue.

GoonerGary
04-07-2010, 03:10 AM
I pursued a case on 'principle' once. I always remember my solicitor telling me 'principles cost money'. He was right, I won the case, it cost me a lot of money and I didn't get a penny back.


My advice, spend your time making money not chasing principles.

How easy is it to dodge a fine like that? Could you not impose a CCJ?

I wasn't paid for a photography job and found him using my images in his brochure years later.

I was planning on sending a hefty invoice via a solicitor who specialises in corporate copyright infringements.