Copyright theft and damages

[GoonerGary]

I've had enough; so instead of threatening legal action against eBay rogue sellers, I've decided to go straight to a copyright solicitor and seek damages for copyright infringement against two sellers who are ripping off my designs.

Has anyone any experience of this and what kind of damages did you seek?

Both sellers have taken about 8 designs each from me.

[Glenn73]

I had a friend who was contacted by a customer a few weeks back asking why her wedding stationary was cheaper to buy on Ebay than on her website...same story her designs were stolen she contacted them and threatened legal action and also ebay s admin department,she was able to prove when her stationary was designed which was further proof that they were stolen ...the site has now been removed. Thats not to say it wont happen again

[phoenixalpha]

I'd be *really* careful before involving lawyers as it can get very expensive, very quickly - a lot of the time it's not worth the legal fees which can easily be £100's per hour/day if the return isnt there. I understand you are frustrated by being ripped off but a lot of the time it can be more damaging getting into a legal scrape than just forgetting about it - and once you get into it - it might not go the way you want and you could end up badly burned.

[Kaz]

Have you watermarked all your images that you use online?

That usually helps to prevent them from being stolen

[GoonerGary]

It's £180 per hour for a posh Cambridge solicitor and yes I have my reservations. My designs are prominent on Amazon, all the Google searches and also on eBay when they were selling there. He's taken a load of original ideas and made his own almost identical versions and selling them at half the price. I've taken a load of screen grabs of what he's sold and how many he intends to sell and purchased test samples for evidence. As he's taken so many, it's hardly a coincident or accident. He makes a very good living from mass trademark infringement.

eBay is dragging their heals over accepting me into the veRo program so they may find themselves in hot water if they fail to act on the Notice of Claimed Infringement.

Would the guilty party not pay the solicitor fees as part of the damages?

[JSR]

Would the guilty party not pay the solicitor fees as part of the damages?

You would need to look into the specifics before going down this road, as others have said.

As I understand it (and I'm *not* a legal person), cases such as this come into two parts. The first is proving that your copyright has been infringed. If proven, you are not immediately guaranteed damages.

Damages are the second part. It's called "damages" because it's how much you've been "damaged" by the guilty person's activities. The court my decide that you've only been "damaged" to the tune of £50 - so that's all you'd get. The infringer may just get a slap on the wrist and told not to do it again, and you get nothing. I don't believe you're able to appeal the amount of damages you get.

Your best bet would be to talk about this with a legal person before committing yourself to the path. Personally, I hope it works out for you because I really dislike people infringing copyright and wish they'd all get a financial "punch up the bracket", but do go into it with all eyes open. Don't bankrupt yourself just because there are idiots out there.

[GoonerGary]

I doubt that it will reach court and I doubt he would attempt to dispute the infringement...how could he? I've heard of infringers getting legal letters quoting serious figures so I'm curious about amounts. One piece of advise that I got was to not claim a hefty amount of money that would bankrupt a person, otherwise I will be chasing them up for years via courts and CCJs. Offer half of the maximum damages to settle quickly and out of court.

As for damages, if he's planning to sell hundreds for many years, that's thousands of items in lost revenue. That's something I will have to discuss with the solicitor; actual damages so far, or damages relating to the damage of my brand and future sales.

[phoenixalpha]

the question you have to ask yourself is : if you win, all well and good. you may get enough costs to make it worthwhile - but if you dont win..... or if you win but dont get awarded legal fees can you afford those costs - even the simplest of legal cases take dozens of hours so you might win but might not get awarded legal costs and you both end up several k worse off with only the lawyers winning. anytime you step in to a legal issue make sure you have the capability to withstand the shock of losing because its very possible (although maybe not probable) that you could lose.

hell... even the initial costs of checking out if you have a case can cost hundreds.

[GoonerGary]

The checking out bit is free. Once I instruct the solicitor to proceed that's when he charges.

[phoenixalpha]

Still an almighty big gamble for something that might not ever repay itself.