What do I do with my similar design?

May 26, 2009 7:00 AM

My design is very similar to theirs but I hadn't seen theirs ahead of time. What trouble do I get into if I continue on and sale mine?

I have been working on a certain graphic/design to go on clothing for the past few months. Last month or so I saw a similar design created by someone else already on fabric. The two are very similar and I hadn't seen theirs previously. What kind of trouble would I get into if I continued and sold mine? Do I need to make them aware of this? I was unaware of theirs when I began working on it and was under the impression that mine was an original thought. I don't want to throw it out if I don't need to.

posted by grablife365 to law & government (4 comments total)

Without knowing specifics, guidelines are all that can be offered.

How To Start a Clothing Company: The truth about copyrights and licensing
posted by Juliet Banana at 7:11 AM on May 26

This AskMe question may be worth reading through.
posted by odinsdream at 7:16 AM on May 26

Anecdotaly a lot of it boils down to if one of you has the money to pay for a lawyer to bother with it, and then who is willing to spend the most to win.

I have a number of friends who have had their work ripped off by places like Urban Outfitters but despite their clear ability to prove their case they couldn't really afford to fight a big corporation like that so they pretty much had to just let it go. Search around online and I'm sure you'll find lots more similar stories.

So I would say that beyond the actual law, it's more a question of scale and resources (and also the question of catching hell from people for "ripping off X").

And of course, there is a huge question of what you mean by "similar". Ripping off Mickey Mouse but dressing him like Bob Marley is a lot different than having a design that features similar elements and design conventions.
posted by teishu at 1:14 PM on May 26

Not your lawyer.

Copyright infringement requires actual copying. You didn't, so in a perfect world you'd have nothing to worry about. Of course, the other person with the similar design may not see it that way and stir up legal trouble, especially if it's clear that they came up with the design before you did. (There's rarely ever evidence of exact copying; almost invariably juries are asked to infer it based on similarity to the earlier work, the fact that it came after the earlier work, and the alleged infringer's access to the earlier work.)

I wouldn't do anything. But be prepared for a possible cease and desist letter down the road. You can worry about it then.
posted by saslett at 5:07 PM on May 26