Unjust Enrichment ...Or What?

[quincy]

Well, I may have a small new wrinkle in this story:

Rumor has it that this fellow is now offering new shirts with my design (he sold out of the ones I had printed). Is that design still mine? If so... were you were in my shoes, how would you remedy THAT situation? <---A new, clever way of asking, "What can I do about that?"

Academic Question: Could I get in trouble for publicizing these experiences i.e. newspapers, signs, fliers, website etc.? If not, I might have another, and maybe, better way to deal with this mess.

Thanks again.

If the designs on the tee-shirts are original designs created by you, you retain the copyrights in the designs and the designs cannot be reproduced without your permission. If the designs are or have been reproduced without your permission, the fellow who reproduced them has infringed on your copyrights and you can sue.

Before suing for infringement, however, you must register your design with the copyright office. Because you will be registering your copyrights after infringement (and 3 months after first "published" or made available to the public?), you are entitled to collect in the way of damages only the losses you can prove you have suffered as a result of the infringement, or the profits made by the infringer as a result of the infringement.

If it has not been 3 months since the designs were first made public, after registering your design, you could be eligible for statutory damages for the infringement of between $750 and $30,000 per infringed work.

I would avoid publishing any negative information about the tee-shirt seller. It is too easy to defame someone with that type of publication which could get you sued, and it rarely results in anything other than a temporary satisfaction. It does nothing to resolve the initial problem.

You can consult with an attorney in your area to determine what your best course of action might be at this time. Good luck.

 

[Muffuah]

Well, at least with this the lack of a written contract would work in your benefit but hey, since I'm just a layman I'll not bother to try to exain why. I probably have no idea what I'm talking about.

Thank you.