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Copyright a design?

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diana13t

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas
I create rhinestone designs to apply to t-shirts, bags, caps, vehicles (decals), etc. I'm a one woman show, meaning I own the business and do everything. I purchased a rhinestone template from a Company that I downloaded and could use to create my rhinestone transfers. BUT once I got the design, I realized I didn't like the quality of the work, so I re-created it from scratch using Corel to design it and then used different software to create where the stones would go. Then I manually placed the stones where I wanted them.

Basically this design is a letter "M" a Football Design and another letter "M". So it reads "MOM" with the "O" being a Football. The design I created it bigger, has more stones in the design and the stones are placed differently than the other Company's. That Company is saying that I cannot sell the design template I created for others to use because it's the same layout as theirs...is that true? Or can I only not sell THEIR design?

In dealing with sports decals and t-shirts, I wouldn't think that would be a very "original" idea. I see lots of "MOM" designs where they replace the "O" with the sports ball.
 


diana13t

Junior Member
But the thing is, there are hundreds of rhinestone MOM designs out there with the football, baseball, basketball, etc. in the middle. He is copying other people's idea and the artwork of the football is from the same place that I bought it from (we have the same rhinestone system). So it's not like he's the only person to ever spell out MOM by replacing the "O" with a ball. If anything, he copied the "Layout" from someone else. And he's not the first one to come up with this idea.

If you google "rhinestone mom football" you'll get tons of designs like that.

Just like when you sell vinyl decals. A lot of us have the exact same artwork and a lot of us arch the team name over the same design and put the kid's name under the design. So are we all breaking the law? I just bought his template because I didn't want to take the time to create the design myself. But once I got it, it sucked. So I made started from scratch and made the letters and football bigger and hand placed each circle to line up how I thought it should look. I didn't use any part of his file or artwork.

I totally get that there is all kinds of artwork that you shouldn't and can't copy. But he did NOT come up with a new idea or design, others have done it before him.
 

Mass_Shyster

Senior Member
But the thing is, there are hundreds of rhinestone MOM designs out there with the football, baseball, basketball, etc. in the middle. He is copying other people's idea and the artwork of the football is from the same place that I bought it from (we have the same rhinestone system). So it's not like he's the only person to ever spell out MOM by replacing the "O" with a ball. If anything, he copied the "Layout" from someone else. And he's not the first one to come up with this idea.
If this goes to court, he will be able to show his design, the order where he sold you the design, and finally a design by you that is very similar to the design you purchased from him.

That's pretty compelling evidence that you copied his design.

Your work seems to fit neatly into the definition of derivative work.
 

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