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engagement ring design stolen

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dawnlutter

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Jersey
I am a resident of NJ. I designed my dream engagement ring at an early age (12). When I got engaged at age 23, my then fiancee brought my design to a jeweler to have it made. When he was given a quote, he declined to have it made as it was too expensive. Ten years later, I have discovered my EXACT engagement ring is being mass produced and sold as an "original" with a different jeweler. Do I have any right to my original design? Can I tell this jeweler to stop selling my unique ring? With the rings already sold, can I claim a royalty? I can prove the design is mine as I still have my artwork from 20 years ago.
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Jersey
I am a resident of NJ. I designed my dream engagement ring at an early age (12). When I got engaged at age 23, my then fiancee brought my design to a jeweler to have it made. When he was given a quote, he declined to have it made as it was too expensive. Ten years later, I have discovered my EXACT engagement ring is being mass produced and sold as an "original" with a different jeweler. Do I have any right to my original design? Can I tell this jeweler to stop selling my unique ring? With the rings already sold, can I claim a royalty? I can prove the design is mine as I still have my artwork from 20 years ago.
Was your design truly unique? Consult an attorney.
 

dawnlutter

Junior Member
yes, it was definitely a one-of-a-kind. I just wanted to know if I actually have a case and that I should consult an attorney.
 

dmcc10880

Member
Did you apply for a design patent or patent of any kind? Did you give "your design" a name and applied for a trademark. There may be the answer.
 

LillianX

Senior Member
Without seeing your original design and the ring being produced no one can answer it for you.

However, in a general sense, how did this completely different jeweler get your design? You'd have to prove the jeweler acquired the design somehow, and trace the chain back to you, unless you have the design protected under copyright/patent/trademark.

There are only so many ways someone can make an engagement ring. Unless your design is so unique that it's unimaginable someone else would have come up with it, it's entirely possible that someone came up with the design on their own.
 

dawnlutter

Junior Member
I have seen several variations of my ring. This time, I came across my identical ring. I can only speculate that when my fiancee brought my design to the jeweler and then declined to have it made, that jeweler either left and went somewhere else, or told a colleague, etc. I do not know the sequence of events. I also want to know that when you have custom-made jewelry, are you the owner or is the jeweler now the owner of that design and can they resell your design?
 

dmcc10880

Member
I have seen several variations of my ring. This time, I came across my identical ring. I can only speculate that when my fiancee brought my design to the jeweler and then declined to have it made, that jeweler either left and went somewhere else, or told a colleague, etc. I do not know the sequence of events. I also want to know that when you have custom-made jewelry, are you the owner or is the jeweler now the owner of that design and can they resell your design?
Refer to post #4. If it wasn't protected by patent or trademark, it's fair game in the open market.
 

quincy

Senior Member
There is a defense to infringement that LillianX touched on called "independent creation." If you are unable to prove that, one, the jeweler had access to your design and copied it, and two, that you were, in fact, the original creator of the design (which the registration of your design in a timely fashion could have proved), you have no action you can pursue that would have much chance of success. And that is IF your design would be protectable at all.

Edit to add: A ring design would have only limited protection under the laws as they stand now, for reasons noted in my post that follows.
 
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Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
There is a defense to infringement that LillianX touched on called "independent creation" and if you are unable to prove that, one, the jeweler had access to your design and copied it, and two, that you were, in fact, the original creator of the design (which the registration of your design in a timely fashion could have proved, although it is possible that dated drawings could suffice), you have no action you can pursue that would have much chance of success.
I know you edited this out, Q, but I wanted to touch on it for the OP's benefit. Simply dating a drawing will not protect anything. Heck, I could draw something tonight and date it back to 1997...doesn't mean I CREATED it in 1997.
 

quincy

Senior Member
Yup. That is why I edited it out - if the design had been dated and registered, that would suffice for copyright law purposes. :)

That said (and I edited my post above a bit to include this), it is important to note that designs such as ring designs have only limited protections under intellectual property laws as they stand right now - and the following information from the Copyright Office spells it out:

http://www.copyright.gov/docs/regstat072706.html

The following thread is also informative and would apply to the ring design as it does to the "boob scarf" which was the topic of the thread:

https://forum.freeadvice.com/search.php?searchid=3536960


(I know divgradcurl has corrected me on this before and I just wanted to show him I haven't totally forgotten all that he taught me. :D)
 
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dawnlutter

Junior Member
thank you everyone for your responses. Yes, I can prove the creation date was in 1991. To comment on another post regarding back-dating, pen ink has a specific composition and is a very specific color which must be carefully registered and documented. The particular color of ink is specific to a year, so if you back-date a document to 1997 and forensics has determined that the pen color wasn't invented until the year 2000, then we know the document was not done in the year 1997. I will not have to go this route because, basically, the concensus is that there's nothing I can do about my design being stolen.
 

ecmst12

Senior Member
Do you have any idea what forensic analysis of pen ink would cost you?

You don't even know that your design was stolen, and you definitely can't prove it.
 

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