Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Carpet Dawg on September 10, 2013, 09:15:17 pm
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A Florida based carpet cleaner with the same business name has stolen my logo/brand!! Found out on facebook.
Its funny really but annoying that I paid good money to have it created and they just nicked it! ha not much I can do about it I suppose.
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theirs looks better. must be the florida sun shining on it.
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you aren't the only one in the area with that name. pretty sure you must have encountered them before. they were in Loanhead and now their son has taken over.
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They scowered the world and chose your logo to steal. ;D
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from Florida to Loanheid... wow.
Yes Wynne that's right... Its exactly the same logo/design. I'm not bothered about the name but the design. Again, not too much agro as they are US based. Just saying...
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Did you or your designer copyright it, if so wait until they become a multi national then sue.
Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com
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I looked in to copyrighting Peter but I cant as there's a manufacture of products that has done so already.
Can you copyright the image/design but not the name?
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I belive so, it's not the words but the design. Next can't copyright the word but thier logo are trade marks
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Just read a article in the FSB mag about logo copyright the designer owns the rights unless you get them the sign it over to you
bit crap as you have paid for it me thinks
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from Matt Cutts Video
"Other changes include websites stealing images and ranking above websites that were the original creator of the image in Google image search. This should definitely not be happening and seems to be an error on Google’s part in their image search tools. Seems like they are still toying with this image search algorithm as many changes were recently made to the whole display of this portion of Google search."
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The original designer would own the copyright to your logo, and you effectively use the logo under licence from the he/she. Unless the copyright was specifically transferred to you by way of an agreement.
With regards to protecting your brand, you would need to register the name and logo as a Trademark. The name would need to be distinctive for this to be possible.
N.B. I have put together a deed of 'copyright assignment' - a legal deed by which the designer agrees to hand over copyright to the client, so if you plan on obtaining further work from a freelance designer then you're welcome to a copy by email.
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The original designer would own the copyright to your logo, and you effectively use the logo under licence from the he/she. Unless the copyright was specifically transferred to you by way of an agreement.
With regards to protecting your brand, you would need to register the name and logo as a Trademark. The name would need to be distinctive for this to be possible.
N.B. I have put together a deed of 'copyright assignment' - a legal deed by which the designer agrees to hand over copyright to the client, so if you plan on obtaining further work from a freelance designer then you're welcome to a copy by email.
Some very good points here.
The same is true if you get someone to write copy for you. For your website, email sequence, whatever. You would think if you commisioned someone to write it, you own it, but unless you state this implicitly you don't.
Be careful if you hire a copywriter, they can get lazy. LOL
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I've had stuff stolen from a site (cut and paste) and then the thief has criticised my "donor" site. On another occasion, they even asked for advice on how they could get their site to convert better! You have to laugh.
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The original designer would own the copyright to your logo, and you effectively use the logo under licence from the he/she. Unless the copyright was specifically transferred to you by way of an agreement.
With regards to protecting your brand, you would need to register the name and logo as a Trademark. The name would need to be distinctive for this to be possible.
N.B. I have put together a deed of 'copyright assignment' - a legal deed by which the designer agrees to hand over copyright to the client, so if you plan on obtaining further work from a freelance designer then you're welcome to a copy by email.
Nonsense - No need for deed of copyright assignment - waste of time imo - Only in a very crap world does the designer own the copyright to your logo that he designed for you that you briefed him for and then paid him to design - I think you will find it is the other way round and the copyright belongs to you as the owner of the intellectual copyright (that is what a court would say) and what in the sam hill is he going to do with your logo - WHY would he want to own your crappy logo (nothing personal against you btw) copyright - what can he do with it - nothing is the answer because it belongs to you so dont worry about it - you dont have to sign an agreement it belongs to you as of right because you have contracted for him to design it
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If you have put your logo on Facebook, then you do not own any right to the image, you signed away those rights by their T&C's
If they have put it on their website you can get in contact with their ISP here is a link to find who is their ISP is.
http://www.domaintools.com/
If they have the domain by proxy then you have to contact them through that. But you have to file a cease and distress notice, before any legal action can be taken. You can use the wayback machine to see when they changed the logo.
http://archive.org/web/web.php
I know I had the sane problem, when I had used to sell Diamondback and Ninja's machines someone stole my images which cost a fortune and to top it off they used them as a link to Ashbys, which ticked me off somewhat.
And all images belong to the creator unless they are assigned to you by what ever means. You also can have them protected as SM, which is a service mark.
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If you have put your logo on Facebook, then you do not own any right to the image, you signed away those rights by their T&C's
If they have put it on their website you can get in contact with their ISP here is a link to find who is their ISP is.
http://www.domaintools.com/
If they have the domain by proxy then you have to contact them through that. But you have to file a cease and distress notice, before any legal action can be taken. You can use the wayback machine to see when they changed the logo.
http://archive.org/web/web.php
I know I had the sane problem, when I had used to sell Diamondback and Ninja's machines someone stole my images which cost a fortune and to top it off they used them as a link to Ashbys, which ticked me off somewhat.
And all images belong to the creator unless they are assigned to you by what ever means. You also can have them protected as SM, which is a service mark.
I might have signed away my images (is a logo/brand/designed classed as an image though??) to Facebook Inc. but not to some "no mark" to use as his own! lol
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If you have put your logo on Facebook, then you do not own any right to the image, you signed away those rights by their T&C's
If they have put it on their website you can get in contact with their ISP here is a link to find who is their ISP is.
http://www.domaintools.com/
If they have the domain by proxy then you have to contact them through that. But you have to file a cease and distress notice, before any legal action can be taken. You can use the wayback machine to see when they changed the logo.
http://archive.org/web/web.php
I know I had the sane problem, when I had used to sell Diamondback and Ninja's machines someone stole my images which cost a fortune and to top it off they used them as a link to Ashbys, which ticked me off somewhat.
And all images belong to the creator unless they are assigned to you by what ever means. You also can have them protected as SM, which is a service mark.
I might have signed away my images (is a logo/brand/design classed as an image though??) to Facebook Inc. but not to some "no mark" to use as his own! lol
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If it’s out there and I like it I will nick it (well to my advantage) but be careful if you are local and it’s mine ;)
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I might have signed away my images (is a logo/brand/designed classed as an image though??) to Facebook Inc. but not to some "no mark" to use as his own! lol
This will explain it in more depth
http://justcreative.com/2010/04/06/branding-identity-logo-design-explained/
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Buckland
Sadly you are wrong
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Nonsense - No need for deed of copyright assignment - waste of time imo - Only in a very crap world does the designer own the copyright to your logo that he designed for you that you briefed him for and then paid him to design - I think you will find it is the other way round and the copyright belongs to you as the owner of the intellectual copyright (that is what a court would say) and what in the sam hill is he going to do with your logo - WHY would he want to own your crappy logo (nothing personal against you btw) copyright - what can he do with it - nothing is the answer because it belongs to you so dont worry about it - you dont have to sign an agreement it belongs to you as of right because you have contracted for him to design it
No, it is not nonsense - it is the law. I suggest you check your facts and stop making a complete fool of yourself.
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Just cut out the insults and take some advice - copyright exists when an intellectual property is created - it does not have to be protected by anything else in terms of a legal instrument - you go check your facts sunshine...
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Just cut out the insults and take some advice - copyright exists when an intellectual property is created - it does not have to be protected by anything else in terms of a legal instrument - you go check your facts sunshine...
I can only assume your comments are some kind of wind up, and or a joke? I won't go into my background, but I should know what I'm talking about.
To anyone else reading this; if you want to see the facts in black and white, go here:
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/copy/c-ownership/c-commissioned.htm (http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/copy/c-ownership/c-commissioned.htm)
The page clearly states:
"When you ask or commission another person or organisation to create a copyright work for you, the first legal owner of copyright is the person or organisation that created the work and not you the commissioner, unless you otherwise agree it in writing."
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I've just stolen this from another site....
Generally, the creator owns the rights to the work, except in the case of a “work for hire” arrangement, such as an employer/employee relationship. If you’re a freelancer or business owner hired to create a specific work, you are considered the creator and retain all rights, unless you have a “work for hire” agreement with the client that grants them ownership of the work. These details should be negotiated and outlined in your contract for every job so there is no question about ownership
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Carpet Dawg,
In answer to you question, I looked into copyright law a few years ago when we had a sign business. We were employing graduate graphic designers that were coming up with very good designs for signs and vans etc that sometimes we would not get the job, but a few weeks later we would see something with our design on erected by people who did not have the ability to create.
Basically any thing that you produce and submit to anybody needs to have the c circle copyright logo on it with a date. Anybody who produces anything the same would need to prove that is was produced before yours.
It is not that complicated and once I had clarified this we did stop some people using our designs. It works both ways though we did have some Chinese takeaway give us a drawing of something they wanted as a sign. They ripped this off some multinational. Because we had scanned the original drawing given to us, no action was taken against us but the takeaway had the cost of rebranding.
Most legitimate firms will not break copyright laws. At the end of the day you only have to make subtle changes to something to make it unique to you.
Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.comhttp://
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There's who owns the design issue but a separate issue is passing yourself off as someone else. If a cc creates a logo slightly different to yours, you could still argue the public may mistake them for you.
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At least someone got some satisfaction...
http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=805723
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Just to add my two pennies worth, as a franchised brand we had our logo professionally designed, part of this process I believe is checking if there is anything registered like it. A reputable company will not pass that logo on to anybody else but like everything you get what you pay for. Once you are trading and legitimately using that logo you have certain rights without having to copy write it or put TM beside it. In this instance since you probably never intend to trade in the US or the other party trade in the UK its probably not worth pursuing, however in the case of a franchise you would have to as there is always the possibility that the company could become international.
This is purely my recollection of discussions we had 6 or more years ago, I would be open to correction on any of the above.
Terry
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I remember a case in Blackpool where a garage used the name MGM motors.
It was in the paper that MGM studios US persued this guy to remove the name or they would take him to court.
He was forced to remove the name. I don't know whether this still applies.
It's like hey! we'll go and buy a car from MGM motors in Blackpool......they make films, don't they? ::)roll
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From what I read you cant copyright something that does not belong to you the example in the FSB mag was innocent smothies who had problems with there logo when trade marking there brand.