Hello
 
I've been reading with interest the discussions regarding copywrite
infringement.  I cannot, nor will I, comment on the specifics of what's
being discussed here, however, I comment from personal experience.
 
I will preface these observations by saying that my husband has a wood
working business here in New York State.  A few years ago, he bought and
paid a lot of money for a product that was patented.  ($2.5 million.)  He
since has followed up with a copywrite on the name.
 
Firstly, to obtain a copywrite on anything takes time and money.  Often
LOTS of money.  I think, in our case, we paid upwards of $10,000 by the
time we paid for the graphics/logo, the attorney fees and the filing
fees.
 
Secondly, no matter what the legalities are, there are always folks who
will steal ideas, clone ideas with small changes (as in software for
example...i.e. Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft Excel) and just plain not give
a toot if it's copywrited or patented.
 
The problem that occurs when this happens is that it completely falls
back on the owner of the copywrite to follow through.  If, indeed, the
owner decides he'll lose way too much money (in our case several millions
of dollars,) it's up to him to institute law suits.  In our case, we have
the paperwork and the legalities on our side; we've spent well over $2
million dollars to try to put 3 companies out of business selling our
product.
 
The results?  One business is completely out of business and the other 2
are still in business and still manufacturing our product.  We've now
chosen to back off and ignore them simply because it became way way too
expensive (and they knew it!) for us to proceed and still earn any money.
 
It's certainly a sad state of affairs when someone goes the legal
route, pays their money and goes thru the headaches (yes, its a darned
headache!) to get what they think is exclusive ownership of a design,
product, whatever and then find that they may "own" it but cannot afford
to pay to keep the ownership out of an unscrupulous user's hands, who
chooses to hide their head, claim that they didn't steal anything, and
make money on the product.
 
This letter has NO INTENT of flaming anyone in particular or anyone that
may or may not have interest in the discussions here on the FML.  It's
sole intent is to tell of a personal situation that has occurred for my
family and our business.
 
Barb and her 5 whirling dervishes...Hope, Bren, Kate, Tess and Cher
 
[Moderator's note: Hi Barb -- what a nightmare :-(  It sounds though like
you might have been dealing with a trademark and a patent rather than a
copyright?  Copyrights differ from those in that works are copyrighted
BY DEFAULT, though you can register a copyright for a nomimal fee to add
some protection.  Not that enforcement may be any easier that what you
went through.   BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 4117]