Tuesday, January 12, 2010

The Ordeal is finally over

Well, I am glad to say that the legal ordeal with Mr. steal-my-designs is finally over. I am very happy to say that I won the case and the settlement will probably put the "thief" out of business--I am not gloating, but merely stating a fact.

I was awarded the maximum amount of damages in such a case AND Mr. Thief also has to pay my legal fees (including my attorney's fees). Literally, this will put the person out of business since he doesn't have the money to pay the damages/fees.

Mr. I-didn't-think-you-would-take-me-to court erred on a variety of different levels:
  1. He wouldn't stop selling the stolen designs
  2. He wouldn't stop selling the designs once I nicely asked him to
  3. He wouldn't stop selling the designs once we issued a "cease and desist"
  4. He underestimated the lengths that I would go to in order to make this right
  5. He didn't believe that I would spend money to take him to court
  6. He didn't realize that one of the designs that he stole was based on a design that was adapted by a very large sticker company
  7. He didn't realize that said sticker company was going to join in the lawsuit
  8. He didn't realize that I had attorney friends that were willing to spend their time and efforts to make this right.

I really don't mean to sound like I am gloating about this. I believe that I was nice to the person and gave him every opportunity to correct the situation. The person really didn't believe that I would take this issue as far as I did. In other words, he simply underestimated me and my belief in doing what is right.

So, please continue to visit for some new designs of things I was doing while this was going on.

Thanks to all of you for your support during this crazy time.

3 comments:

luluvision said...

That is great news! I am very happy to hear that, Russ! Kudos to you for sticking it out, I'm sure it wasn't easy!

fingerstothebone said...

Congratulations! I'm glad this all worked out! I still wish you had given us a chance to leave him nasty messages though.

icolithic said...

Do gloat ... the thief did. This is a victory for creatives everywhere (being a bit dramatic) ... nevertheless, I'm definitely going to share this story with others who have gone through similar experiences.