There is a product that has a monopoly on a certain niche and is way overpriced. It has no patents and from what I can tell nothing that can be patented as it is not unique. The person has a trademark for their name.
If i recreate this product and put an improvement on it with different branding/name can they come after me for any reason or is this fair game?
Thank you!
There might be some legal issues, but if you’re using a different name, logo, and so on, and not using any of the ones belonging to the original company, then there won’t be a trademark issue.
Since this potentially involves legal advice, let’s move it to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
If it’s not patented, you have no liability for practicing the same technology they do.
Even though a product can’t be patented, it might still be protected. The general look and feel of a product can be essentially copyrighted or trademarked. The legal term is “trade dress”.
I’m an engineer, not a lawyer, and we don’t have specifics on your product anyway, so I have no idea if this applies to your potential product or not. It would be wise to consult with a real life legal professional before going too far down this path.
If you were literally buying the company’s product, removing the trademarks and selling it as your own product, it would be “reverse passing-off”.
Copying someone else’s non-patented idea doesn’t sound illegal, though.
Not enough information provided to give any reliable answer. What are you “recreating”? There are IP rights in designs so if you copy the design you may be in trouble.
I’m thinking I need more details as well. Something like a Pet Rock, probably no problem. But I can see that there could be some issues on other simple things once the phrase “basic design” enters the equation.
Even if there is no patent something like a copyright might apply (for my spouse’s electronic musical instrument design he copyrighted the circuit board pattern, as an example). Someone in the UK thought that meant they could copy the tech and sell it without a problem. They learned differently, the hard way. Anecdote is not data, I am not a lawyer and certainly not your lawyer, and your mileage may vary. You probably want to contact a lawyer with some experience in the area of patent/copyright/trademark/etc.
Anything is legal/illegal with the right lawyer, even murder.
Maybe you should gauge whether these people are likely to get legally hostile with you, or have the resources to. (I have a problem right now because a huge company doesn’t like something I’m doing; normally it would be a delicate 2-sided problem requiring careful conflict resolution to get people on the same page, but they’re big, and I’m small, so they get their way, period. I’ve been preparing to defend myself and get along with them for years now, but if I keep failing there’s not a lot I can do except raise a million dollars to hire my own empire of lawyers to go fight them.)
What do you feel in your heart? What would they feel in their hearts? What would a judge feel in their heart?
The heart often stems out into reality. If they’re going to feel like “This guy stole our ***** idea!!!”, then you might have problems.
The Winklevoss twins were extremely emotionally hurt when in their view, Zuckerberg stole their idea to create Facebook. That made them much more hostile on the matter than if they really didn’t care about it or weren’t very hurt by it.
I agree on needing more details or getting a lawyer, to give more specific advice.
[On the plus side, I’m very proud at having offered someone my first piece of useful advice on StraightDope. Don’t say it’s not useful; don’t take this from me damit!!]
on a quick note, I just rented the film “Social Network” again; great movie for a bit of easy/light research on IP lawsuits
There is nothing about IP lawsuits in that movie.
If the other side has more money than you, you might reconsider or at the very least, make sure what you are doing is legal.
The thing is, as stated above, if someone has a lot of money it doesn’t matter. Some clothing stores are famous for outright stealing ideas. They know the designer can’t afford to go to trial even if they are in the right.
In general clothing design isn’t protected by any intellectual property laws. That’s different than putting another designer’s logo on something, which would be trademark infringement. Of course, the recent chearleeder uniform ruling might change some of that.
The point is, makers of knock-off clothing have had a lot of room to copy designs, but still not be counterfitting.
Yes and no. Clothing itself is not protected - in the US. I am not sure if that is the case in other countries. What can be protected, however, is the print on fabric, which Forever 21 clearly copied. Several times.
Other stores are famous for this, too. Urban outfitters, Zara, and Anthropologie, for example, have been accused of stealing designs for jewelry, t-shirt designs (not the shirt itself). I say accused because almost always it’s not taken to court (the artist can’t afford it) or it’s been settled out of court for a fraction of a licensing fee.
You should rent Double Jeopardy some time.
How does that work for repackaging?
If I take some Heinz Ketchup, French’s Mustard, and Kikkoman’s Teriyaki sauce, mix them all together, and put them into a bottle, can I sell that as mine?
Yes, the printed art (or words, etc.) on clothing can be under copyright, and printing (without permission) art on clothing can by copyright infringement. Exactly reproducing the fabric, cut, and sewing of a garment is not infringing. If I understand it correctly, and I read both Techdirt and Popehat, so clearly I’m an expert.
I think so. It’s your special blend.
Any kind of copy being sold is not legal.
If when you say copy here, you mean defective seconds then by asking the company for rights you could sell that in a Factory outlet or a seconds store as they call it.
You can change the label, create a logo that looks similar like Nokla, Soni/Sonyy, Reebook, Addidas and the off springs that have come up on the streets in the years past (seen lots of them in India and China), and can get away without being sued for selling copies.
Most often, design of the products, the logo, the brand name are trademarked™. As long as your copies can avoid their use, you can slip through the cracks in the legal system.(if there are any in your country)
Bottom line- there is no legal way to sell a rip off.