Copied products and intellectual property
Small business is a dog-eat-dog world
Contrary to what might be believed because of how competitive the small business world is, there is room for everyone to exist and 'dimming someone else's light won't make another's shine brighter' ...
Over the years we've spent tens of thousands of pounds on legal action for stolen intellectual property and it's got us nowhere. It makes you wonder why the protection exists in the first place sometimes.
What is intellectual property (IP)?
According to gov.uk intellectual property is something you create using your mind - for example, a story, an invention, an artistic work or a symbol. You own this IP if you create it (and it meets the requirements for copyright or patent), buy it from its creator or owner, or trade mark it.
What does this mean?
IP rights give you more protection if someone tries to steal or copy your work and makes it easier to take legal action against them. It essentially determines that the creation belongs to you and nobody else can monetise from it without explicit permission or purchase of rights.
My own journey with intellectual property
In the early stages of our business, I sought IP on quite a few of our designs to protect our creation of them. We've come to realise that no amount of paperwork or documents stating certain designs belong to us will stop people from copying them, and sometimes in the most deceitful and conniving ways, like changing the shape of the base...
It is a natural chain of events to form relationships and friendships online with other small business owners or those who are just starting to set up. You "meet" online, you start talking via DMs, you might get together for a cup of coffee or a nice meal, forming a friendship you trust them to share designs and bounce ideas off one another to get feedback and support.
What you don't expect is for those same people to get to a certain point of success, block you, and use those designs you've been discussing behind the scenes on their own products for sale, or for ideas you shared for the future of your business being implemented by them beforehand when it was never in the cards for them until you shared.
Now I'm not selfish when it comes to small businesses - I prioritise buying from them where I can, I support them where I can, in the past I've given hours upon hours of free advice and support to help others succeed. I'm more than happy to share space and I actually promote other small businesses selling the same or similar products to myself because I firmly believe there is a space for everyone. There are millions of people around the world who could potentially want a product, no one small business could fulfil all of that demand, so it's important they have a choice of where to go.
At the end of the day, people will go where they want to, so if two businesses share the same product the consumer will simply choose which is their favourite and buy from them.
That being said, to have designs and ideas clearly stolen and friendships faked and forged to get them is not the same thing. To me it showed a complete lack of respect, kindness and understanding. This affected me for quite a while - I struggled with understanding how someone could do this to someone they supposedly care about, until eventually coming to the realisation that they couldn't so in hindsight I knew it meant they never cared to begin with.
It's been a hard and bitter pill to swallow and I try to not let these things change who I am at my core when it comes to small businesses because the heart in me wants to see people do well. I don't think my own business will suffer on the success of others. We have a proven track record over the years of how much people enjoy our products and we know we can't force customers to choose us but hope they come to that decision themselves.
Seeing our designs on the pages and products of other creators is quite a regular occurrence these days but I've got to a point now where I really just take it on the chin and don't let it get to me - they do say imitation us a form of flattery, after all.