****ED OFF PIG!

[ February 10, 2002: Message edited by: signpig ]

[ February 10, 2002: Message edited by: signpig ]

But I sure don't think you would be out of line if you contacted the offending party by phone and let him know that you know what he's doing. Thank them for the honor but admonish them for their bussiness practices.

Not sure how to word all that conversation but would recommend a rehearsal before you call...and try to keep it sane...after all you wouldn't want to look as foolish as he will feel when you call him.

Good luck ...let us know how you handle it!

[ February 10, 2002: Message edited by: Monte Jumper ]

I wouldnt call him, I'd just show up in his shop and pretend to be a customer at first, look through his portfolio and BE SURE that nobody is feeding you a line of crap about this.

It's all heresay until you can see it for yourself. People can be mistaken, even friends.

If you dont see your work in his portfolio, at least you can smile and wish him a good afternoon before walking out. He'd be none the wiser.

Stuff like this just really sends me too. Don't blame you for being upset.

I'd be kinda tempted to be sure about it first though, before confronting them. I'd also want to know for sure that those photos do indeed get removed from that portfolio.

The problem with a phone call is that it could lead to them simply denying it, and that lets them off the hook pretty easy. Worse, they may not even bother to remove the photos.

I would think about paying them a visit, if they didn't know who I was, or send Dave in first to look at their portfolio. If any of my work was found in their book, I'd probably ask them more about the sign. When did they do it ... was it their design ... stuff like that? I'd be curious how far they'd carry the lie, and would want to see if they'd really pretend to "own" the design and manufacture of that sign. If so, I'd be giving them a big surprise with my response to them. I would also tell them how I came to find this out, and why I was payint them the visit. Still, I'd maintain a cool firmness about it all, and refrain from getting nasty. They'll be looking bad enough already, I would think.

I am curious to see what others remedy for something like this would be.

1) Go and check it out for myself. Go into the offending shop as a potential customer and ask to see some of their work. If I didn't see my stuff I would say, "Well I was looking for something along the lines of what you did for so and so...." see if he produces pictures of stuff I know I did. If I see any of m stuff I'd leave and go to step two.

2) Call my attorney. Find out what legal recourse I have if any. Have my attorney contact him and let the lawyers deal with it.

It has happened to me also. I had a local sign person working for me for a couple of years. He did some nice designs (while working for me) The signs were done by Jackson's Signs. Now he is displaying them on his wall as HIS signs.

Very embarassing for a customer to see the same sign in two shops. When they ask..I have to tell them the whole story.

So now..it is "sign by Jackson's Signs and design by Joe Blow signs"

VERY uncomfortable I must say. Never have decided who owns the rights.

Proof! is Really in the Pudding!
Any info you have on hand to give your story side in a court of the Law the better..

Their justification for it was something like what Jackson said - seems a freelance letterer that had done some of the work on the signs in question now did work for them on occasion also. This cat couldn't design his way out of a wet paper bag either, but the fact he had executed part of it made it a unresolvable grey area. So they were examples of what their part time lettering guy could "render", but they did not claim to have "designed" them. Yeah, right. I believe that one. So I was accused of being an unreasonable hot head, they were accused of things involving incest and animals, and we agreed to despise each other.

Then I had a chat with Mr. Lettering guy.

Seems the competitors had stiffed him on a number of jobs and at best his relationship with them was one of confusion and shifting stories. You get the picture. He was ready to cut them off anyway and agreed to collect his photos on his way out, which he did. Whether they had copies they continued to scam with I do not know. Frankly I stopped paying any attention to them whatsoever. It was hard at first not to speak badly of them (a courtesy they did not return), but it was best for my mental health.

I've screenprinted a lot of awning fabric for a local canvas shop. I have those awnings in my portfolio, but asked the canvas shop first. I can't make awnings anyway, so no real threat there.

They had the kid letter the van....with, what looked like dime store enamels and a craft store brush....and sent him out to paint windows.

And they were just awful!!!!

They were getting jobs all over town, sometimes getting our accounts as well....then someone clued us in that the portfolio they were using to sell those jobs had pictures of our work as well as the other splashers in the area.

So...I got one of the others, who is a good friend, to set up a sting operation at my (ex)husband's work.

We invited the other splashers to come and stay in back till my friend checked out the portfolio to make sure they did indeed have those pics.

As she went through the book, there they were, the whole thing was everything BUT thier own work!!

As she browsed she asked them if they had painted these windows, "Oh, yes!" she claimed all of them as thier's."REALLY??" my friend said.

Even when my she pointed out that this one was signed 'Splash' and this one here said 'Window Graphics'.....

That's when we all came out from the back to confront her and tell her how we didn't appreiciate her using our work to sell thier's.....

Man...you ARE brave!