Women's Network Australia Blog

Seems like it is very common from all of these posts. I recently saw a product in the delis that atrracted my attention. Why? - It now bears the name that I recommended the company use when they came to me for branding and marketing advice. They looked at the presented proposal, said it wasnt what they were after - and then they went and used it - albeit a year or so later. I've been advised to send an invoice. What do other ladies think?

I guess business is busines and to be the best you will have to safe guard yourself. I am involved in releaseing a world first into the market place and while every step has been taken to stop 'copycats' some great conglomerate will work with their masses of services and endless millions to recreate the same product with their name on it and it will have a competitor and consumers will have a choice. We as consumers always push for a choice

Hi Lynette,

Oh! Here's an idea to expose those who choose the Path of Wrath - Why don't we have a new annual award, "Copy-Catty of the Year" Award!?

"..."Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde...

Oh yes, I have had a major, totally unique idea stolen right before my eyes, but I guess I'll tell you in 60 Minutes... you'll just have to wait...

...Remember one and all to have fun; relax and enjoy your life, after all, "What goes around comes around"! :)

Warm regards,

Jill Damerow

Jill Damerow? Formerly of Oakleigh,Brighton, Housing and Hobart?
I hope its you. Looking everywhere,
Wendy Morrison, still in the whitepages, in the same place, but doing things differently.

The sad fact of the matter is that unless you really know who you are talking to and have signed a confidential agreement before discussing your ideas, nothing is safe - not even your idea for a cook book that you have been discussing with successful business women as an added extra to your cooking workshops - personal experience, those who steal ideas should be careful who they steal from.

If anyone had the pleasure to watch Australian story last night then you you will have seen how a small David can take on an enormous Goliath.

Ric Richardson successfully defended Micro....'s infringement of his patent. A very inspiring story. I loved what his wife said about the money they were awarded in the judgement- 'after all you can only live in one house and drive one car'. Check it out.
http://www.abc.net.au/austory/specials/thebigde...
Highly recommended for all those who had a good/great idea and failed to or successfully patented that idea.

I spoke to the patent's office and found that when one writes anything either an article or a book - no matter what the domain is (unless you were commissioned to write the piece), copyright rests with the author and it is sufficient to indicate that the copyright rests with you for you to successfully defend that copyright.
Cheers
vicki

My understanding is there is no copyright on titles for books, films and song. Thus you get "For Whom the Bell Tolls" a song by the Bee Gees and a novel by Hemingway. Also, "Roy Orbison's song "Pretty Woman" made into a film."American Pie" - movie and song. When you think about it, there are lots ...
Anne Thompson

My story is about how as a small player in our industry we came up with the idea to have a charity donation each quarter for our customers (charity of their choice). Then at Christmas time our largest competitor decided that they would not send out Christmas cards, but would donate the money instead to a charity of their choice. I took this two fold - (i) annoyed because they were almost copy catting my fresh idea and pretending it was their own; and (ii) flattered, as they had not thought of this in 80 years of business and I had been in business for a year.
So we can look at it two ways. As mentioned above if you focus on your business and how to be the best you can be, it shines through!

As a Chef I have seen many times over Chef's stealing recipes & ideas then flog it as their own original recipe. It seems to be a common practice in hospitality & perhaps other industries. Look at the many times you would have seen Sticky Date Pudding on Menus. Need I say any more.
As far as stealing business names & ideas I think is really sad that someone was too lazy to come up with their own business name.
However, those who have come up with the original idea, I agree on what has been previously written. It is your unique idea at the time & so it is you who has the true passion to continue building it. I see the scenario as it is you who isn't sure it may work in the first place. Isn't it good business sense to be prepared to tweak the idea in case it doesn't work?
I see this sort of situation as allowing you to be kept on your toes. Perhaps it can allow you to shine & bring your own magic & uniqueness into the business which makes you even more successful in ways you could never have imagined in the first place.
Julie-Ann Booth
The Wholesome Food Coach

I am the owner and founder of Nine50 Silver Jewellery. The first wholesale business in Australia selling High Quality Peruvian Silver Jewellery.
Every week I receive enquiries regarding my product in which people request catalogues and pricing etc. I have no doubt that many are people trying to use my images, pricing and source my suppliers.
Im not concerned as I was ripped off many times in my early days dealing with South American suppliers. I have since travelled to Peru and forged excellent trade relationships with my suppliers. There are so many things to learn when dealing with a developing country not to mention import tax, hidden costs etc.
I am also learning Spanish and plan to open my own factory in Peru to ensure Fair Trade practices (part of my longer term plans).
It really annoys me that people can so blatantly lie to basically steal what has been years of work for me.
There are a couple of Proverbs I love.....
Proverbs 10:4 Lazy people are soon poor; hard workers get rich.
Proverbs 13:4 Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper and be satisfied.
The people who are stealing ideas will never prosper from them. They lack the vision and passion which first birthed the business' they aspire to copy. Without vision and passion.....their efforts will always lack that special edge.
Lee-Ann Kelly
Nine50
Australia

There is too sides to this story when it comes to copycats and we have experienced both. My husband created an environmental product that was a bit funky. In a very short period of time someone had copied it and tried to launch the exact same product. We looked into the legal avenues open to us as it was a trademarked product, but we decided against it because what it boils down to is your brand and the customer experience and I don't think it gets any better than with the person with the original concept and idea in the first place. Though this company is still around his lack of enthusiasm for the product (because he did not own the idea) has made it a complete flop for him. While for us we are now in over 24 countries around the world. In this digital age where an idea is only original for about 3 mths if you are lucky ...it is better to focus on being a leader in your market, about the customer experience with your product and not focus on what other people are doing. If you are a leader and an innovator your idea will shine every time.

That is how I see it. Great article thanks for sharing.

Pam Brossman
Emotive Marketing Queen

I believe you are right Kathie, ideas cannot be patented and I'm not entirely sure but I think the "Four ingredient recipe" idea was around for some time (I myself have a "Four Ingredient" recipe book originally published in 2002 by a different author (I'm not sure when these 2 ladies' book was published). So, ideas may not be able to be completely "original" but how you create your business around the idea can be.

Cheers
Chrissy

Unfortunately ideas can't be patented. If they could, I would have done so years ago.

I've had people copy my business ideas, format and even the idea of my business name. And where did I get the idea for my business name? From an old TV advert - so even I wasn't original. But I was original in the way I used it and what I did with it.

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery - maybe so, but I wish more people would work to get 'original' ideas instead of copying what others do and then work to attract the same audience. Why don't they go find their own?

Dear Lynette,

Wow! Thank you for your letter this month ... It certainly hit a chord with me. Congrat's to Kelly too!

As you probably may have noticed I have been laying low for a while... My visions and dreams were shattered not once but twice this year, by two 'Women?' believe it or not, whom I knew well and whom I shared my dreams and ideas with in confidence.
Yes, I’m keeping on and have delivered a few workshops and been to a few events, but my trust in other women at present is at a low, I hate to admit.

Both of the women in question must have thought I was on a good thing, which initially I kinda took as a compliment. But hang on! I thought ‘This is not right’. My very unique and close to my heart ideas were snatched from me and both of them have run with them. This is my livelihood and I have worked hard for this.

One copied my whole presentation and packaging concept and was cheeky enough to have MY NAME printed on her expo badges to ride on my reputation by telling her customers that I actually worked for her business.

The organizers of high profile event were nice enough to inform me, knowing that I do all my work with love and integrity. The other I allowed to come along to an event with me and she took my core coaching concept ( self designed) and applied it to her business. Don't worry! I'm not letting this beat me... I have a new product range, new books and a magazine all launching within the next 6 months... Wooohoo! Look out world here I come.

This is of course, I believe totally unacceptable and all I can say is ' I believe in Karma ... what goes around comes around'... They’ll get theirs back, I’m sure ... I have to ask. Where's their integrity?

What happened to a supportive sisterhood I ask?... Aren’t we all about nurturing the feminine creative individual spirit of each woman? Let’s give support to our sisters in their creative business endeavours. Inspiration comes from within.

Love Lea. x
Author of Attitude Goddess, creatrix of Goddess Spirit wellbeing product range and CIO of Women with Attitude.

Very poignant! Last FY we fought 92 cases of copy cats at Mini Movers. Because our trade marking was strong we are now down to 2 nationally, 1 of which is a blatant straight out copy "Mini Movers Cairns". A warning, don't skimp on the Trademarking attorney!

Thanks for commenting on the problem of copy cats! I recently had a woman from NZ get in touch with me. She has started a jobs board for mums and wanted to see if we could promote each other's businesses. I don't get too concerned if they are in a different country, but when I visited her website, most of the content was from CareerMums - in some cases, word for word.

Obviously there will be no relationship forthcoming.