Competitor using image of our work

[aderbyshirelad]

Morning. This is more a gripe than a question but here goes. Yesterday a client was showing me a sales brochure from a competitor and as he scrolled through I saw a picture of our work clearly being passed of as theirs.

Now there are now IP or patents applicable here and I always think imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but it irked me. In reality it won’t cause us any harm or detriment but the more I think about it the more the basic principle bugs me.

Now they’re much bigger than us and we don’t have any legal expertise in the company. Should I just move on and laugh it off or should I ask them to - well, to what?!? I’m not expecting or seeking any compensation and although an apology would be nice I know one won’t be forthcoming.

So, what would you do?

Thanks

[Insurancejon]

I’d speak to Patently on here….he’s a damn good IP lawyer at Downing IP

[trickywoo]

Is it your picture or a picture they have taken?

Even though it’s your work it would be easier to do something if they have used your picture than if they have taken their own.

[duncs]

Take a photo of their offending brochure page and use it in your own brochure and/or website, with the caption of 'imitation = flattery' etc.

They may not like it but what are they going to do?

[aderbyshirelad]

Thanks for the replies so far.

Interesting question on whose image it is so I’ve been through my archive and I’m 99% sure it’s mine! No I am annoyed. Thing is though, I have no idea how they got it? It’s not on our socials as far as I can see, but there are really distinguishing features that must mean it’s our pic.

Off to look in the email archive as we did send them some images as part of a pitch we made to them.

[aderbyshirelad]

A quick update:

Found where they’ve lifted the image from - our website.

Any grounds for sending an invoice for image rights 🤔

Thanks

[anonymous-user]

duncs said:

Take a photo of their offending brochure page and use it in your own brochure and/or website, with the caption of 'imitation = flattery' etc.

They may not like it but what are they going to do?

This.

Splash it all over social media with the caption "Our work is so good, others like to pretend it is their work"

Make sure you tag them in it. This would have far more of an impact than sending them an invoice for £1000 or whatever, and would certainly cause you to receive more publicity.

(as long as you don't plan on working with them any time soon)

[bigandclever]

Back in the day, unscrupulous people used to hotlink to other people's website images. So the innocent party used to just change the actual image for that link (let's say it was a picture of some puppies) and the next thing the unscrupulous lot knew was an image of 'Don't nick our stuff' was displayed. Or something horrific

[Grrbang]

You could try asking nicely first, as if it was an honest mistake.

If they don't take it down, a cease and desist would probably be needed, alleging copyright infringement and maybe even 'reverse passing off'.

[ReverendCounter]

Some advice, try not to let this become the main business problem you currently need to solve before you can move forward.

Try to see it as a side issue that can be dealt with on an 'as and when' basis, otherwise it could become something saps your energy, time and money and takes your focus from developing your business.

[VEIGHT]

I had something similar happen.

I didn't know of this other company however they had links to another business that I was interested in.

I called up and asked to speak to the director. I was friendly and said they were using my images and that whilst I was speaking to my legal team (I didn't have one) I wanted it removed. As expected they were apologetic and didn't want it to escalate and said sorry for the error of judgement and there was ANYTHING they could do to put it right just let him know.

I got an intro to this other business that I wanted to deal with.

Just another angle, keep your friends close and all that!

[Louis Balfour]

aderbyshirelad said:

Morning. This is more a gripe than a question but here goes. Yesterday a client was showing me a sales brochure from a competitor and as he scrolled through I saw a picture of our work clearly being passed of as theirs.

Now there are now IP or patents applicable here and I always think imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but it irked me. In reality it won’t cause us any harm or detriment but the more I think about it the more the basic principle bugs me.

Now they’re much bigger than us and we don’t have any legal expertise in the company. Should I just move on and laugh it off or should I ask them to - well, to what?!? I’m not expecting or seeking any compensation and although an apology would be nice I know one won’t be forthcoming.

So, what would you do?

Thanks

It's rife.

For reasons that still elude me, we once had a competitor use our web address on their business cards. So they were passing off using the entirety of our online marketing.

We won tens of thousands of pounds of business as a result.

Bizarre.

[matrignano]

How can it be a honest mistake to download a picture from a competitor's website and then use it in your own marketing material???
I'd go for the social media "so good that others copy it" campaign

[Frimley111R]

Louis Balfour said:

It's rife.

For reasons that still elude me, we once had a competitor use our web address on their business cards. So they were passing off using the entirety of our online marketing.

We won tens of thousands of pounds of business as a result.

Bizarre.

Bizarre indeed!

[aderbyshirelad]

Grrbang said:

You could try asking nicely first, as if it was an honest mistake.

If they don't take it down, a cease and desist would probably be needed, alleging copyright infringement and maybe even 'reverse passing off'.

This will certainly be our first course of action. It's probably some lazy sales / design person who would get into trouble for being, well, lazy...

I don't think there's anything more underhand than this. They're so disorganised, they probably don't even know its not their own work - apart from the fact that the quality surpasses anything they could produce themselves - but I would say that

Thing is, how do we know they have ceased using it??

[aderbyshirelad]

ReverendCounter said:

Some advice, try not to let this become the main business problem you currently need to solve before you can move forward.

Try to see it as a side issue that can be dealt with on an 'as and when' basis, otherwise it could become something saps your energy, time and money and takes your focus from developing your business.

Certainly not going to be losing any sleep over it! We have plenty more important things to be getting on with!

[aderbyshirelad]

Louis Balfour said:

It's rife.

For reasons that still elude me, we once had a competitor use our web address on their business cards. So they were passing off using the entirety of our online marketing.

We won tens of thousands of pounds of business as a result.

Bizarre.

These guys are certainly incompetent enough to pull off such a masterstroke of business strategy, but so far, sadly they've managed to avoid doing so...

[StevieBee]

It's more than likely the work of a lazy designer than the company.... Google Image search, find a suitable pic, right click to save image to desktop and job done. May never have actually gone to your site.

You'd like to think that the company would spot something that isn't there's and an email to them wouldn't do any harm.

[Louis Balfour]

StevieBee said:

It's more than likely the work of a lazy designer than the company.... Google Image search, find a suitable pic, right click to save image to desktop and job done. May never have actually gone to your site.

You'd like to think that the company would spot something that isn't there's and an email to them wouldn't do any harm.

Theirs You are our ex web designer and I claim my five pounds.

Yes, he used to blame auto correct too.

[Simpo Two]

aderbyshirelad said:

A quick update:

Found where they’ve lifted the image from - our website.

Assume you took the photo? (and didn't swipe it from somewhere else lol)