Another rip off

[Alan]

Seems like every time I look through E-bay I find another individual copying and selling my decal line ....... These are NOT Quarter Mile Replicas decals, these are a ripped off copy of decals produced by whoopiekatdecals.com

Just putting it out there 

Alan

whoopiekatdecals.com

[DEL]

I feel for you brother I know exactly what you mean. I absolutely detest bottom feeder losers who have no ability to create anything on their own and only know how to steal from others and copy. You know, the way the Russians do on "The Americans"

Or my take on another Universal adage; those that can do, those that can't STEAL.

Edited September 30, 2018 by DEL

[Bobdude]

Trying to help you out,Alan. I have posted this ripoff on Facebook.

[Yahshu]

Isn't imitation the greatest form of flattery? Yes I do realise that people are losing coin because of imitation but isn't that what copyright is for, to stop this kind of thing happening? I know Bandit resin won't sell to Australian's because someone here copied his work & that's why nobody will every get the 71 Plymouth Scamp I acquired, some of us do respect the original makers rights, it's a pity all's it takes is one to stuff it up for everyone else. 

Edited October 1, 2018 by Yahshu

[peteski]

18 hours ago, Yahshu said:

Isn't imitation the greatest form of flattery?

Imitation is not quite the same as copying.  If they imitated someone's work by making their own master pattern which depicted the same subject as the original, that would be flattery.  But if they acquire someone else's resin item then they make a mold directly from it to make and sell copies, that doesn't seem kosher.  But I suspect that you were making that comment in jest.  Were you?

Chinese copy a lot of products developed by others (who spent lots of money developing the original products).  Is that flattery too?

[ratdoggy]

It does suck that someone feels the need to rip another off.....

Seeing the "Flintstone Flyer" in your post made me want to share these...

The car was based in Massillon Ohio and was owned for a time by the fellow with the orange shirt.. I replaced him when he retired from the plant I manage....
There it is....My connection to a "Flintstone Flyer" 

Edited October 2, 2018 by ratdoggy

[DPNM]

Thanks for posting this Alan. As said, it's low that someone would steal your work.

It is a bit curious to me that it is this decal set you show. I was looking at these on your site a couple of weeks ago. I was thinking of building the Flintstone Flyer Barracuda as I recall seeing the car at PID (Pittsburgh International Dragway), I believe on my 13th birthday which would have been, in 1968.  The car didn't make a pass the day I was there but I did see it in the pits. My friend's Dad was the "wrench" on an FED. I had pit access.

As an aside, the resin body shows on Speed City Resin not to be in stock and not to order one.

[Brutalform]

Every time some legit decals are posted on eBay, this teresawulf steals the design, and sells them. And the quality is terrible. The dummy can’t even reproduce them correctly. A few people that do decals will not even sell on eBay anymore because of this seller. Maybe a watermark of some sort, to make your decals not worth copying by this thief? 

[Yahshu]

17 hours ago, peteski said:

Imitation is not quite the same as copying.  If they imitated someone's work by making their own master pattern which depicted the same subject as the original, that would be flattery.  But if they acquire someone else's resin item then they make a mold directly from it to make and sell copies, that doesn't seem kosher.  But I suspect that you were making that comment in jest.  

It is a tongue in cheek comment. What I don't understand is, there is someone on this forum who is well known who copied someone else's work & all the comments I've seen concerning this copy is praise & no one apart from myself has called this person out. From what I see is no one can copy an American made item but it's ok for Americans to copy someone else's work as long as they don't come from America. Humans are weird. 

[Bucky]

In my opinion, it amounts to counterfeiting. I wonder if trademarking would slow this kind of activity down? How much trouble would that be? I've never researched anything to do with trademarking something. 

[Alan]

20 hours ago, DPNM said:

Thanks for posting this Alan. As said, it's low that someone would steal your work.

It is a bit curious to me that it is this decal set you show. I was looking at these on your site a couple of weeks ago. I was thinking of building the Flintstone Flyer Barracuda as I recall seeing the car at PID (Pittsburgh International Dragway), I believe on my 13th birthday which would have been, in 1968.  The car didn't make a pass the day I was there but I did see it in the pits. My friend's Dad was the "wrench" on an FED. I had pit access.

As an aside, the resin body shows on Speed City Resin not to be in stock and not to order one.

Re Speed City

Scott is doing what he can to keep up. If it is out of stock be patient he is one of the good guy's

Alan

[FredRPG]

On October 2, 2018 at 10:00 PM, Bucky said:

In my opinion, it amounts to counterfeiting. I wonder if trademarking would slow this kind of activity down? How much trouble would that be? I've never researched anything to do with trademarking something. 

Trademarking or copyrights don't apply in this situation. The copyright belongs to the original car owner, or in some cases the artist who came up with the design, depending on their contract. So anyone reproducing the design from the car is responsible for getting the rights to do so.  Someone copying from a decal printer who has the rights to the design could get a cease and desist from the original car owner or designer but not the decal guy.  If you didn't get the rights to reproduce a design and someone duplicates your work, you got nothin.  That being said I still think it's crappy to rip off someone's hard work, the only revenge is to make yours better, so no one wants the crappy rip off.  Now if they are selling bad prints of your decals, as your decals then you can try to sue based on them damaging your reputation or some thing along that line.

[iBorg]

Fred.....first off, very good explanation.  I teach in a Graphic Design/Printing Technology program and cover intellectual property such as copyright, trademarks and patents although not directly related to model cars. Students typically get more into topic discussing music and other forms of pop culture.

Fred's explanation is dead on with one exception. " Someone copying from a decal printer who has the rights to the design could get a cease and desist from the original car owner or designer but not the decal guy. (If the copyright owner assigns exclusive use of their copyright or trademark, this would be the only time the decal guy would be able to get a cease and desist order)   If you didn't get the rights to reproduce a design and someone duplicates your work, you got nothin. 

To go a bit further.

Trademarks apply to corporate goodwill such as trade names like Ford or Chevrolet. A better legal protection for a 1:1 racer might be a registration of their name although if you use a brand name such as Jungle Jim, or Blue Max that can be trademarkable. The use of a driver's name and likeness is considered protected by an individual's ability to control their right of publicity. It has long been held that individuals have the right to control how their likeness, name or image are used. Technically almost all resin casters violate copyright when they reproduce a scale replica of a 1:1 automobile. Even such "dead manufacturers" as American Motors or Hudson live on in trademark, both owned by FCA who bought the prior Chrysler Corporation. Copyrights have a limited life span with several factors the effect their length. Trademarks last as long as they're considered in use. That's a rather nebulous term. For example the old Topper Toy trademark of Johnny Lightning was considered abandoned and Playing Mantis was able to reuse the JL name. They tried to do the same with the Sizzler name, only to be rebuked by Mattel. I believe this is one reason we see exclusive runs of limited edition toys at chains such as Target during the holidays.

[dimaxion]

On 10/2/2018 at 1:43 PM, ratdoggy said:

It does suck that someone feels the need to rip another off.....

Seeing the "Flintstone Flyer" in your post made me want to share these...

The car was based in Massillon Ohio and was owned for a time by the fellow with the orange shirt.. I replaced him when he retired from the plant I manage....
There it is....My connection to a "Flintstone Flyer" 

Yes , copying is just not right . Making a Competing variation  is so different . Ouch .. Wow .. 

     About the Flintstone Flyer ? Did this have or did have a '57 MY Supercharger Stud Mill ? I will share this about a High School Student I attended with him and knew . His Father , when he saw the Engine in his brand Spanking New '65 Mustang in April '64 , he smiled and said to his son . Hmm .. 289 with how many tiny horses . I knew we could do better and dug out a Supercharger from a '57 Stud Golden Hawk . The rest is History . He campaigned the Car weekly for years . When Match Racing was New as were Funny cars he did amazing runs . He had to spot Funny Cars and still shut them down .  Thank you for jogging memories . Studs and I are forever connected .   Thanx .. 

[Dave Van]

On 10/2/2018 at 5:15 PM, Brutalform said:

Every time some legit decals are posted on eBay, this teresawulf steals the design, and sells them. And the quality is terrible. The dummy can’t even reproduce them correctly. A few people that do decals will not even sell on eBay anymore because of this seller. Maybe a watermark of some sort, to make your decals not worth copying by this thief? 

That ebay seller, they changed their name about 1-2 years ago, is the biggest decal copier on the earth. They ordered most of my decals, one each of what I made, but by magic are able to resell multiples of said decals. Only issue is they don't do the white 99% of the time. (I didn't know who they were at the time) 

Sorry to say but welcome to the club!!! 

[echoxrayniner]

4 hours ago, Dave Van said:

That ebay seller, they changed their name about 1-2 years ago, is the biggest decal copier on the earth. They ordered most of my decals, one each of what I made, but by magic are able to resell multiples of said decals. Only issue is they don't do the white 99% of the time. (I didn't know who they were at the time) 

Sorry to say but welcome to the club!!! 

Holy hells bells this explains why someone had a copy of my decals, half faded with dull colors and choppy edges as if it were lifted straight from a low resolution scan and printed by a home printer(no whites and red hue gray instead of silver), some poor soul that scored the badly made copy first thought it was actually one of mine because the placement on the paper was 99% identical.

Man... I mean theres no stopping these people but you'd think they atleast give it a shred of effort hiding the origin.

Edited December 24, 2018 by echoxrayniner

[Paul Hettick]

Call EBay and report the theft. They will put a stop to it. If the person you speak with won't do anything about it ask to speak to a supervisor. 8665403229

[Dave Van]

2 minutes ago, Paul Hettick said:

Call EBay and report the theft. They will put a stop to it. If the person you speak with won't do anything about it ask to speak to a supervisor. 8665403229

Been there....done that. Next listing he took the copies of my decals, cut them, rearranged them and said they were his now. ebay seemed to go with that.