[Jewelry making - Article 00304] - Re: [Orchid] What to do about competition spying?

[James White]

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>     Take photos of your original designs. Mail each photo separately
>     to yourself using registered mail. Do not open the letter when you
>     receive it. If you have to go to court, you have the dated,
>     registered envelope with the photo of your work inside. It is only
>     opened by the judge. 

    This is such an ancient piece of fallacy that we have to rebut it two
    or three times a year on Orchid. It lives for several reasons not the
    least of which is that <snip> people want to find a cheap, easy,
    (ego safe) way to beat the real world system which is contained in a
    large body of law known as copyright law. It will be, given the
    discovery process, IMPOSSIBLE to get your sealed envelope opened by a
    judge and worse than that will be that any self-respecting judge or
    juror will KNOW that anyone trying to "beat the system" with such a
    device is A) the guilty party, and B) will also be smart enough to
    FAKE the "sealed envelope" trick. Take 5 envelopes, today is fine,
    put 3 blank sheets of paper in each, tuck the rear flap in, address
    them to yourself and apply postage and drop in any mailbox, receive
    said envelopes and set them aside for the day you need absolute proof
    of some "prior possession" date... NOT! 

>     You will need to register your complaint of competition
>     immediately upon learning of it because of the value of dates
>     involved. If your competitor cannot produce similar photographs
>     that were registered earlier, then your chances of success
>     increase. 

    This is also another total fallacy. The law expressly makes
    copyright and other civil violations statute of limitations run from
    the date of DISCOVERY of the violation, not the date of the
    violation. Worse, there is no place to "register the complaint."
    There is a bunch (and with paid help it can be expensive) of stuff
    you'll need to do and document very careful and eventually get to the
    point of filing a law suit... Will it be worth the time and effort
    just to get there? Only very rarely, very rarely. 

>     This is my first Ganoksin entry. I LOVE this forum and find that I
>     learn so much. 

    Unfortunately what you don't yet understand is that everything you
    hear/read IS NOT correct. Your <snip> friend was NOT a reliable,
    knowledgeable, source of information. Many posters on this forum are
    NOT reliable, knowledgeable sources of information. Luckily, many
    are! But it is always YOU (meaning any specific reader) that must
    sort the wheat from the chaff. There is a reason I NEVER tell anyone
    how to solder or set stones or..., "It is better I be thought
    ignorant on those subjects than open my mouth and remove all
    doubt..." But, of course, I'm knowledgeable enough, and smart enough,
    and secure enough that I can freely admit my ignorance of the vast
    majority of facts actually known to man and only contribute when I
    KNOW I KNOW, not just because I heard something that I can jump in
    and repeat. 

    And welcome to the forum, if you wish----and you make the
    effort---you WILL learn lots---and unlearn lots too sometimes. 

    It's not that photos aren't a good idea. You OWN the copyright in
    each of your works the instant it is in fixed form WITHOUT your
    having to register it or record it or anything. But, of course, what
    you can satisfactorily, to a judge or jury, "PROVE" (makes no
    difference what the actual facts are) for your dates and works is
    important. However a long chain of consistently documented ***and
    witnessed*** photos and other contemporary records (even $45
    copyright registrations with the Library of Congress if you feel the
    business case is warranted---or you need to bring that law suit) or
    your works will be a far more powerful tool in court than some false
    hope that you can spring forth "the sealed envelope" at just the
    right a-la-Perry-Mason moment... Perry Mason was FICTION. Fiction
    with minimal effort at being realistic---the story, heroic win,
    overcoming the odds, saving the day, tear jerking aspects were far
    more important to book sales than reality. (And I loved everyone I
    read and the few I saw on TV too!) 

    You can mine the archives and/or my web sites and the sites they
    link to for far more on the copyright (not to be mixed up with
    trademark) subject. 

James E. White
Inventor, Marketer, and Author of "Will It Sell? How to Determine If
Your Invention Is Profitably Marketable (Before Wasting Money on a
Patent)" Info Sites: www.willitsell.com www.inventorhome.com,
www.idearights.com www.taletyano.com www.booksforinventors.com
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