ArtMetal

I'm pretty much in agreement with Ries on this one. You can't really own an "idea", at least in practical terms. Once somebody else sees it, it is out there and available to all. There are some limits. though.

Nobody likes to see his hard work copied, particularly for profit. If the rip-off is exact enough, and it cost you money out of your pocket by costing you the job, then I advocate suing the thief. It will probably cost you more to go after them than you'll ever realize in damage awards, but copyright thieves need to be pursued if any of us are to have any security at all. This applies in the case of design work that is truly copied and then sold, not just taking an idea and working with it.

That said, anybody can take your idea, modify it, do it differently and market it. That's legal. You just have to do it better than they do, or market it better to stay ahead of the game, if you want to keep on selling the same old idea. I prefer to move on to a new idea. I bore easily.

I will (jestingly) say that Ries had just one word in his post that was less than completely correct. Ries said, "...my particular mind..." and it should really have read "my peculiar mind" to be accurate. (grin) Ries comes up with some truly amazing ideas and designs that I wish I had thought of. They make me think of new ways of looking at things, and from that stems new ideas of my own.

I don't feel that I am in competition with anyone here, or anywhere else for that matter. I am only in competition with myself, trying to outdo myself with each new piece or idea. If I post a picture of a piece here or elsewhere, I don;t worry that someone will steal my idea or my design. They may see something they like and take a shot at copying it, and that's okay. If they try to take credit for my work, that's NOT okay. That's plagiarism, any way you look at it, and only small-minded people do that. I don;t really have either the time or the energy to waste on small people. I have too many new ideas I want to pursue to waste my life looking back at old stuff.