What Do You Think I Should Do?

[james1760]

i have just found out that the body shop that did my car made a mould of the veilside kit i gave them to put on mine and is selling the bumpers which has pi55ed me right off as the car was in there an extra month proberbly becuse of this.

i have spoke to the person i bought the kit off and it wasnt copyrighted so he is legal to do it..

just annoying that i gave them the kit to fit too my car and not to copy so they can make a few quid out of it.

[Demonic Angel]

Not a lot you can do I'm afraid - like you said - its not copywrighted so legally they can copy it and do whatever they like!

Is it a one-off unique kit or is it currently mass-produced? I understand why you're miffed, but theres a lot of market in body kits, especially new styles.

Still - look on the bright side - your copied bumper will make other car owners happy - and that was down to you taking it in there!

[nrgizerbunny]

well i had a lecture on law and stuff, i admit i wasn't paying that much attention but the bloke we had said as soon as you put pen to paper its copyrighted, you just have to prove that it was your design in the first place.

write them a letter and say your off to trading standards. Oh and name and shame the bodyshop so we can not give them custom - scumbags

[alanbradley]

That's right - its all about "prior artwork". Any sketches you do of bodykits and stuff (basically, anything that can be described as "product") that you want people to bake for you should be signed and dated. Any sketches that you give to people should at the least be dated and preferably signed and dated and you should keep the original yourself. Best of all, write "copyright Your Name 03/04/05" at the bottom and - ta da - you're copyrighted it.

All this stuff is covered by a recent design protection law (I can't remember the specifics). I'm not sure about your specifics and if you want more guidance you'll have to see a patent or copyright lawyer.

Good luck with whatever your course of action. Personally, I would just leave it and know better the next time

A

This post is ©Alan Bradley 03/04/05

[james1760]

it was a veilside kit which is proberbly an illigal copy off a real one anyway.

i doubt i can do anything legal about it. its just very annoying that i give them a £600 bodykit and they copy it for themselves

[stevetubbyturbo]

If you could prove that the extra month was to copy the boby kits you could have them for holding your car whilst they were lining their pockets at your expence and for loss of the use of your vehicle.

[james1760]

doubt i could prove that though

thanks for the suggestion

[Robie]

Go and speak to them. They might give you some money back if you complain enough, explaining your car was in there for too long..

[GIDDLEPIN]

Why don't you go in and say that the kit you let them fit was a rip off copy, that you're under investigationfrom the manufacturers company and if anybody goes round to ask them about your dealings with them, they should plead ignorance, then leave fairly quickly.

They might panic and destroy any moulds or copies they already have

[cfc1]

Another case of rip off britain......

Another note on the copyright thing.. sign, date and post it to yourself.. when it gets delivered, don't open it.

[Ken]

Send an e-mail to Veilside telling them what's happened and don't forget to send them the bodyshop's address ;)

[kimi]

Send an e-mail to Veilside telling them what's happened and don't forget to send them the bodyshop's address ;)

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now thats a very good idea Ken

[jerry phipps]

Send an e-mail to Veilside telling them what's happened and don't forget to send them the bodyshop's address ;)

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Now that will put the frighteners on them ah ;)

jerry!!

[cfc1]

If Veilside haven't copyrighted the design.. the surely there won't be much they can do either.

[scionic]

Send an e-mail to Veilside telling them what's happened and don't forget to send them the bodyshop's address ;)

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Exactly.

That was going to be my suggestion.

Better yet, find a number for their sales outlet in Britain if they have one and call them directly.

[System~G]

Send an e-mail to Veilside telling them what's happened and don't forget to send them the bodyshop's address ;)

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Nice idea, but how's it going to look when the kit is a Veilside copy anyway? <_<

[james1760]

yep unfortunatly the kit was imported from the hills of blackburn rather than japan so i dont really have a leg to stand on.

just found out he is making moulds out of other peoples bodykits as well. a girl i know is having a widebody kit put on a corsa as well as an f150 vent whichsince he has recived the vent he is now selling them

[Razor_Rage]

Veilside doesn't have to know your kit is not the real thing...you could of bought it from e-bay where it stated it was an authentic kit etc..

[Moffmo]

err, stay annoymous, say there is a bodyshop selling copies of your kit, you dont have to say that you were the one that gave them the kit they copied....

[dicey2k]

This post is ©Alan Bradley 03/04/05

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The best way to actually prove that you designed something on a particular date is to put paper copies in an envelope, seal it, sign across the seal overlap and tape across that, then post it to yourself and never open the envelope. We do that at work for the websites and custom systems developed in the office that we use. The postmark then shows the date of posting, and it's franked so its pretty a sure thing, and providing you don't break the seal in any way you're laughing!

Technically, if someone designs a kit or anything for that matter, providing they have dated drawings and can prove they designed it on that date, then its automatically copyrighted!!