How to deal with copycats in business
Copycats in business will happily steal your brand identity and creative work. Learn how to protect your company with intellectual property, copyright, and trademark protection.
While we can run from the truth, identity and originality always find a way of returning to claim their rightful owner. As the old sayings go, whether you’re a tiger or a leopard, you can’t change your stripes or spots.
And the same works for businesses. It’s something we like to call the Don Draper effect.
Business copycats will happily steal your brand identity and creative work. Learn how to protect your company with IP, copyright, and trademark protection.
Donald Draper: The Executive Creative Fraudster
Idealised for his creative genius and reckless lifestyle within the flashy advertising industry of 1960s New York, Don Draper from Mad Men is a name associated with searing handsomeness, sharp suits and Cadilac Coupe DeVilles.But behind his chain-smoking Lucky Strike and Rye whiskey addiction lies a truth even the most captivating of his advertising lines could not keep down.Despite winning multiple awards and receiving continual acclaim for his work as an Executive Creative Director for a successful advertising agency in Manhattan, throughout all seven series of the hit US drama, Don Draper had one consistent and perpetual problem.Whatmade Don so good at his job was the weakness australia email list that ultimately left his life in ruins. While he could sell the American dream to his clients in board room pitches, ironically, he never could achieve the equivalent satisfaction in the reality of his own life.
Because his own life
like his identity, was a sham. A fateful decision to steal the facebook users name Don Draper from its rightful owner tore him down and, in part, destroyed his company.
If we can learn anything from Don is that businesses can run the mobile number list same risks. Whether it’s taking a creative idea and displaying it as their own or even stealing another business name, it can lead to costly trademark disputes and IP infringement.
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Worryingly, the Don Draper effect is more common than you may think. Just recently, the iconic UK retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) settled a lawsuit with German-owned supermarket chain Aldi over the design of a classic chocolate cake.
After accusing Aldi of copying the design of their Colin the Caterpillar cake, both parties agreed for Aldi to remove its Cuthbert cake from sale and agree not to sell anything that resembles Colin in the future“The objective of the claim was to protect the IP in our Colin the Caterpillar cake, and we are very pleased with the outcome.”
With Colin accumulating over 15 million cake sales, it shows the power of effective and distinctive design and branding. However, it also serves as a stark reminder to be wary of others who try and piggyback on that success with identical replicas.
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Copycrocs: Crocs wins multiple lawsuits against various “copyclogs”
From cake to clogs. Whatever next. After filing 21 separate lawsuits against companies such as Walmart, Loeffler Randall, and Hobby Lobby Stores, the casual footwear giant Crocs has since received monetary compensation for intellectual property violations.
Crocs have taken multiple big brands to court and received millions in compensation. Not only can stealing intellectual property result in costly financial payouts and legal fees but also severely damage the reputation of a business.