cattlepress
New Member
I'm an independant leathercrafter located in NYC. I design all kinds of leather products, most notably, bags, belts and sandles. I have a relationship with an owner of a showroom in NY that represents my work. Individuals or companies approach the showroom and request custom made products.
Approximately a year ago, I created a series of sandles of my design and invention to represent samples that the owner of the showroom planned to present to J.CREW. I was paid approx. $400 for each sample. After having neglected to follow up with the owner of the showroom, I walked into a J.CREW retail store to find that the Spring catalog contained 3-4 sandles that were exact replicas of my samples.
The facts are that I had never pursued a copyright, trademark or patant for my designs as the owner of the showroom reasured me it was unnecessary(stupid, I know). But I do have invoices for the sandles, photos, emails and a friend that during this time worked for the showroom but now no longer.
Is there anything I can do?
Approximately a year ago, I created a series of sandles of my design and invention to represent samples that the owner of the showroom planned to present to J.CREW. I was paid approx. $400 for each sample. After having neglected to follow up with the owner of the showroom, I walked into a J.CREW retail store to find that the Spring catalog contained 3-4 sandles that were exact replicas of my samples.
The facts are that I had never pursued a copyright, trademark or patant for my designs as the owner of the showroom reasured me it was unnecessary(stupid, I know). But I do have invoices for the sandles, photos, emails and a friend that during this time worked for the showroom but now no longer.
Is there anything I can do?
