I'm really nervous...Help?

[Ayla of Duluth]

I guess you guys are right. As long as everyone on this forum knows the designs are mine, I really don't care if someone tries to take credit for them, because everyone here will already know who the real artist is, and that's good enough for me. You guys are my real friends, not someone who tries to take credit for other people's work. :)

Malinghi, the files are .jpg's, I'm not sure what the resolution is [I don't have the pictures on the computer I'm currently using] but it seems like people are able to post pictures much larger than mine.

With new courage and slightly improved faith in the internet community, I republished my facebook page, and you guys can all see my tail designs and post your feedback.

http://www.facebook.com/MermaidWaterWolf/photos

[Ayla of Duluth]

I have a lot on my mind right now and I don't really know where to start with this post, so I'm just gonna say what's on my mind.

For a long time now, [or at least what I consider to be a long time] I've been fascinated with mermaid tails and have been ravenously lurking the forums every day, taking in every last bit of information I can on the subject of making the tails. A few months ago I decided to step up and make my dream a reality. I got my dad behind me, providing the necessary funds to make them out of neoprene and latex.

I've also been making a lot of drawings of tails I want to make, and there were so many that I was proud of, I decided to make a facebook page for Mermaid WaterWolf, so I could basically converge all my ideas onto one site and keep my head on straight through all of the fun times. These flukes are all original ideas of mine, some flukes are like nothing you've ever seen. I've already posted about 6 or 7 tail ideas in the photos section.

Usually to keep people from stealing my ideas, I put a text over the most complicated part of the picture. I did that with these flukes, I put "WaterWolf Designs" over the most detailed parts of the tails to try and deter people from stealing them. But while I was lurking the forums today [don't hate me...] I stumbled across this thread, which made me very alarmed:
http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?1387-Mertailor-At-It-Again!-(WARNING-Drama-Ahead)

After hearing that the mertailor potentially stole the fluke design of a mermaid on this site, I immediately went and unpublished my facebook page before coming here to ask for advice. Because if the mertailor or one of his friends [or anyone, really] is also a lurker on here, I didn't want them to be able to go see my flukes and use them before I had them protected. That's why I'm posting here today.

Has anyone else been nervous to share their tail ideas on here for fear that they would be stolen and used? I've always been careful about posting things on the internet, so hearing that this was happening made me very scared. These tails are something I worked very hard on, I would come home from school every day and run up to my room to draw more tails.

When I made my facebook for Mermaid WaterWolf, I really wanted to share the photos on here, I wanted to get all your feedback on them. But something told me to wait, and I'm glad I did.

I'm coming here to ask you mers for help on protecting my tails. How should I get my tails legally protected so that it would be against the law for anyone else to take credit for the designs? Do I need to get a patent or trademark or get them registered or something like that? I'm really young and have a lot to learn about legalities of things like this, but that's why I turned to you guys. I really didn't know where else to go.

Any advice for a scared little mermaid? :confused:

[New York Mermaid]

I think the best thing to do is put a (c)waterwolf design on you photos.. you can also attach the photos on here instead so guests dont see the photos only members, however you should always put more than one watermark on your photos one highly visible one and 3 barely there but able to be seen ones i usually put 1 or 2 right on the tail and flukes.. but you have to remember just about anything you post on the internet can get stolen..

[Ayla of Duluth]

I tried attaching the photos on here, it said the resolution was too big. no matter how much i cropped them. but i suppose i could cover the tails in watermarks. Do you know anything about legal copyrights? I know i could put the (c) on my photos, but does that make it legally mine, or does there have to be paperwork? i would like to find a way to be able to prove that these designs are mine, just in case worst case scenarios happen with ideas being stolen.
I realize that on the internet, things are likely to be taken without permission, but I would just like to take every step and precaution i can to prevent that from happening.

[Nyx]

I don't have a tail or a solid design yet or anything, but now that I'm planning on it I have the same fear as you.
I was thinking that it would be best to just put a partial picture of the fluke or the scales, instead of showing the complete design; the picture could be sort of like a preview for when you do make the tail.

[MermaidMisty]

The advantage of copyrighting is that it allows you to sue if someone rips you off. You have to fill out some forms, make a copy of your work, and send all that to the copyright office with a fee ($35-$50 I believe).

[malinghi]

I tried attaching the photos on here, it said the resolution was too big. no matter how much i cropped them. but i suppose i could cover the tails in watermarks.

Whats the file type and file size? The size limits for .jpg and .png files is about 900 kb. When you're adding an attachment it should show a list of the size and dimension limits for various file types.


Do you know anything about legal copyrights? I know i could put the (c) on my photos, but does that make it legally mine, or does there have to be paperwork? i would like to find a way to be able to prove that these designs are mine, just in case worst case scenarios happen with ideas being stolen.

Frankly I believe that there is very little people can do to prevent intellectual property theft in this community. What you're describing would probably fall under a patent, not copyright. Copyright prevents unauthorized reproduction of an image, musical composition, piece of literature, or other artistic work. That would stop someone from taking an image and profiting from stealing your drawings and claiming they were theirs.

To protect a design, you'd need to file a patent. But just having a patent doesn't provide that much protection, cause you'd need to be able to enforce it in court. Since I doubt anyone will ever sue over someone copying a fluke shape or a tail color, patents really don't carry much weight. Even if you could sue to enforce them, you'd need to prove that you really should have exclusive right to the design because its unique. But if there are lots of tails that look similar, it would be virtually impossible to prove that yours really is that unique.

Despite all this, don't be discouraged. There are lots of places where people don't have much legal protection against having ideas stolen, but typically it gets exposed and the thief's reputation is damaged. A good example of this would be joke theft, where comedians have their jokes stolen by other comedians. There's really no way to stop it, but comedians simply deal with it the best they can, and people that are caught stealing jokes are humiliated and become pariahs in the comedy community. I think people need to accept the reality of theft in this community, and accept that they can either take their chances with showing ideas, or simply become shut ins. But ultimately it will be alright.

[OrcaMatt]

I think the best thing to do is put a (c)waterwolf design on you photosThat copyrights the photo, not the design.

[Nykur]

WaterWolf, I love the Sea Slug concept it looks amazing!!!;)

[Nemefish]

I guess you guys are right. As long as everyone on this forum knows the designs are mine, I really don't care if someone tries to take credit for them, because everyone here will already know who the real artist is, and that's good enough for me. You guys are my real friends, not someone who tries to take credit for other people's work. :)

Malinghi, the files are .jpg's, I'm not sure what the resolution is [I don't have the pictures on the computer I'm currently using] but it seems like people are able to post pictures much larger than mine.

With new courage and slightly improved faith in the internet community, I republished my facebook page, and you guys can all see my tail designs and post your feedback.

http://www.facebook.com/MermaidWaterWolf/photos

your black mamba is amazing i love it, im jealous of your creativity haha, very nice :D

[Ayla of Duluth]

All my tails were inspired by other fish that I found on google, except for Black Mamba and maybe the frilly Princess tail. Those ideas just kinda poofed into my head.

[Nyx]

I absolutely love love looveee the Black Mamba design.
I can't wait to see it when you actually make it!

[Ayla of Duluth]

I'm excited to start Black Mamba, it'll be interesting trying to make that webbing out of vinyl and see how it bonds to the neoprene. :)

[green52]

I agree with Malinghi. I'm in an academic field, and a professor once gave some advice on idea ownership:

1) Creative production is a process of inspiration and exchange. Our goals should be to protect livelihood and career from the theft of materials that required extensive time and money, not to possess every thought we have as solely belonging to us alone. Make a distinction between DEVELOPED ideas and basic ones. If an idea can be stolen by someone simply seeing it, its probably not so advanced as to justify outrage.

2) Let things go. You should have enough good ideas that the loss of a few isn't a big deal.

3) If you don't want anyone to use your ideas don't share them. You will quickly find, though, that if you're looking for recognition, you can't get it if all your ideas are kept secret. Also, if everyone does this, we lose out as a group. Most good things have been built upon many times to reach their full potential.

[Mermaid Sirena]

Personally I share many things online and there are a great many more that I haven't shared yet. I've always been aware or intellectual theft (as a graphic designer it's intrinsically involved) and have learned from experience just what kind of shapes it can take (outside the mer world).

I don't have a problem sharing my idea's for a few reasons:
1) I know I thought of it first and now every one else does as well.
2) I don't think I'm so special that no one hasn't looked at the fish I am inspired by and thought about making a tail.
3) I KNOW that even if someone does copy my tail design best they can, I WILL make it look better then what they ever could (think about Hannah's tails and how there are so many knock offs just like it, yet hers always look better).
4) I have a great many idea and concepts, if someone takes one that I shared publicly, then I'll just have to move to the next stepping stone to outshine.
5) I can learn from their mistakes and thus make it even better.

Odds are it's eventually going to happen, that's just the way the world works. It's how you react that determines the outcome.