Help! Someone Stole My Pin Badge Designs

There's nothing worse than spending ages coming up with creative pin badge designs, paying to manufacture your badges, building your business, and cultivating a loyal following on social media, only for some moustache-twizzling, stripey jumper-wearing art thief to come along and half-inch your creations to sell them for a fraction of the cost on Ali-Express. 

But what can you do to prevent it from happening?

What can you do if it does happen?

And what measures do Made by Cooper have in place to ensure your designs are safe with us?

Let's find out.

What is Art Theft (Copyright Infringement)?

Copyright infringement happens when someone copies and uses a pin badge design without the creator’s permission. If you create original artwork for a pin, you automatically own the copyright. When someone takes that design (whether identical or with slight changes) and produces or sells it as their own, that’s a breach of your rights.

Infringement harms creators by causing financial loss and diluting their brand. Common actions include copying unique illustrations, characters, or logos and selling them without a license. To protect your work, you can register your designs, issue cease and desist letters, file DMCA takedowns, or take legal action.

How to Stop Your Enamel Pin Designs Getting Stolen

The sad fact of the matter is that you can never truly stop an art thief if they really want to pinch your creations.

A motivated pin plagiariser will find a way to copy your badges if they want to. The only surefire way your designs will not be copied is if you NEVER post pictures of them online.

And that's just bad for business.

However, just because it's an uphill task to stop them doesn't mean you should make it easy for them, either. Here are a few preventative measures that might make these digital burglars leave your property alone and move on to the next chump.

Here's what you can do:

• Watermark Your Designs: Watermarking your images is like locking your car doors to stop someone from stealing it. Car thieves know how to circumnavigate locks, and badge bandits know how to overcome watermarks. However, if these digital highwaymen have a choice between the two, they'll always go for designs without watermarks as the easier option.
• Limit Online Sharing: If watermarking is like locking your doors, then limiting the places your pin badges are shared is like never driving your car, which is not ideal. If no one sees your designs, no one can steal them, right? True, but no one will buy them either.
• Get Creative With Your Photos: If you absolutely must share images of your products, don't take the shots face-on, as that's the easiest way for enamel embezzlers to rip off your ideas. Get creative with the angles and backdrops of your photos. Don't make their villainous crimes too easy.
• Use Ethical Manufacturers: Some enamel badge makers are as unscrupulous as the pin pirates themselves and won't think twice about using your moulds to create a batch of your beautiful badges to sell cheaply on other websites. Find yourself a manufacturer you trust. More on that later.

Steps to Take If Your Designs Are Stolen

You may feel powerless if you discover that some unscrupulous urchin has stolen your pin badge designs. However, there are steps you can take to protect your rights and potentially recover losses.

Here's your checklist:

• Document Everything: The first step is to gather evidence. Document every instance of theft you find. Take screenshots of the stolen design in use, note the URL or physical location where the design is being used, and compare it with your original work. The more information you collect, the stronger your case will be.
• Verify the Theft: Before proceeding, ensure that the design is indeed yours and that it’s being used without your permission. Sometimes, similar designs can be coincidental, especially if they are inspired by popular culture or trends. Make sure your design is unique and proprietary to avoid any misunderstandings.
• Contact the Infringer: Reach out to the person or company using your design. Keep your communication professional and polite. Sometimes, they might not be aware that the design was stolen, especially if they acquired it from a third party. Clearly state your ownership of the design and request they cease using it immediately.
• Send a Cease and Desist Letter: If the initial contact does not resolve the issue, you may need to send a formal cease and desist letter. This is a legal document that demands the infringer stop using your designs. You can draft this letter yourself or hire a lawyer to ensure it’s correctly formatted and legally sound.      

How Does Made by Cooper Prevent Design Theft?

If you decide to use Made by Cooper to make your pin badges (and we think you should), we guarantee your designs will be safe with us.

Once we've created your visual (using our free design service), you're happy, you've signed it off, and your badges have gone into production, we won't touch your files again until you're ready to re-order (you can get a discount using our Encore programme) and we definitely won't send them to anyone else.

We've been in this game for a long time, and our factory partners are the best in the business. Our continued partnership requires that the factory hangs onto the moulds of each design so that we can manufacture any re-orders in double-quick time, but under no circumstances are they permitted to use them outside of creating your order.

As a business, we share pictures online of the products we've created for our clients to showcase our talents and to help promote their businesses.

Because if they're doing well, then so are we.

However, if our clients request that we don't post images of their pin badges (to stop the design from being stolen or for any other reasons), then we'll refrain from doing so ... no questions asked.

While we can't do anything more to prevent art theft after you've unveiled your pin badges to the world, you can rest assured that any leaks will not come from us.

And if you implement everything we've spoken about today, you'll stand the best chance of keeping your designs as safe as possible.

Are you ready to create?

Contact our friendly (and secure!!) sales team today, and we'll get to work on your next amazing design.