kauffman21 32 Posted March 4, 2014 Hey everyone, I have a question that someone here that's more facebook friendly than I am might know the answer to. Ok so here's the situation, I have a former customer that has since bought a heat press and vinyl cutter and are now trying to take customers from me. Now for the most part I'm not worried as they obviously have no clue what they are doing, however they are on my facebook page and stealing all of our ideas, pictures, and setting their prices by our prices. So my question is, is there a way to block someone from my business's facebook page? They have "liked" our page and I can't for the life of me find out how to make them disappear lol. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SeeJaysPlace 476 Posted March 4, 2014 Well that just sucks.. I'm going to look into this.. cause there might be a few i want to take off of mine Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
3barefoot 52 Posted March 4, 2014 From your admin panel: Click See Likes in the Get More Likes section Click x next to the person you want to ban Check the Ban Permanently box and click Okay 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OWJones 1,981 Posted March 4, 2014 You can also send them a politely worded Cease & Desist letter pointing out that they are committing copyright violations by illegally duplicating your designs and making use of your work. Tell them your next step, should they fail to immediately stop, is to retain a lawyer specializing in commercial copyright violatI on and suing them. Remind them that if this is their hobby/business and not currently organized and operated as an LLC or other protected from of corporation at the time of the violations, then when you sue them they risk losing their home, vehicles and any other property they may own if the can not afford to pay the incredibly high fines associated with willful commercial copyright violations. Also politely point out that they will be financially responsible for all court costs and your attorney fees (and copyright lawyers are NOT cheap) should you win, and since you have dated photos of your work and screenshots of their Facebook page (you DO have screenshots, right?) you will have no difficulty proving copyright violation. The fines for copyright violation range from $750 - $30,000 PER VIOLATION, and Wilful Copyright Violation (i.e., I stole your design and used it knowing it was your design and just don't care) is up to $150,000 per violation. If they stole 3 of your designs and have used them, they could be liable for up to half a million dollars in total legal fees/fines. NOTE: The odds of you ever winning a half million dollars are so remote as to be negligble... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kauffman21 32 Posted March 4, 2014 You can also send them a politely worded Cease & Desist letter pointing out that they are committing copyright violations by illegally duplicating your designs and making use of your work. Tell them your next step, should they fail to immediately stop, is to retain a lawyer specializing in commercial copyright violatI on and suing them. Remind them that if this is their hobby/business and not currently organized and operated as an LLC or other protected from of corporation at the time of the violations, then when you sue them they risk losing their home, vehicles and any other property they may own if the can not afford to pay the incredibly high fines associated with willful commercial copyright violations. Also politely point out that they will be financially responsible for all court costs and your attorney fees (and copyright lawyers are NOT cheap) should you win, and since you have dated photos of your work and screenshots of their Facebook page (you DO have screenshots, right?) you will have no difficulty proving copyright violation. The fines for copyright violation range from $750 - $30,000 PER VIOLATION, and Wilful Copyright Violation (i.e., I stole your design and used it knowing it was your design and just don't care) is up to $150,000 per violation. If they stole 3 of your designs and have used them, they could be liable for up to half a million dollars in total legal fees/fines. NOTE: The odds of you ever winning a half million dollars are so remote as to be negligble... Wow, great post. Yes I do have screen shots of their page, and thanks to all that responded I now permanently banned their personal account and their business account. Me personally, I know that by looking at their work, they can't compete with us but I'm worried that in our area they will screw up the business. Meaning that they will screw customers over with bad product and in the end people will be hesitant to order from us based on that they have been screwed over by them. My wife on the other hand is mad beyond belief because these people were our friends, and she saw on her own personal facebook timeline where they had contacted other people who are our customers and friends and are trying to lure them away. I know the quality of work will sell its self, so I have no worries there. What I don't like is that they are stealing our pictures, ideas, and our prices. Thanks guys, maybe it's time I go get a lawyer and type up some C&D's for this and future use. I knew this would happen eventually, just never thought it would be someone we used to consider a friend. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jaybyrd 3,770 Posted March 5, 2014 Be happy they didn't cut the price by half while they were at it. If you have a good idea somebody is always going to try and "borrow" it to benefit them so what this means is you have several goods ideas that were worthy of "borrowing". Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mr300s 1,272 Posted March 5, 2014 You call also use this to help. If they are new they probably wont know how to get rid of it and cant use your image, its free http://www.watermarktool.com/ 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blackpaws 18 Posted March 5, 2014 What you are describing sounds sort of similar to something that happened to us last year. We attend flea markets selling only vinyl decal stuff, and there was another guy set up next to us selling laser engraved wood stuff. His stuff looked really nice, but was really dated so he was slow all day and we were busy. Anytime we were free between customers he'd come over and talk to us about what we do and asked if he could take pictures of our stuff to "show his wife". Needless to say, the next show he's set up with a display IDENTICAL to ours selling the same exact stuff. It was a nightmare to say the least. People thought we were affiliated because his stuff looked just like ours.He was also bad mouthing us and saying we copied him, so he was hurting our reputation. Aside from him, I've had 2 original designs copied from me on Ebay over the last year. So that makes 3 instances total (that I know of) of people copying me in the last year. The most recent one was 2 weeks ago, I sent them a C&D and they took their stuff down, but I decided it's time to get serious. These people hurt my livelihood by stealing my ideas, and it's just a horrible feeling to by nature be a creative person and watch scum bags so effortlessly copy me. So I do have an appointment set up with an attorney next week who specializes in patents, copyrights and IP matters. If I learn anything worth while, I will be sure to start a thread on here and share my info with you all. Which I better learn something for $220/hour and we have a 1 hour meeting scheduled. I just want to be able to protect my original creative work, in some way shape or form. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gcextreme 475 Posted March 6, 2014 That sucks man. I kind of started the same way. I would design stuff and sell it but had to have my local large shop cut and make it for me. After two years of sending them my designs and buying from them to resell, i decided to buy my own cutter and make them myself. I am still friends with the owner of the other big shop, so no hard feelings. I was new to cutting, not new to designing. We shouldnt shun someone for no longer being our customer and trying to open up their own shop and be an entrepreneur. But when they steal our hard work thats a diff story. Everyone on this forum is essentially "competitors"..but we offer each other help and advice and even share files. I would confront them and tell them, welcome to the business and tell them if they need any advice or tips you will gladly offer it..but they need to learn to create their own artwork and not use yours. And remember...your customers will continue to come to you because of your quality and customer service. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
