Help! Kotaku are using my shirt design! [SOLVED]

Willeth

So, this is a bit of a weird problem. I'm sure a lot of you are Kotaku readers, and I'm sure that you've found out by now that they're finally selling a shirt, something they've wanted to do for ages. The design they are selling is heavily based on a design I provided them with. Here's the full story.

On Feb. 28th 2007, Brian Crecente posted on Kotaku with requests for slogans to put on a T-Shirt. (source) I sent him an email that night with a very rough design I had mocked up for a shirt incorporating the Kotaku K:

From: Will Templeton To: Brian Crecente
Subject: You want a shirt? Oh, I'll GIVE you a shirt!

Yo.

I meant to send this design ages ago to respond to the last request, and then I lost the file, so this is a quick re-fit done in a few minutes. The first one is what I perceive to be the standard shirt. The second is for those who like their eyes burning.

-- 
Regards,

Will Templeton

Crecente then posts in his Day Note for Feb 28th 2007 that he liked a design that was submitted.
"I put up our shirt poll. Some neat ideas in there, but I think my favorite was a graphic someone sent in."
(source)

I recieved no direct word from Brian about it and so I was unaware as to whether he was talking about my design specifically or one someone else had submitted.

Today (April 16) the shirt goes on sale. The design (below) is clearly based on mine.

It is at this point that it is clear that the design Crecente mentioned was indeed my submission.

I am not credited, and no mention is made that this was a user-submitted shirt. Furthermore, Gawker say:

We'll pay you for your design! (source)

If you want to submit a graphic design, and we use it, we will pay you $100 and give you 5 shirts in the design to give away. We'll also credit you on this site.

[...]

We'll get in touch with you if we decide to use your slogan or design. Please do not contact us to follow up!
Vote Now!

[...]

2. If we do use your slogan or design, we will send you money and/or shirts as described in the offer. Promise. And we’ll credit you.
3. By accepting our offer and sending us your slogan and/or design, you are giving us a royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual license to use the submitted slogan/design for the production of consumer goods for commercial sale by us."

These terms were not displayed in the original post, and no reference was made.

I just want what I am entitled to. I realise that the final design is not exactly the same (and that, in many ways, it's not my design), but it is very similar - at the very least, I want to be credited with having a hand in the product's creation. I realise that my work is a derivative of their logo, but the use of the single K and its placement were my ideas and as far as I understand are still under my copyright, as at no point did I agree to transfer them (as I said before, no terms and/or conditions were made clear).

So. Where do I go from here? I'm writing an email to Brian Crecente right now, asking him the same question.

DevoutlyApathetic

So they put their logo in the same place as you did even though they used a prettier logo that required some actually effort to create and completely different color scheme that doesn't look like murder on the eyes?

There is no hope in hell of you getting anywhere with this except of out sympathy on their part. That'd be stretching it though.

Edit: In the future their are things you can do to protect IP designs you come up with. The first thing I'd recommend and seriously consider how much creative work you've put into something.

naporeon

Legally, I'm not sure you have many options, and your best advice would be to talk to a lawyer, if you consider it important enough.

I think, however, that a polite email explaining the fact that the final design looks an awful lot like yours should get you great results. Just be polite and concise. Should work.

Doc

DevoutlyApathetic wrote: »

So they put their logo in the same place as you did even though they used a prettier logo that required some actually effort to create and completely different color scheme that doesn't look like murder on the eyes?

There is no hope in hell of you getting anywhere with this except of out sympathy on their part. That'd be stretching it though.

Edit: In the future their are things you can do to protect IP designs you come up with. The first thing I'd recommend and seriously consider how much creative work you've put into something.

...at the very least, I want to be credited with having a hand in the product's creation

I don't think he's being unreasonable given that they obviously used his work in creating the design of the shirt.

Raneados

sorry, dude, you're looking for a quick 100 bucks and some free shirts

you're probably not gonna get either unless they choose to give it to you

it's their OWN logo, to think you influenced them solely on their design is just silly.

I'm willing to bet 100 other people just like you put that exact same image in that exact same place, and probably didn't use a color-blind and painful color scheme to do it

rockmonkey

Well the placement and the shade of yellow/pink is the same as yours. I can see them giving you partial credit and maybe a free T-shirt or two. But (and I have no legal background) I would think whatever you get is going to be what they WANT to give you.

naporeon

It's not like the OP chose the hideous colors himself, fellas.

Those were probably eyedroppered directly from the Kotaku website.

Doc

If you exhaust all other options, consider writing in to Consumerist. Just to see what they do.

rockmonkey

naporeon wrote: »

It's not like the OP chose the hideous colors himself, fellas.

Those were probably eyedroppered directly from the Kotaku website.

See I've never even been to the site and didn't bother to look in at it before I posted.

Still, whatever you get will likely be what they are willing to give you. Which could be nothing and that would be understandable.

Willeth

naporeon wrote: »

Those were probably eyedroppered directly from the Kotaku website.

Pretty much.

I'm not arguing that the design I made is particularly polished. But I think it's pretty clear that the designs are similar. And no, I'm not trying to get $100 and a bunch of shirts, I'm just trying to get my name attached.

If I had received word from Brian that he wanted me to go further with it I would have, and made it into a proper design to his specification. I don't begrudge them the design; I just want to be able to say in my portfolio 'hey, see this? I did this.'

Operation polite letter is go.

DevoutlyApathetic

Doc wrote: »

I don't think he's being unreasonable given that they obviously used his work in creating the design of the shirt.

The only work they used is in the placement of the K from what I see. That's Kotaku's K from their logo
so the style of the K isn't something the OP would have generated either.

I'm simply not seeing much in the way to make a basis of any claim or even a reasonable expectation that it was only submitted by him.

Willeth

I got an email from Scott Kidder, the guy who runs the shirts for Gawker, and he's offered to credit me on the site. Thanks for the help, everyone.

DevoutlyApathetic

Willeth wrote: »

I got an email from Scott Kidder, the guy who runs the shirts for Gawker, and he's offered to credit me on the site. Thanks for the help, everyone.

Shit man, congrats. I'm happy to be wrong in this case.