Use the poor mans copyright.


Send a disc containing the completed PSD to yourself via fedex something thts trackable with a signature. Keep it sealed till theres a problem.

well sounds great thats less money to spend on my behalf

"and don't say im evil cuz I contacted hungryman right after the purchase"

... I would never say such things.

cool will have amp send it on a disc sealed... but I tell you if he sends me a dead or alive ped im gunna go postal!

Err... you don't ever open it. You just threaten to.
(and only do if when you are in court -- but it would never go that far if they are unable to prove their ownership)

Poor mans copyright kicks ass :)

It's too late now. You want it to be recorded as sealed in the envelope at the earliest recorded date. Like BEFORE shit like this pop's off.

But yeah, a lot of writers use the poor mans copyright before they send their newly completed works off to people for review/consideration.


If its still unclear here....

You would put your completed works in a fedex envelope & ship it to yourself. Then you have the earliest record of the completed works.

Hahahahah I agree with this one totally. I love when people say TALK TO MY LAWYER...when they wouldn't even know where to find one bedies the yellow pages...or 1-800-THE-EAGLE.

That's absolutely correct. The only reason to ever file a copyright through the government is so that you have a record of it on file to prevent yourself from ever having to go to court in the first place, and also preventing someone from wasting their money filing a copyright claim on something they have absolutely no rights to.

Bone, if you really filed a claim yesterday, it's invalid, and you just wasted your $3500 or whatever it was you paid.

:winkwink: :winkwink:

cool and because im the only one with the original psd files (which has a time stamp so you can see when they are created) I will have no worries....

nice trick!

but thats something I'll have to worry about tomorrow :)

But how would you prove you are the original artist of a web design?

I for one wouldn't purchase a design without psd's and originals of all images/clipart used.

Whoever holds the PSD's could techinically argue that they are the original design. You could try to show other examples of work to prove that it LOOKS like the same type of design.

But if that was worth anything, there would be a lot of bands that could sue each other for sounding like one another.

They could say that the music that sounds like them was acutally originally created by them (if they had the original tracks as well - like in this case with mutiple people having PSDs)

The original PSD files are all you ever needed to begin with. People can mail themselves a screen cap or HTML version of the design all they want. Without the original PSD files, it's all moot. Copyright was initiated the moment the PSD files were created.

:winkwink:

Yeah it doesn't make sense to spend thousands fililng a copyright when you can do one that will hold up in court (and scare off anyone with a dispute) for < $10.

Actually, that does happen all the time. :winkwink:

cool very informative Gman.357!

"Bone, if you really filed a claim yesterday, it's invalid, and you just wasted your $3500 or whatever it was you paid."

$3500 was only for the legal fees, we´ve spent another $35.000 on expenses. (firstclass flight to new york, limoservices, lapdancers ... ah you know ...). don´t tell me it was all a waste of money ...

But anyone can hold the psd files. Does that make them the FIRST person to hold them? That's what the debate is....

If you have a sealed fedex envelope with a CD inside it that has the original PSD file on it.. there is nothing to argue about.

If you dont have a poor mans copyright & 5 people have the PSD file, all claiming to be the original author, or claiming they have rights.... .then there is a problem. Due to economics of everything -- they probably all WOULD have rights to it. Hell, the first one that does a poor mans copyright with the PSD would probably win in court.

only one man holds the psd files...

guess who and win a beer!

you ?

no

amp does until I recieve it in the mail :glugglug

Thanks. The only reason I can even speak with any kind of knowledge on the matter is because I had to copyright and trademark many things in the past for a business I had previously. I found out many of the steps I took for copyrights were unnecessary on a legal standpoint. It does help to have a record of the creation of the material, but it's not entirely necessary for all things. In your case, since you're the only one with original PSD files... and PSD files are the absolute beginning of the design process... that's evidence enough of the copyright to the said design. But it won't hurt to have some documentation of the creation of those PSD files as well. Then someone can't turn around and make a claim that you somehow stole those files from them, which of course they would have to prove. Either way, the burden of proof is on THEM.
:winkwink:

dont dring beer anyways - so it cool :thumbsup

BoneProne - you should read this - its about Trademark and copyright :winkwink:

or the easy read version

I've been thinking the exact same thing the whole time. I didn't want to say anything though, but since AMP feels the same ---

What's up with that design anyway? I just dont get the whole

Phantom of the opera + Jason LIVES! + hookers in suits = a paysite design company.

Maybe its just me.

But I do understand why AMP has started the battle, good design or not :P

Valid points. However, since right now none of these other guys have anything more than the HTML version of the files (supposedly), and Vegasdude holds the originals... there's really no point of argument. Regardless of when the originals were made, if Vegas and Amp are the only ones with the originals, they're the only ones with the copyrights to the material (actually, AMP is the copyright holder), and the burden of proof is on everyone else staking claim to them.

Oh undoubtedly. If they are the only ones with the PSDs and Vegas has a document or in the VERY LEAST a paper trial of pament to AMP for that specifc design -- then he owns it.

Even if AMP originally sold it to hungryman or whoever... if he didnt give them the PSD's or a contract for that specific design then they are fucked -- they are just in copyright violation pure & simple. But I'm guessing its a bit more complicated than that.

They probably have some records of payments to AMP for other jobs or something.. which probably wouldn't help much, but bottom line is no psds or a contract for that specific design & you better just hang it up.

not sure why but I like the design and I got this crazy idea for a cool 404 page! heh

I was under the impression that everyone had the PSD's... AMP -> hungryman -> whoever that other person was -> Vic/Vid whatever the name was.

I thought the psd was being spread around the whole time.

YEah I just looked at it again.. I just don't like the mask girl thing at all. The rest of the design is cool =)

yep. Exactly. And I agree... it could be more complicated than we think. It would be interesting to find out (even though I'm willing to bet all of this is much ado about nothing) who had the original PSD REALLY , and who has or had a contract for this design.

Because I have a hunch 90% of this is just a bunch of guys blowing smoke up each other's asses. :1orglaugh :2 cents:

The design isn't half bad. If you have the original PSD files as you claim, then slight modifications would be easy. But I don't know how modifications to the original would affect your copyright claim to that design. :winkwink:

Damn....
Im gunna sue my attorney.

I think he took me for a ride.

hehe ugly or not its mine from tomorrow if HM doesn't contact me cuz I have given him every option... he has choosen silence then thats fine but it will go online then and AMP is the one with the "ball" and I bought it!

simple case if it goes to court... it will probally end before cuz there is only one judgement possible!

hell we need a worldwide judge judy :1orglaugh

:1orglaugh

U have a while to go till you go big time

:GFYBand

We're talking low budget copyright matters here foe.

A ~$1000 site design doesnt quite justify getting traditional copyrights. So without an 'offical' copyright record, you have to make due as best you can if someone challenges your copyright. I'm just saying its going to be hard to do if everyone with the PSD is claiming to be the original creator.

On another note, STFU & GFY :321GFY

You don't need to use something expensive as Fed Ex to copyright.

Us the good ol USPS..

Everybody who has contributed to this circus is either

A) pulling off the biggest publicity stunt since the GFY Design Contest

or

B) so totally clueless that you have failed to realize how fucking foolish the whole bunch of you(s) look.

My guess is a little of both A and B!

It is really disturbing to watch a bunch of grown adults behave in this manner. I don't see that much of anything has been accomplished here, but I am such a newbie, so what would I know?

Notice how people making money in the biz have avoided this topic like the plague?
Time to get back to making money people!