What action would you take?

CelticTiger · 2005-02-26, 08:17 AM

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for this as it's related to non adult activities.

Anyways I was asked to create a logo for a haulage company and I created one for them. They turned around and said they didn't like it and asked for changes to be made...a week after I first showed it to them. I went to work on it again and sent it to them.....didn't hear anything back for over two weeks until a couple of days ago I witness a big rig as I was driving and lo and behold there is my logo (the original one I created) on the side of the truck. I knew one of the drivers (who was the one that referred me to them) about the logo and he says the boss told him that another company created the logo. I called him up and had it out on the phone with the guy who still insists that another company created the logo. I told him I still have the original .psd files etc. but I think that flew over his head and still won't change his position that someone else created it.

Anyways what I would like to know is the best way to go after this guy. I heard something about DMC notices or something like that but I'm not sure if this is covered by it or where to go to contact them.

Any ideas?

At this stage I think I want to forego payment and make the fucker take it down off all his rigs which will cost him a pretty penny or two more than if he had acted accordingly.

Any advice? Cheers.

Greenguy · 2005-02-26, 08:58 AM

If he hasn't paid you, then I'd contact a lawyer.

Theproofhouse · 2005-02-26, 09:31 AM

What GG said.Also try and get a photograph of the rig and your logo.

Cleo · 2005-02-26, 09:33 AM

Time to hire a lawyer

Bill · 2005-02-26, 02:59 PM

A lot of whack shit happens in the adult biz, but ten times as much whack shit, broken contracts, outright fraud, and lost money happens in mainstream brick and mortar business.

Small broken contracts are epidemic in mainstream. I lost tens of thousands of dollars in my mainstream businesses from broken contracts.

The absolute worst are small contracts with 'friends' or 'friends of friends'.

Adult is a dream by comparison.

Rorschach · 2005-02-26, 03:56 PM

go and set fire to one of their trucks with the new logo...

CelticTiger · 2005-02-26, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rorschach

go and set fire to one of their trucks with the new logo...

Thats quite tempting now that I have a few beers in me.

I don't get some people and how they try and save a couple of bucks. A lawyer it is. Fuck the payment for work done - if I can they won't be using that logo on their trucks.

Taass · 2005-02-26, 09:00 PM

Having him wake up to a Horses head in his bed should do the trick.. At least so i heard

Bill · 2005-02-26, 09:05 PM

Dude, a lawyer is an expensive and difficult way to deal with a small contract.

In general, a problem has to be worth a minimum of $10,000 to make getting a lawyer worthwhile.

The threat of a lawyer, or of small claims court, is much more practical.

You probably will end up spending $30,000 if you seriously want to get them to take down painted logos. I've seen really silly small cases like this explode into HUGE legal bills.

Your best bet is to send a letter to the person who was your original contact, ideally with a photo of the logo on the truck. Tell them you will file a claim in small claims court if they don't pay you, and that you will force them to take it off all their trucks if they don't pay in full. (which, you are correct, will be an expense greater than the cost of the contract.)

Reasonable threats are the most effective tool you can use.

Lizzie · 2005-02-26, 09:20 PM

As a designer myself, I would be absolutely fuming over this! It doesn't cost allot of $$ to retain a lawyer or maybe you already have one on retainer...... Maybe it can be resolved by a simple letter written by an attorney on your behalf.

Jeez, sorry your going thru this....

[BV] · 2005-02-26, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill

Dude, a lawyer is an expensive and difficult way to deal with a small contract.

In general, a problem has to be worth a minimum of $10,000 to make getting a lawyer worthwhile.

The threat of a lawyer, or of small claims court, is much more practical.

You probably will end up spending $30,000 if you seriously want to get them to take down painted logos. I've seen really silly small cases like this explode into HUGE legal bills.

Your best bet is to send a letter to the person who was your original contact, ideally with a photo of the logo on the truck. Tell them you will file a claim in small claims court if they don't pay you, and that you will force them to take it off all their trucks if they don't pay in full. (which, you are correct, will be an expense greater than the cost of the contract.)

Reasonable threats are the most effective tool you can use.

Very good advice! This is what I would do.

spookyx · 2005-02-26, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rorschach

go and set fire to one of their trucks with the new logo...

call the newspapers and tell him he molested you when you were young....

call his company and tell all the employees he is under investigation for child porn and they will need to come and testify if they have seen anything.

call his customers and do the same thing.

call his wife and family if he has one and do that too

fuck him like he has fucked you

after all that... get really mean..

enough said

Tommy · 2005-02-27, 10:18 AM

at least have a attorney send a letter to him
this way it keeps your options open if you decide to sue in a year or so

if you feel that company makes decent money ... sue
if they are on their ass get a few cans of spray paint and settle it yourself

one cool thing, and this is very true for the adult buisness
someone thats fucking you today might not have a pot to piss in
but 4 years from now ???

LowryBigwood · 2005-02-27, 11:24 AM

It's amazing what a baseball bat can do to knee caps.

pornrex · 2005-02-27, 01:58 PM

I have to agree with spookyx to a small extent (48%) and with LowryBigwood (52%) to a bigger extent.

linsys · 2005-02-27, 03:05 PM

All these suggestions seem to be good ones... I do web design as part of my main business I always give customers a preview of their logo on a password protected page which I give them a login to.. (yes they can download but I can track that they logged in .. I also place a water mark over the log with my name so they'd have to practicly redesign it to get it to work.

RawAlex · 2005-02-27, 06:25 PM

Here's the deal. If you are 100% sure you are in the right, I would do this:

Find the truck again, take a picture (real film is better than digital for this).

Backup for psd files to two different forms of media for later reference.

Send them a registered letter with an invoice IN FULL for all work you have done. Indicate in the letter that you have all of the proof required by law to show that you are the creator of the image, and as such, you are willing to take all needed action (including collection and / or legal action) to get paid for you work. You will no longer accept "we won't use it anymore" as they have used it in public already. Make sure that they understand that they are liable for not only the original costs of the work, but ALL collection costs for payment, including any legal costs that may be incurred. As someone else has mentioned, than can run into the tens of thousands of dollars, and I am sure they would not want to lose that.

If they are still stubborn, pay a lawyer a couple of hundred dollars to send the same letter.

Then file in court. Depending on where you are, you might have a small claims (depending on the amount you are looking at) that you can use before you go the "big expense" route). If you can get a judgement there, you can move it to collection... then the real fun starts.

Good luck with it.

Alex

pornrex · 2005-02-27, 11:16 PM

Raw Alex that rocks! Thanks for that!

CelticTiger · 2005-02-28, 04:33 AM

Nice advice RawAlex. I'll follow your advice all the way. Cheers.

NastyTaylor · 2005-03-03, 08:47 AM

RawAlex advice is excellent keep us inform in what happen with this!!

SirMoby · 2005-03-03, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RawAlex

Here's the deal. If you are 100% sure you are in the right, I would do this:

Find the truck again, take a picture (real film is better than digital for this).

Backup for psd files to two different forms of media for later reference.

Send them a registered letter with an invoice IN FULL for all work you have done. Indicate in the letter that you have all of the proof required by law to show that you are the creator of the image, and as such, you are willing to take all needed action (including collection and / or legal action) to get paid for you work. You will no longer accept "we won't use it anymore" as they have used it in public already. Make sure that they understand that they are liable for not only the original costs of the work, but ALL collection costs for payment, including any legal costs that may be incurred. As someone else has mentioned, than can run into the tens of thousands of dollars, and I am sure they would not want to lose that.

If they are still stubborn, pay a lawyer a couple of hundred dollars to send the same letter.

Then file in court. Depending on where you are, you might have a small claims (depending on the amount you are looking at) that you can use before you go the "big expense" route). If you can get a judgement there, you can move it to collection... then the real fun starts.

Good luck with it.

Alex

Note to self. Don't mess with Alex even if he is loosing weight.

Just make sure in the letter that you don't mention anything specific about the proof such as PSDs. Maybe he doesn't know what that means but maybe he's a got a kid in school that can fudge up a new PSD pretty quickly.

The general rule is never give an enemy information when it can be avoided.

CelticTiger · 2005-03-04, 07:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RawAlex

Here's the deal. If you are 100% sure you are in the right, I would do this:

Find the truck again, take a picture (real film is better than digital for this).

Backup for psd files to two different forms of media for later reference.

Send them a registered letter with an invoice IN FULL for all work you have done. Indicate in the letter that you have all of the proof required by law to show that you are the creator of the image, and as such, you are willing to take all needed action (including collection and / or legal action) to get paid for you work. You will no longer accept "we won't use it anymore" as they have used it in public already. Make sure that they understand that they are liable for not only the original costs of the work, but ALL collection costs for payment, including any legal costs that may be incurred. As someone else has mentioned, than can run into the tens of thousands of dollars, and I am sure they would not want to lose that.
Alex

Well I followed your instructions to the "t" and lo and behold the guy called me up this morning apologising about the "misunderstanding" and said to call around today to pick up my check

Nice stuff Alex.

Useless · 2005-03-04, 07:42 AM

Sweet.

It's not easy to remain calm and collected when someone is sticking a rusty pole up your ass. I'm glad to hear that you followed Alex's sound advice rather than burning a rig and getting thrown in jail.

2005-02-26, 08:17 AM	#1
CelticTiger Are you sure this is the Sci-Fi Convention? It's full of nerds! Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Ireland Posts: 266	What action would you take? I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for this as it's related to non adult activities. Anyways I was asked to create a logo for a haulage company and I created one for them. They turned around and said they didn't like it and asked for changes to be made...a week after I first showed it to them. I went to work on it again and sent it to them.....didn't hear anything back for over two weeks until a couple of days ago I witness a big rig as I was driving and lo and behold there is my logo (the original one I created) on the side of the truck. I knew one of the drivers (who was the one that referred me to them) about the logo and he says the boss told him that another company created the logo. I called him up and had it out on the phone with the guy who still insists that another company created the logo. I told him I still have the original .psd files etc. but I think that flew over his head and still won't change his position that someone else created it. Anyways what I would like to know is the best way to go after this guy. I heard something about DMC notices or something like that but I'm not sure if this is covered by it or where to go to contact them. Any ideas? At this stage I think I want to forego payment and make the fucker take it down off all his rigs which will cost him a pretty penny or two more than if he had acted accordingly. Any advice? Cheers.

2005-02-26, 08:58 AM	#2
Greenguy The Original Greenguy (Est'd 1996) & AVN HOF Member - I Crop Pics For Thumbs In My Sleep Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Blasdell, NY (shithole suburb south of Buffalo) Posts: 41,769	If he hasn't paid you, then I'd contact a lawyer. __________________ Promote POV Porn Cash By Building & Submitting Galleries to the Porn Luv Network

2005-02-26, 09:33 AM	#4
Cleo Subversive filth of the hedonistic decadent West Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Southeast Florida Posts: 27,936	Time to hire a lawyer __________________ Free Rides on Uber and Lyft Uber Car: uberTzTerri Lyft Car: TZ896289

2005-02-26, 09:00 PM	#8
Taass WHO IS FONZY!?! Don't they teach you anything at school? Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Denmark Posts: 49	Having him wake up to a Horses head in his bed should do the trick.. At least so i heard __________________ RewardThem - Now Up To 70% Revshare !

2005-02-26, 09:20 PM	#10
Lizzie I'm going to the backseat of my car with the woman I love, and I won't be back for TEN MINUTES Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 88	As a designer myself, I would be absolutely fuming over this! It doesn't cost allot of $$ to retain a lawyer or maybe you already have one on retainer...... Maybe it can be resolved by a simple letter written by an attorney on your behalf. Jeez, sorry your going thru this.... __________________ done]

2005-02-26, 09:31 AM	#3
Theproofhouse Lord help me, I'm just not that bright Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 106	What GG said.Also try and get a photograph of the rig and your logo.

2005-02-26, 02:59 PM	#5
Bill Selling porn allows me to stay in a constant state of Bliss - ain't that a trip! Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 3,914	A lot of whack shit happens in the adult biz, but ten times as much whack shit, broken contracts, outright fraud, and lost money happens in mainstream brick and mortar business. Small broken contracts are epidemic in mainstream. I lost tens of thousands of dollars in my mainstream businesses from broken contracts. The absolute worst are small contracts with 'friends' or 'friends of friends'. Adult is a dream by comparison.

2005-02-26, 03:56 PM	#6
Rorschach Shut up brain, or I'll stab you with a Q-tip! Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 115	go and set fire to one of their trucks with the new logo...

2005-02-26, 09:05 PM	#9
Bill Selling porn allows me to stay in a constant state of Bliss - ain't that a trip! Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 3,914	Dude, a lawyer is an expensive and difficult way to deal with a small contract. In general, a problem has to be worth a minimum of $10,000 to make getting a lawyer worthwhile. The threat of a lawyer, or of small claims court, is much more practical. You probably will end up spending $30,000 if you seriously want to get them to take down painted logos. I've seen really silly small cases like this explode into HUGE legal bills. Your best bet is to send a letter to the person who was your original contact, ideally with a photo of the logo on the truck. Tell them you will file a claim in small claims court if they don't pay you, and that you will force them to take it off all their trucks if they don't pay in full. (which, you are correct, will be an expense greater than the cost of the contract.) Reasonable threats are the most effective tool you can use.

2005-02-27, 10:18 AM	#13
Tommy NYC Boy That Moved To The Island Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 2,940	at least have a attorney send a letter to him this way it keeps your options open if you decide to sue in a year or so if you feel that company makes decent money ... sue if they are on their ass get a few cans of spray paint and settle it yourself one cool thing, and this is very true for the adult buisness someone thats fucking you today might not have a pot to piss in but 4 years from now ??? __________________ Accepting New partners

2005-02-27, 11:24 AM	#14
LowryBigwood Don't get discouraged; it's usually the last key that opens the lock... Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Dallas, Tx Posts: 1,203	It's amazing what a baseball bat can do to knee caps. __________________ Free Porn Buddy \| Porn Buddy Blog

2005-02-27, 01:58 PM	#15
pornrex feeling a bit better Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 1,779	I have to agree with spookyx to a small extent (48%) and with LowryBigwood (52%) to a bigger extent. __________________ colo-cation - the only host you'll need

2005-02-27, 03:05 PM	#16
linsys Lord help me, I'm just not that bright Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 103	All these suggestions seem to be good ones... I do web design as part of my main business I always give customers a preview of their logo on a password protected page which I give them a login to.. (yes they can download but I can track that they logged in .. I also place a water mark over the log with my name so they'd have to practicly redesign it to get it to work. __________________ <a href="http://www.links-o-porn.com">Links-O-Porn.com</a><BR> List Your Free Sites With Us. <BR>

2005-02-27, 06:25 PM	#17
RawAlex Took the hint. Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 5,597	Here's the deal. If you are 100% sure you are in the right, I would do this: Find the truck again, take a picture (real film is better than digital for this). Backup for psd files to two different forms of media for later reference. Send them a registered letter with an invoice IN FULL for all work you have done. Indicate in the letter that you have all of the proof required by law to show that you are the creator of the image, and as such, you are willing to take all needed action (including collection and / or legal action) to get paid for you work. You will no longer accept "we won't use it anymore" as they have used it in public already. Make sure that they understand that they are liable for not only the original costs of the work, but ALL collection costs for payment, including any legal costs that may be incurred. As someone else has mentioned, than can run into the tens of thousands of dollars, and I am sure they would not want to lose that. If they are still stubborn, pay a lawyer a couple of hundred dollars to send the same letter. Then file in court. Depending on where you are, you might have a small claims (depending on the amount you are looking at) that you can use before you go the "big expense" route). If you can get a judgement there, you can move it to collection... then the real fun starts. Good luck with it. Alex

2005-02-27, 11:16 PM	#18
pornrex feeling a bit better Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 1,779	Raw Alex that rocks! Thanks for that! __________________ colo-cation - the only host you'll need

2005-02-28, 04:33 AM	#19
CelticTiger Are you sure this is the Sci-Fi Convention? It's full of nerds! Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Ireland Posts: 266	Nice advice RawAlex. I'll follow your advice all the way. Cheers.

2005-03-03, 08:47 AM	#20
NastyTaylor Rock stars ... is there anything they don't know? Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 16	RawAlex advice is excellent keep us inform in what happen with this!! __________________ Taylor@nastychannels.com

2005-03-04, 07:42 AM	#23
Useless Certified Nice Person Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Dirty Undies, NY Posts: 11,268	Sweet. It's not easy to remain calm and collected when someone is sticking a rusty pole up your ass. I'm glad to hear that you followed Alex's sound advice rather than burning a rig and getting thrown in jail. __________________ Click here to purchase a bridge I'm selling.