Business stole my design
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Business stole my design
Hello, a year ago I was in detailed talks with
the owner of a major company to purchase
/trade product for a design and prototype I
made that fit their business platform. After the
owner quit contact a year passed. 63 weeks to
be precise, the company released the same
product that was in the talks a year prior.
SAME. do I have a leg to stand on here or am I
chasing lost hope
Asked on April 2, 2019 under Business Law, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
Did you have a written confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement with them, which would have prevented them from making this product themselves, without you, or otherwise disclosing or using it? If you did have such an agreemen or contract, you could sue them for breach of contract, for some combination of a court order barring them from doing this and/or for monetary compensation (e.g. some or all of their profit from the breach and releasing "your" product).
But without a written contract or agreement to this effect, you are unfortunately out of luck: you disclose ideas and designs to others without having a confidentiality, etc. agreement in place first at your risk, and if you disclose an idea, etc. to another without such an agreement, they may use it.
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