When NOT to Worry about Copy-Cats

I had something funny brought to my attention the other day.  Apparently, there is a company that sells bacon-flavored envelopes.  The are called “mmmvelopes“.  I kid you not.  My graphic designer thought they might be a trademark infringement on my brand, mmm… paper.  Hmmm… that’s interesting.  I do own the registered trademark on my company name.  I could send a cease-and-desist letter.

Here are my initial thoughts:

1. Are they competition?  Do I feel as though they are going to rob me of potential business with this name?  I don’t sell anything flavored, so not really.  And, my customer would NEVER mail wedding invites in bacon.
2. Do I really want to pursue this?  Do I have time for this?  Is it a priority in my life?  Um.  No.
3. Could it escalate into something more where I am robbed of my business identity?  It could.  I’ll keep an eye out for bacon envelope manufacturers that start selling Japanese Paper designed wedding invites.
4. Do they even know that my business exists? Probably not. This last point is REALLY important… this is what I want to bring to your attention today.

Most people who seem to be imitating have no idea they are doing it…

There are two kinds of copy-cat imitation that happen in every industry:

• the blatant unethical stealing of branding, logos, material, content, ideas, etc.
• the random unknowing coincidental happenstance

For the purpose of today’s post, we are going to focus on the latter: the random unknowing coincidental happenstance. We’ll assume that the first kind are evil people who will eventually get theirs, one way or another.  They are for the most part rare.  It does happen, but for the most part people are not out to steal or cheat others.

The Original “Hopscotch Children’s Clothing Store”…

I used to work in the children’s clothing industry as a wholesale manager.  Every season, we’d get a sea of new clothing buyers who’d flock to our showroom to buy the latest in French kid’s fashion.  And every season, these new business owners would beam with pride when announcing their business name: “Lulu’s Kids”, “Fancy Pants”, “Kidsetera”.  The list goes on!  And, every season, we had that business owner who would name their store, “Hopscotch”.  How cute.  How original.  They were completely unaware that there are several other stores with similar names in the United States.  (Google it now.)  Did the Hopscotch in Nebraska purposefully steal the name from the Hopscotch in Maine?  Nope.  Were they negligent in their research?  Maybe.

Should the original owner be upset?  Good question!

What to do when someone has copied you…

A few months ago, Kelly Simants of Sage Wedding Pros, and owner of Sweet Pea Events learned that someone was opening a new wedding planning business in Texas called “Sweet P Events”.  Wow!  The coincidence is eery, isn’t it?  Her first reaction, like so many in similar situations, was to have heart palpitations, mind race, blood boil… and then she called me, “What to do, Michelle?”  I had a milder reaction of symptoms.  But, then I thought, “Hey, wait a second.  This person is new to the industry.  She could very well be completely unaware.  There are a GAZILLION wedding businesses out there.  How is she going to keep up with every single one?  This could be a case of  HOPSCOTCH, wedding-biz-style!”

What to do?  Here is my advice to Kelly… and my advice to all of you:

1. Rid yourself of emotion. Emotion will cloud your good judgment.  (I learned this by watching Apprentice… thank you Donald Trump.)
2. Be graceful.
3. Talk to the person. Pick up the phone.  Send an email.  (I learned this from my years as an auditor at Deloitte.  If you think the books look fishy, ask the person directly.  You can’t prove anything until you ask the question.)
4. Let them know that you have concerns about the use of your __________ (fill in the blank: brand name, images, material, content, ideas, etc.)
5. See what happens.  See how they respond.

Ahhh… see what happens!  In almost all of my dealings with this sort of situation, the “see what happens” typically turns into a “Oh my gosh!  I had NO idea.”  And, the people kowtow and run in a totally different direction.  If there really is a problem, the “see what happens” will evolve and then you can take it to the next level.  (This would be the blatant unethical stealing of branding, logos, material, content, ideas, etc… in which case you should read my trademark and copyright post… and talk to a lawyer.)

Here’s the thing…

We often get so tied into what we are doing every day that we begin to think that everyone else is aware of our every step.  But, people can’t keep up with a gazillion pieces of information in our industry, in the trends, and in the media.  They are often too busy taking care of their own business and their own personal needs.  God knows I can only keep up with so many things… with 3 businesses and a family to take care of… I try to keep up with the tweets, and the blog posts… but things do go unread.  I know enough to keep me informed and knowledgeable, but firmly admit that I have 832 unread articles in my google reader.

Here’s an analogy… Remember what it was like when you were 16 years old?  You worried that everyone was staring at your less-than-flattering outfit.  But, the other 16-year-olds hardly noticed your outfit because they were so worried about their own.  People are consumed with their own day-to-day lives that they are sometimes largely unaware of what’s going on around them.  And, when people do something that looks like they are imitating you, it could be that they didn’t even know you’d already been down that route.

What a coincidence!

In August, I wrote a post about Making a Decision and how you have to DECIDE to do something, or you end up doing nothing.  Lo and behold, Seth Godin, Marketing Guru, wrote a similar post in October: Make a Deicision.  Am I naive enough to think he was reading my blog and copied me?  HAHAHA!  That’s pretty hilarious.  I’m pretty sure it was coincidence.  And, chances are that Hopscotch, Sweet P Events, and many other apparent copies are coincidences.

Rise above…

It would be pretty ridiculous for me to think that mmmenvelopes had purposefully copied my branding.  In most cases people who appear to be imitating you, are actually not.  The important thing is to differentiate a true copy from an oblivious happenstance.  Not being able to do so will leave you worried or paranoid every step of your entrepreneurial journey.  And, that’s no way to live.  Learn the difference, ask the question, then, take action if need be.