Reply To: Anyone designed and sold site furnishings?

[Jay Horton, RLA, ASLA]

I truly think you ar e branding yourself and not the specific elements; if your design is copied, I would consider it to be a success… I think that your designed element will make its mark and if it is aesthetically pleasing and functional, you will have accomplished your goal and sold the units expected before it is copied. Continue to come up with exciting elements and your name is your patent, your brand will be purchased first and the copies later… The other side of this is to choose who manufactures your product wisely; one person could view your design and claim that it is a failure and then build it w/o you knowing. I have taken items to fabricators and requested for them to sign a document stating that they will not reproduce or share the design w/o written permission. Unfortunately there is always a way to beat the system, even a small dimension change might be enough for someone to get away with a copy.