Photo: Stakhov Yuriy/Shutterstock
Is this too far?
By Sanika Nalgirkar — Written on Dec 18, 2021
A wedding day is important to every bride and something they look forward to for so long. So, if someone ruins it, it is natural for the bride to get upset or even furious in some instances.
That's what happened when one woman discovered her seamstress had copied her one-of-a-kind dress.
The woman was struggling to find a wedding dress for her wedding next year, so she took it into her hands to design her dream dress herself as she has a background in designing.
Then, she looked for a local seamstress to make it and expressed her excitement when she found one on “Etsy."
However, her excitement turned to shock when she later saw her dress on the seamstress’s website for sale.
The woman wrote online that they had a contract that would forbid the seamstress from using the dress for other sales.
“While I know you cannot copyright designs, we do have a legal contract that states she would not make additional dresses to sell from my design,” she explained on Reddit.
She also mentioned that she has consulted with a lawyer regarding the matter and that she does have a case. She has also not spoken to the seamstress about it because of the legal issues.
However, because designs can’t be copyrighted, she was hesitant whether she should go ahead and sue the seamstress. So, she went online to ask people what they think about the situation.
Internet users say to go ahead and sue.
Many users say that if there was a contract and it was clear that the seamstress couldn’t use the dress, it is only right to sue her.
One user wrote, “You had an agreement. She broke it. That simple. It doesn’t matter if you were planning on making dresses yourself using that design. At the end of the day it comes down to the fact that SHE agreed in a written contract that SHE wouldn’t make any more dresses using your design but did exactly that. Not sure what the damages would be but your lawyer would know.”
Another user wrote “She agreed not to do it and is doing it. Whether designs can be copyrighted or not isn’t the issue — she’s doing what she said she wouldn’t do and is profiting from it. Not ok.”
While many were in support of the woman, some comments were addressing the fact why this is a big deal. “Why is this the hill to die on? Are you a dressmaker? Is there a specific reason (besides the contract) why she shouldn’t sell the same design?” to which the woman replied, “I specifically paid extra to have the design not reproduced”
It was a sentimental issue.
The woman mentioned that she didn’t want to financially gain from this, but rather was disappointed to see her unique dress being sold to others.
“I do not want money, I would be suing for specific performance- for her to stop selling it.”
She also mentioned how she paid a lot for the dress to be “one of a kind” and wanted it to be unique and seeing other brides wearing the same dress would upset her, especially when it’s her design.
“From a fully financial perspective, I paid for it to be one of a kind. From an emotional perspective, the design is sentimental, plus, the dress that I have not yet worn is online for the world to see, which pisses me off.”
Sanika Nalgirkar, M.F.A. is a writer and an Editorial Intern at YourTango who writes on entertainment & news, lifestyle, and pop culture topics.