Copyright infringement advice?
Ok. This sucks. Really sucks.
On the 23rd of december 2008 I put out a texture set for Pariah dreads at VAMP, and also at RMP within a few days (I can't seem to find a release date at rendo, just a last sold date) In this set I incorporated a rainbow and a few other 2 color gradient latex and mesh materials on the dreads. I made several 200x200 pixel tiles to achieve this.
On January 2nd, 2009 This set was bought at RMP by one of my competitors. Shortly after that, the rainbow and gradient latex effects began to show up in their texture packs.
On March 2nd I purchased one of their products to take a look at this. Sure enough they are using 200x200 pixel image tiles to produce the rainbows and gradients. One rainbow looks identical to mine, granted I used a default gradient in Photoshop, however the transitions and placement of each color appear to be identical to mine. Some of the 2 color gradients they used I can easily reproduce starting with my images and simple adjusting the hue/brightness, etc. When I confronted this other vendor they stated that they made the images in Photoshop long before my product ever became availaible. The date stamp on the file is for Jan 6, 2009...4 days after mine was purchased.
I have filed a compliant at RMP. I cannot go into details about any communication with staff there, however they have basically thrown out my complaint saying I don't qualify for any sort of protection because it is a simple gradient.
I guess what I am looking for is any suggestions on how to proceed with this? Does anyone know an independant copyright agent or laywer or have any experience with something like this?
