The Malaysian branch of major international advertising agency TBWA has found itself infused in hot water over claims a slogan for a bubble tea franchise was copied from a local motorcycling lifestyle brand.
The slogan "Never fear the strong. Especially strong tea" was recently adopted by Tealife in a major rebranding exercise (forced upon owner Loob Holdings by a dispute dubbed the "bubble tea
Even politics is not immune to idea theft. While political parties generally try to attract voters by being different from other parties, sometimes adopting the policies of others and calling them your own is a better strategy.
Good ideas can make or break a TV show - especially in reality TV. So it's no wonder writers are tempted to copy ideas from already successful shows. But does that make it right?
Rock band U2 is being sued by guitarist Paul Rose for ripping off his sound for their hit track The Fly.
Advertising agencies have long asked prospective clients to pay pitch fees, to compensate them for the time and effort that goes into creating pitches - even if they end up unsuccessful. Singapore's Central Provident Fund is now offering such fees. In general, we don't advocate pitch fees because it could reduce your claim to compensation if you lose a pitch, but your ideas are used anyway.
T-shirt designs to support native Americans in the Dakota Access Pipeline dispute are themselves subject of dispute, with lots of rip offs jumping onto the bandwagon.
There are lessons for anyone with an idea in Google's suit against Uber over self-driving technology.
The fashion industry is particularly rife with idea theft. Better PitchMark your designs before you pitch them to a fashion design house.
How to protect your brilliant idea from being stolen? Technology writer Mehul Rajput has given the issue some thought, specifically as it relates to smart phone apps. He sees these as the latest virtual "picks and shovels" for Creators to mine the treasured seams of internet gold and quickly turn a dream into a fortune. But he has this warning.
"If you, too, are an entrepreneur in the area of m
Comedian Conan O'Brien is defending himself against claims by another comedian that he stole his jokes.
What the controversy over Donald Trump's inauguration cake tells us about idea theft.
You can find many articles online giving good advice on how to prevent idea theft. But how effective are they really?
Colonel Harland Sanders' nephew hands a newspaper reporter a scrap book, which includes a handwritten note of the 11 secret herbs and spices. If you were the creator of the next KFC, how would you prevent this happening to you?
Flossy P, an Australian artist who is known for drawing giant wombats, discovered her designs were ripped off by a US-based online company. The artist found out that the picture of the giant wombat she drew were printed in poor quality on art prints and t-shirts, and were being sold at higher prices and advertised with promotional photographs taken from her Flossy P Facebook page.
A Florida-based advertising agency creates a mock campaign for the Libertarian candidate in the US presidential election, and promptly saw Gary Johnson's campaign use it ...without compensation.
A suit against Warner Bros has taken another step forward, with a Los Angeles Court reportedly rejecting the studio's bid to evade a claim by artist Joe DeVito.
Instagram copies what Snapchat is doing, Snapchat is immitating Instagram. Some commentators suggest this is idea theft. But is it really, or is copying just standard practise when you catch up with competitors?
In what is fast becoming the "pay-to-pitch" scandal, Singapore Management University has asked advertising agencies wanting to win their creative, digital and media business to pay S$100 just to take part in the tender. But paying for tenders is just one of several issues agencies face in their day-to-day work. Having their ideas stolen is another.
An actor is claiming the idea for the TV show Empire was stolen from him by the show’s creator, but the courts have said they do not think so…twice.
