The moment you find your design on a brand's product, campaign, or website — your stomach drops. It's unmistakably your work. They never asked. They never paid. And they're profiting from it right now.
What you do in the next 48 hours matters enormously. This guide walks you through every step, from the moment of discovery to recovery. Follow it carefully.
Step 1: Document Everything Before You Do Anything Else
The first thing you need to do — before contacting anyone, posting on social media, or calling a lawyer — is create a complete evidentiary record of the infringement as it exists right now.
Why urgency matters: companies sometimes remove infringing content quickly once they realize they've been caught. If you act before documenting, you may lose critical evidence.
Take screenshots with the URL visible in the browser bar. Note the date and time of each screenshot. Record where the infringement appears — which products, platforms, ad campaigns, in-store displays, social media accounts, or websites. Capture any pricing information (how much are they selling infringing products for?). Note the geographic reach — is this one store, a national chain, or worldwide? Save any cached versions, archived pages, or videos of the infringement in action.
Use your phone, computer, or a screen recording tool. Save everything to a dedicated folder labeled with the date. This documentation will form the foundation of your legal claim.
Step 2: Identify Who Infringed Your Work
You may know exactly who did this — a brand you recognize. Or you may have found it on a resale platform like Amazon or Etsy, where a third-party seller is responsible. The identity of the infringer affects your legal strategy significantly.
For marketplace infringement, document the seller name, the product listing URL, and any available seller information. For brand infringement, identify the company's full legal name — the entity that actually sells the product, not just a brand name — which you can often find on their website's legal pages, terms of service, or through a quick business entity search.
Large companies sometimes operate through subsidiaries. Knowing the correct legal entity matters for filing a lawsuit. An experienced IP attorney will handle this research, but capturing what you know now is helpful.
Step 3: Determine Whether Your Work Is Registered
This is one of the most important questions in your case. Copyright registration with the U.S. Copyright Office is not required to own a copyright — your work is protected the moment you create it. But registration determines how much you can recover.
If your work was registered before the infringement began (or within 3 months of first publication), you are entitled to elect statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work, plus attorney's fees. This is the gold standard of copyright protection.
If your work was not registered, or was registered after the infringement began, you are limited to actual damages — the profits the infringer made from using your work, plus what you would have charged for a license. These can still be substantial, but they require more evidence to establish.
If your work is not currently registered, you may want to register it now — contact an IP attorney first to discuss timing and strategy, as registration after infringement begins comes with specific rules.
Step 4: Assess the Scale of the Infringement
Not all infringement is equal. The value of your claim depends heavily on the scope of how your work was used. An attorney will want to know:
How long has this been going on? A brand that used your design for one month on one product is very different from one that has been using it across a national campaign for two years.
How was it used? Commercial advertising use (billboards, TV, print campaigns) is treated more seriously than use on a single product. Use in a major retailer's flagship campaign carries different damages implications than use in a small online store.
What revenue did the infringer generate? If you can identify which products feature your work, look for any available sales data. For public companies, quarterly earnings reports sometimes break down product line revenue. For smaller brands, you may be able to estimate based on pricing and how widely the product was sold.
Your recovery can include: (1) statutory damages of $750–$150,000 per work if registered (up to $150K for willful infringement); (2) the infringer's actual profits attributable to your work; (3) your lost licensing revenue; and (4) attorney's fees if registered. In major cases, these figures combine into recoveries worth hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars.
Step 5: Do Not Contact the Brand Yourself
This is the most common mistake artists make — and it can seriously damage your case.
Do not send a cease-and-desist letter on your own. Do not email the brand. Do not comment on their social media posts. Do not post about this publicly until you have spoken with an attorney. Anything you say — in writing or publicly — can be used by their legal team to minimize your claim or accelerate their own defensive filing.
Companies with experienced legal teams watch for amateur outreach. When they receive an informal complaint from an artist, they have processes in place to respond in ways that protect their position. A well-drafted attorney demand letter, by contrast, triggers a very different response.
Posting about the infringement publicly also creates complications — it can be characterized as you "publishing" information that affects the case, and in some situations can actually benefit the infringer's legal position. Wait until you've spoken to an attorney.
Step 6: Consult an IP Attorney — Immediately
Copyright law has strict statutes of limitations. Under the Copyright Act, you generally have three years from the date you discovered (or reasonably should have discovered) the infringement to file a lawsuit. But the earlier you act, the stronger your position — evidence is preserved, the infringer's conduct is documented, and you avoid giving them time to build defenses.
Look for an attorney who specializes specifically in IP litigation and copyright infringement — not a general business attorney, and not someone who handles copyright registration but has never litigated a case. The attorney you want has actual courtroom experience with copyright claims against brands and retailers.
Most experienced IP litigators offer free case evaluations. At Gluck Law Firm, we evaluate every submission personally and take qualifying cases on contingency — you pay no attorney fees unless we recover on your behalf.
Step 7: Understand Your Options
After your initial consultation, you'll have a clearer picture of your options. Most copyright infringement cases settle before trial. The process typically looks like this:
Demand letter: Your attorney sends a formal demand to the infringing company, documenting the infringement and asserting your rights. This often prompts an opening settlement offer.
Negotiation: Most cases resolve through negotiated settlement. The value of the settlement depends on the strength of your registration status, the scale of the infringement, and the sophistication of your legal representation.
Litigation: If settlement negotiations fail, your attorney files a federal lawsuit. Most cases settle before reaching trial, but the credible threat of litigation — and an attorney willing to follow through — dramatically increases settlement value.
Gluck Law Firm has recovered settlements ranging from $725,000 to $4 million for artists in copyright and trademark infringement cases. The specific facts of your case — registration status, infringer's revenue, scale of use — determine where your case falls on that spectrum. Cases involving unregistered works typically settle for lower amounts but are still often worth pursuing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I never registered my copyright?
You still have rights. Registration is not required to own a copyright — only to file a federal lawsuit and access statutory damages. Unregistered work cases can still result in meaningful recoveries based on actual damages and the infringer's profits. Consult an attorney to evaluate your specific situation.
What if the brand is overseas?
If the infringing products are sold in the United States, U.S. copyright law applies regardless of where the company is headquartered. International brands regularly face copyright infringement liability in U.S. courts for U.S. sales.
Can I still sue if I haven't registered and the infringement already happened?
Yes, with limitations. You can register after discovering infringement, but late registration does not unlock statutory damages for past infringement. You would be limited to actual damages. Whether that makes a case viable depends on the facts — speak with an attorney before assuming your case isn't worth pursuing.
How long does this process take?
Settlements can happen in weeks or months after a demand letter. Litigated cases that go further into the court process typically take one to three years. Most cases resolve before trial.
What does "no recovery, no fee" actually mean?
A contingency fee arrangement means the attorney takes a percentage of the recovery rather than charging hourly. If there is no recovery, there is no attorney fee. Note that litigation costs (filing fees, expert witnesses, discovery costs) may still be the client's responsibility regardless of outcome — your attorney should explain this clearly at the outset.