Stop Being Afraid And Get Busy!

I am constantly being asked about how I prevent thieves from stealing my designs online. Do I use a secret software, do I use special code or do I have a magic spell that keeps my designs from being taken. The answer is that I do very little these days to prevent my designs from being stolen.

Many people are afraid to start a business because they are scared their idea or cartoon is going to be stolen. Read my little rant and see if I can change your mind.

There is no 100% way to protect your cartoons on the Internet. As long as someone can see a cartoon on a monitor they can use their screen grab and copy it to their desktop.

All I can say is that once a cartoon is created it is copyrighted by law by the artist. If someone uses it the artist can contact an attorney and force them to stop. It's not brain surgery. It becomes a leap of faith. You can either go ahead with your idea and stop worrying or you can never follow through with your idea because you are too afraid and your dream never becomes reality.

I have hundreds of cartoons online and still make a bunch of money. Do people steal them? Yes, from time to time I find them being used without permission but I quickly send an email with the threat of a lawsuit and the matter clears up promptly. I gave up worrying about stolen cartoons years ago. I have never found one of my cartoons online that I was not able to have taken down within a few days.

When people go online to steal cartoons who do you think they are going to steal from? You or Walt Disney? Walt Disney is a billion dollar company and they get ripped off all the time yet they still make money. They stop the copyright infringements that they can but if they became afraid to display their cartoons what would happen to their business?

Again, there is NO 100% sure way of preventing someone from stealing your designs unless you never show them to anyone. The percentage of designs that are stolen on a regular basis is very small. Displaying low resolution GIF files with a copyright on every image can prevent most thievery. That will prevent 99% of all theft but it only take one guy with PhotoShop and he could take one of your designs and reuse it. But so what? You still make money on the other 99% of people that don’t steal.

My advice is to stop worrying!!! Go for it!! Don't be a turtle with your head stuck in the shell. Create your design, file a copyright notice, file a trademark if applicable, get non-disclosure agreements when needed and document everything. Play it safe but get it out there!!

Your creation won't be the next big thing if no one sees it. Good luck!