Discussion:
What is the name of your state? IA
I was given a freelance project involving designing menus, business cards, and letterhead for a new restaurant. I was told verbally and in writing a dollar amount that would be paid upon successful completion of work but no advance payment was given, nor did I sign any agreement.
I submitted a work-in-progress consisting of proofs and a digital file that was loaded on the client's notebook computer.
Just a few days later, the client terminated our relationship and took my entire physical file of the w-i-p including preliminary drawings, layouts, paper samples, etc and didn't return the digital files.
Now, about 2 months later, I see that his finished product in use in his restaurant *strikinly* resembles my proposed work. It has been modified somewhat but is about 75% the same as my w-i-p files.
I presented the w-i-p in good faith and for initial feedback and it was not intended to be the final product.
I read on gov site that I have 90 days to file a copyright and that I can claim ownership & copyright of the work from it's inception. It has not been registered yet but I intend to do so.
Taking this to an attorney would cost me more than the price of the work so I am considering taking him to small claims court. I am already taking him to small claims court for not paying me for work that I had *just* completed before he terminated our relationship (yeah, a real winner of a guy). I need to send a message that what he did was wrong -- I'd even sacrifice the whole dollar amount just to validate my position. I can't afford to be tread upon now or in the future.
Answer:
Taking this to an attorney would cost me more than the price of the work so I am considering taking him to small claims court. It's unlikely that the small claims court will do anything about the copyright infringement issue -- copyright stuff is almost always handled in federal courts. More importantly, though, is any "damages" you suffered due to the infringement are basically a part of the money the business owes you anyway, so there really aren't any "extra" damages to collect.
Concentrate on the breach of contract issue -- forget about pursuing copyright infringement in small claims.