Originally Posted by Favorite Fabrics
Just my 2 cents, but it's more likely that someone will copy, having seen your item online, than at a local show. Though the copying did happen to me, locally. (It was a stuffed cat.)
And... unless you have a lawyer in the family that will work for free, Jacquie is right... there is not much you can practically do about copying.
It has happened to me, too...at a local show. I have one person that is always checking out my booth...then I see her version on my original idea in her booth a week or so later.
I have even had people stand looking into my booth and sketching. I usually walk up to them and tell them to at least have the courtesy to purchase one before they duplicate my item...a couple have stomped away...rather redfaced...