Dawn Sole launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo for her new product, Pluck N’ File, on November 2, 2014. The project closed on January 2, raising over $18K in flexible funding with a goal of $25K. The Pluck N’ File is an environmentally friendly all-in-one beauty tool; it includes tweezers, a replaceable nail file, nail buffer, and an eyebrow comb.
Sounds great, right? Except that the startup’s owner realized mid-campaign that someone had copied her project on Kickstarter and managed to raise approximately £17K using her patented and trademarked idea. It came to her attention when she googled her company’s name and saw the fraudulent campaign on Kickstarter.
Sole was angry about this for a number of reasons: 1) this was clearly a scam and rewards would not be fulfilled, 2) it was now associated with her company name, 3) and Kickstarter let this campaign launch after denying the first version of her product a year ago. The fake Kickstarter page has now been suspended and is “the subject of an intellectual property dispute.”
In this case the creator had done everything possible to protect her intellectual property. Sole threatened to sue Kickstarter in a post on Kickstarter Forum for allowing the clearly copied campaign to launch on their platform:
“If Kickstarter did their research they would have seen that there is already an account with Indiegogo and that I am the owner of Pluck N’ File … That makes my brand look bad when it isn’t even me … What protection do people like me have then from poachers of crowdfunding campaigns if the platforms like KS are not doing their due diligence. They dropped the ball big time and I am suing them. The campaign is still up and needs to be taken down off the site.”
We may never know who posted the fake campaign, but taking the time and money to patent and trademark a product is one of the best ways to protect yourself in these scenarios. At least the creator was able to prove that it was her idea and recover from the experience. Luckily, the Kickstarter campaign didn’t get a chance to succeed before being caught and backers will still have a chance to purchase a Pluck N’ File, which should be available later this year through their website.
Like Dawn Sole did, sometimes googling a company or product name that you want to back on a crowdfunding platform can help make sure you are putting your money into a real project. If you see more than one similar project check the dates, creators, and backer comments to see whether a previously finished project came through or not. These kinds of clues usually make it obvious which campaign is legitimate.
Backers and creators of crowdfunding campaigns need to protect themselves through education and knowing what warning signs to look for. Sometimes it can be difficult – some crowdfunding scams go unnoticed at first. Just remember that crowdfunding is not a guarantee, you should be careful and be aware of your rights because crowdfunding platforms can rarely be held accountable for hosting a crowdfunding scam unknowingly as long as it is taken down once it is brought to their attention.
