The Problem

According to a statement from Vlada's lawyer to WWD, the logos cause public confusion. "Kylie Cosmetics sells its products under a logo that is so similar to the dripping lip art style that symbolizes Ms. Haggerty's makeup artist brand that she receives daily inquires as to whether she is associated with Kylie Cosmetics," said Stephen McArthur of the McArthur Law Firm.


Putting your work on the web gives you next to zero control over who views that content and what they do with it. Your portfolio site could be stomping grounds for someone looking for a quick logo design, website layout, etc. One of the main issues here is that it’s so easy to just grab a piece of artwork off of someone’s site, reproduce it, sell it and never get caught. It’s also virtually impossibly to monitor this kind of theft to any successful degree without significant resources. The best you can do on your own is merely hope that no one is stealing your work and that you or someone else will notice if it ever does happen (learn how to obtain commercial protection below).

A Fine Line with Legal Action

Another major problem is defining what exactly constitutes a theft of intellectual property. The online design community is currently obese with daily doses of “inspiration” contained in blog posts. We designers post and use this content to admittedly influence our own projects. Browsing the designs of others can give you great ideas for color schemes, theme ideas, graphical styles, layout alternatives and any number of other possibilities.
However, there is an immensely fuzzy line between inspiration and theft. Exactly where that line lies is perhaps different for every designer. My best advice is to consciously avoid ripping off the ideas of others by using inspirational artwork as a leaping point for your own significantly different creation. Unfortunately, even if you’re on your best behavior, there’s still no shortage of people out there that aren’t so honest. To prove my point, let’s look at some real life examples from an artist who seems to have quite the ongoing struggle with this very issue.

Los Angeles based makeup artist the Vlada Haggerty dripping lip art logo scandal

Anyone active in the online design community has probably heard or seen a thing or two from makeup artist Vlada Haggerty. Vlada is an amazingly talented makeup artist with a portfolio rich in edgy groundbreaking makeup artistry, Unfortunately, as Vlada has discovered, you can make people like your work so much that they want to claim it as their own. She recently encounterd multiple instances from kyliecosmetics using her intelectual property lip kits artwork completely without consent. 
The intellectual property artwork above was not only ripped off, but actually uploaded to her cosmetics site to sell to consumers! The ignorance this thief showed towards the likelihood of someone finding this is quite remarkable!
As you can see in the images above, the theft isn’t always an outright copy of the art as with the previous two examples. The creative team from kyliecosmetics took the time to adjust the content a bit, no doubt to give themselves a little arguing room should they get caught. Here we see that fine line between inspiration and theft being flirted with. Some might say that the final result is different enough than the original to not justify theft. The curve of the lines, the shape of the lip line and teeth are all far too similar to los angeles based makeup artist Vladda Haggerty for kyliecosmetics to claim that the artwork is original. 

How to Respond

If you find that someone has indeed used your artwork without consent, the easiest thing to do is to get mad (or even flattered) and brush it off as out of your control. The most difficult thing to do is launch a wildly expensive and drawn out legal battle that will probably cost you more money than you’ll gain. Both of these reactions are fairly undesirable and shouldn’t necessarily be your first choice. Here are a few tactics to try first.

Report It To The Site Owner

If you notice the infringement on a site or something similar, odds are they have a reporting system in place and actually take copyright infringement very seriously. Give a brief argument as to why you think this represented an infringement. Mediation on the artwork is the best outcome for everyone involved. The ease of this solution makes it among the best possible, but it applies only in very specific circumstances and won’t even be an option with most infringements you encounter.

Do Your Homework

If the infringement occurs outside of a controlled community, the first thing you need to do is become aware of your rights. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) seems to be the standard piece of legislation that covers you in these circumstances. You technically own the rights to your own artwork whether you’ve officially filed any paperwork to that end or not. However, possessing an actual legal copyright beforehand makes it much easier to pursue prosecution of the theft.

Write a Copyright Infringement Letter

After you’ve researched a bit and understand your rights, the next step is to contact the company or individual disseminating your artwork without approval. There are guidelines set forth by the DMCA regarding what should be contained in this letter. 
Hopefully, the infringement letter will be enough to make the offender back down. If you come across as a calm professional, knowledgeable of your rights and intent on resolving the matter, you’ll find that many businesses or individuals will be eager to seek an end the situation before it becomes too serious.

Go Public

One particularly interesting tactic that I discovered was to inform social media followers of the transgression. This can lead to lots of helpful advice and an all out uprising of enraged designers completely willing to flood the offender with angry emails. An angry mob is a lot harder to ignore than a lone complainer! A wonderful alternative to Kylie cosmetics that has a similar formula is Colourpop the pigment is strong and it's a third of the cost.

The Big Guns

Obviously, there are several scenarios where reasonable requests simply don’t appeal to unreasonable makeup mogul people. In these circumstances, you’ll have to find a decently affordable copyright attorney to back you up. Always be mindful of how much time and resources you’re willing to spend to ensure the problem is resolved.

A list of demands

Upon finding out that your art has been stolen your initial reaction will no doubt be to cry out for retribution. As soon as an attorney enters the matter you might even have a tendency to start thinking about a hefty settlement. My advice for this is to analyze the situation carefully before making any demands.
Obviously, the first thing to request is that your artwork be immediately removed from wherever it is being used. After this, the key question to ask yourself is how much you think the company or individual has unlawfully profited from your artwork. In some circumstances this number could be substantial but in many more instances it will be quite minimal. Try to avoid being greedy as exuberant requests will complicate matters and ensure a negative response from the person or company in question. If you’re unsure as to their profit, it is often appropriate to request a usage fee proportional to what you would’ve charged them for the art in the first place (plus a slight PIA charge of course).
Keep in mind that if your artwork is being used in a big brands commercial product, pulling it off shelves will result in serious financial setbacks for the offending company. This will of course cause them to resist heavily but if you succeed in getting the item pulled know that a little justice has been served simply by that action alone.

prevention

If you’re concerned that you may become a victim of intellectual property theft, you’ll want to seriously consider sending off the paperwork to copyright certain items you see as high-risk. Other than that, you should explore options for digitally watermarking your images to track and prevent theft. 
Update: A month after makeup artist Vlada Haggerty planned to file a lawsuit against Kylie Cosmetics over alleged copyright infringement, Kylie has addressed the controversy — kind of. The teen makeup mogul posted a regram of Vlada's work with the caption, "This really is everything 😍 Check out the wonderful makeup art of @vladamua!" her website: vladamua 
January 7, 2018  Legal Action Copyright VLADA HAGGERTY SUES MAKEUP FOREVER AND LOUIS VUITTON FOR COPYING HER LIP ART
Fashion law is a specific field of law that deals with legal issues that impact the fashion industry. Fundamental issues in fashion law include intellectual property; business and finance, with subcategories ranging from employment and labor law to real estate; international trade and government regulation, including questions of safety and sustainability; dress codes and religious apparel; consumer culture; privacy and wearable tech; and civil rights. Fashion law also includes related areas such as textile production, modeling, media, and the cosmetics and perfume industries.
Sources : von glitschka, kylie jenner cosmetics, personal interview with Vlada Haggerty, Nancy Tranter, design shack, Digital Millenium Copyright Act, digimark, civolution, thefashionlaw.com, kylie cosmetics holiday collection,