The decision ultimately lies within you. It all depends on how you look at it. Your attitude or personality may help you dictate this pondering question.

I personally think its flattery. Granted its you-ification, and at least he could have chosen a different number, but all being the same, your MINI is still unique. The other MINI is a different color.

Thats what makes this community thrive is the ability to see what others have done and take their ideas and make it their own. I see nothing wrong, no foul play. I definitly dig the go faster side stripes.

 

Hi Wagnbat,

I sent you a PM to reply to yours, but I thought I'd also post here for everyone's info...

Yes, that's my red MINI with the 222 stipes like Wagnbat's. I will admit that I did see some pics of his MINI before ordering my stripes (I think his looks great, and it helped me decide to get the side stripes). As for the numbers, I spent 2 weeks trying to figure out some combo of letters/numbers that would be good, and in the end just decided to order them with the 222 as 1) "2" is my favorite number and 2) I figured I could spend forever thinking about it without actually ordering the stripes... The 222 is the picture on the website that sells the stripes (Aesthetic Creations), and I didn't realize it was a custom design that Wagnbat created - in fact, I thought he had just ordered the 222 as shown on the website too. I apologize if you feel I'm copying your design... I thought that even though the stripes were the same, the details of our two MINIs (colors, wheels, lowering, scoop, etc.) are very different and end up making them individualized in different ways.

To sum up, if you and everyone else feel that I'm just imitating your MINI, that's your right. But to me, I'm just combining some stripes I liked with my own tastes... sorry if that offends you. And Wagnbat, you could have always PM'd me first to get an explanation before complaining to everyone how I "imitated" your MINI...

 

Let me make one more post to explain why this thread peeves me...

If I had designed some custom stripe/mod/whatever that individualized my MINI, and then 1-2 years later saw another MINI with the same mod (but not necessarily a copy of my car in total), I'd be like, "Looks nice... see you liked my design. " Instead, I get a thread posted about how I'm plagarizing someone's mod. If I'd known that the world is too big to have 2 MINIs with the same side stripes, I would not have spent $90 and a few hours installing the stripes... As for the 222, is it illegal to have the same favorite number...?

By the way, I also have the "Pull to Inflate" + red tow hook on my MINI, which I saw and thought was very cool on some other cars. I guess I'm plagarizing them too...

Anyway, this is the kind of thread/response which makes me wonder if I should stop posting anything to this forum...

 

I think you guys need to "resolve" this issue via PM's. Personally, I think they are way more important things in life than losing sleep over someone's elses custom stripes, but that's me.

 

C4, you're right. Sorry if my posts above sounded overly defensive -- I kind of felt like I was being attacked by this thread... Any more comments like that (from me, anyway) will be done via PM.

Wagnbat, I think your car does look great (although I like mine better ). I hope you take the stripes as a sign of flattery (aside from the number)... I think it would be cool to have a side stripes thread (I was actually planning to create one after getting my car washed and some better pictures), as I couldn't find much when trying to see if there were other examples of the stripes like Wagnbat's and mine (i.e. I had earlier tried to find a MINI in Chili Red with the same stripes to get a better idea of how it looked before ordering them...)

 

... imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and move on.

Besides, couldn't GM sue both of your a$$3s for ripping-off the stripes from the 4-4-2?

 

... Why the H3ll can't I delete this duplicated reply.

I'd really like to know.

 

I say "flattery." And be done with it.

 

interestin' thread.....

 

Sometimes things happen. I know I thought I was original by having a sillouette of a black cat with the number 13 stenciled in it. Then later I see another MINI on here with a sillouette of a spider and a number 30 stenciled into the side of it. Pure coincidence. Not saying that's what happened in this case, but just that sometimes things happen. Some people aren't as creative and they look at other people's ideas. I've felt like there have been plenty of times people copied my ideas, but you just go with the flow.

 

Looks good Will. The lucky number should keep the BatMINI safe in Guam

 

It is not plagariasm, doesnt come close to that nor copyright infringement since you didn't copyright the design.

I worked with minipirates on original designs now some they sell ... no biggie.

If vinyl were copyrightable like this, then VIpers and Mustang sidestripes and Shelby stripes all over MINIs... Somebody would be paying Carrol Shelby big money about now yet Shelby, Mustang sidestripes and Viper stripes you see on all kinds of MINIs.

Consider it "Flattery" since the sincerest from of flattery IS imitation

 

well I got my custom roof done, and told my printer that I would not like it to be copied, it was a joint design venture between us. I mean I live in a small town, so it is unlikely, but I notice now that cooperflags sells a similar design with the US flag.



You could copyright the stripes/design if you said it was a company logo and that is how people regonized your brand... IE Pepsi circle, McDonalds arches.

 

Like I mentioned in my PM, it just feels like my signature is on someone else's car, and it's odd.

And as I mentioned in this thread, I sent the vendor a PM with my concerns. Because when I started this thread, I didn't know someone was out there selling the stripes with my number as the default. If he changes it he does. If not, oh well.

I'm not referring to simple mods here. Lots of people copy stuff from people's cars. What caught me off guard was the detail. If it were a bubblegum rally decal with 222 as the number, so be it. If it was someone with the license plate 222, so be it. But to see another car, especially the same type of car, with both the same stripes, and same numbers in the same font seemed odd to me because it's personal. Another word to use would be custom, and my point is that my custom mod now seems to be a production mod.

I'm not blaming you at all Blammo... I simply posted this to get other people's impressions, not to point fingers or cry foul.

 

oopsie

 

Flattery... Just after I ordred my MINI I saw a CR with the Hawaiian U driving down the street.. I immediately called my MA and asked that the "stripes" not be installed afterall so I could put these on my car instead. As I got to thinking about it I ended up asking Mike to create me a boot wrap to match (I cut and pasted bonnetstripes into my bootwrap idea onto a photo of a HB MINI I found). He did an awesome job and as far as I know I am/was the only one with them.. Just a few weeks ago the CR owner emailed me that she loved the bootwrap and she was going to get them too... I thought that was purely awesome!

Just about every other aesthetic and/or otherwise mod out there has turned other MINI owners onto new paths.. why not stripes too.... (BTW I'd have done 333 by personal choice)

 

2 cents and i'm out: i don't think blammo or anyone else would know a design posted on a site wasn't mass produced. if there were a real "culprit" (and IMO there isn't), it would be the vendor who didn't take the time to change the numbers. of course, this isn't a deal breaker for me; i'm just throwing it out there (full disclosure: Yes, i was talking to AC about a custom project before AMVIV III- but simply got side-tracked).

But let's face it- The design is pretty nice. I think we should all just call them "Wagnbat stripes"! Flattery all the way!

 

I second the vote for making the vendor name them "Wagnbat stripes". Then you'd just have to be flattered. Copying is definately flattery. I bet there are plenty of people out there with the same favorite numbers, and/or numbers on there car. All that aside, I'd probably be ticked off too, but unless it is in the same city or area, it shouldnt really matter.

 

I vote for "Wagnbat Stripes"!

 

Lets start the petition for them to renamed from 'Double Pin Angled Side Stripes' to 'Wagnbat Stripes', in the Gallery he has the 'Sagworks Package', who just so happens to be another NAM member, and DCMM member .

 

I wish more people would copy my car

 

As an academic who had my first solo-authored research publication plagarized in a paper subsequently sent to me for review (the *ultimate* in slams in this world!), I can sympathize with the notion of being "ripped off". However, there's some basic rules that we live by (these are not laws, transgressions of which are to be resolved by legal action). And one of those rules is that people will copy great designs (the Japanese were the first in recent history, the Chinese next) even for profit if they see an opportunity. Wagnbat may have had the idea, but AC put it into reality. The numbers thing is weird to me--there are 999 different 3-digit combinations so I find it odd that 2 people with MINIs have the same favorite 3-digit number! But, wtf.
The motto by which I live now: if I don't want people to rip me off, don't give them the opportunity. My website contains hundreds of my photographs, and dozens of my papers, and more of my ideas--they are all out there for public sharing. Most people who visit my web don't rip me off--for what ever reason. I hope it's because they respect my ideas and implicit ownership. Then again, I post all my MINI mods so others can share, and apply them if they want.
Ultimately NAM is all about sharing with fellow community members.
Or not

 

Just put in my order for the "222" stripes!









haaaaaaaaaa just kidding.

mb

 

I think you mean 666