I (27F) have a friend (27M) who I’ve been working with together with a third friend (M) on projects and recently, like last year, we were working on an agency. I took over the branding, design and everything including documentation like business strategy and go to market strategy documents which I shared with everyone. During this period, I had a lot of things going crazy for me at the same time and we didn’t kick off like we intended.
Tell me why I’m scrolling on Instagram and I see an account with a name I’m not familiar with but had the identical branding, content and everything what I had done. He never mentioned it to me or said anything but was going ahead with my Intellectual Property.
I voiced my concern to our third partner and he said he was slightly aware but didn’t know I wasn’t. Which I honestly don’t believe. He now decided to say we needed to have a meeting. (I feel like this was done to reduce the tension because he knew I was mad).
I ignored the meeting because I wasn’t available that weekend but I haven’t bothered to broach the topic because I sincerely believe that none of these people have my best interest in mind.
So please let me know if I’m the Asshole.
You did not pull away from the project. You discovered the project had already moved on without you….clearly NTA
NTA except to yourself. Go to the meeting, ask what is going on, be fierce about your work, and ask for a contract of a percentage of sales in return for the work you’ve done, or a flat fee. If you get a percentage of sales, you will have to have an auditor audit them every year since they are not trustworthy, but if you get the flat fee, it’s one and done.
NTA but queen please do not let these men take your work without saying anything! Go stand up for yourself!
How on Earth would you be the asshole. Your friend stole your work and presented it as his own and the other one wants to keep the peace!? This is so disturbing on so many level. I would be furious and I wouldn’t be interested in peace making. I would want consequences. But maybe it wasn’t about reducing tension. Maybe it was to confront this issue head on. I would you should still go to the next meeting to Express your fury and find a solution that serves you since you were wronged in this situation. Just say you did not have the time to reach the meeting
NTA
Honestly I’d be upset too. If the branding and strategy were your work, the least he could’ve done was talk to you before launching something with it.
NTA. But “a lot of things going crazy for me” raises my eyebrow, but in the end they should’ve let you know they were moving forward
NAH.
There’s a lot of info missing here, and your partner may or may not have done anything wrong. It sounds like you dipped out of the project for personal reasons.
From a legal perspective, if you shared your work and you didn’t copyright it, then it’s not technically “your” intellectual property. Certainly it is not “his” and you can prove that if you have the earlier timestamped versions.