kickstarter scam crowdfunding pr article 1:5.15

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Crowdfunding PR (http://www.crowdfunding (http://www.crowdfundingpr.org/truth- crowdfunding-scams/) Tweet 17 reddit submit S S THE TRUTH ABOUT CROWDFUNDING SCAMS by Krystine Therriault (http://www.crowdfundingpr.org/author/krystine/) | on January 5, 2015 | 0 comments (http://www.crowdfundingpr.org/truth- crowdfunding-scams/#comments) | in news (http://www.crowdfundingpr.org/category/news/) | Like it 48 Like FOLLOW 03) MOST COMMENTED (HTTP://WWW.CROWDFUNDINGPR.ORG?TOPBAR=MOST_COMMENTED) EDITOR’S PICKS (HTTP://WWW.CROWDFUNDINGPR.ORG?TOPBAR=EDITORS_PICKS) MOST LIKED (HTTP://WWW.CROWDFUNDINGPR.ORG?TOPBAR=MOST_LIKED) SUBMIT PRESS RELEASE (HTTP://WWW.CROWDFUNDINGPR.ORG/SUBMIT-PRESS-RELEASE-2/) BLOG (HTTP://WWW.CROWDFUNDINGPR.ORG/CATEGORY/BLOG/) NEWS (HTTP://WWW.CROWDFUNDINGPR.ORG/CATEGORY/NEWS/) PAGES KICKSTARTER FORUM (HTTP://KICKSTARTERFORUM.ORG) PRE-LAUNCH BUZZ (BETA) (HTTP://WWW.PITCHFUSE.COM) Weekly Crowdfunding News + Tips Subscribe (http://eepurl.com/HuMt5)

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Page 1: Kickstarter scam crowdfunding pr article 1:5.15

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THE TRUTH ABOUT CROWDFUNDING SCAMSby Krystine Therriault (http://www.crowdfundingpr.org/author/krystine/) | on January 5, 2015 | 0 comments (http://www.crowdfundingpr.org/truth-

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Page 2: Kickstarter scam crowdfunding pr article 1:5.15

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Dawn Sole launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo(https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pluck-n-file-more-than-a-tweezer) for her newproduct, 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 friendlyall-in-one beauty tool; it includes tweezers, a replaceable nail file, nail buffer, and aneyebrow comb.

(https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pluck-n-file-more-than-a-tweezer)

Sounds great, right? Except that the startup’s owner realized mid-campaign that someonehad copied her project on Kickstarter and managed to raise approximately £17K using herpatented and trademarked idea. It came to her attention when she googled her company’sname and saw the fraudulent campaign on Kickstarter.

Sole was angry about this for a number of reasons: 1) this was clearly a scam and rewardswould not be fulfilled, 2) it was now associated with her company name, 3) and Kickstarterlet this campaign launch after denying the first version of her product a year ago. The fakeKickstarter page (https://www.kickstarter.com/dmca/pluck-n-file-more-than-a-tweezer-suspended-submitted-by-assoulin) has now been suspended and is “the subject of anintellectual 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(http://www.kickstarterforum.org/victim-of-kickstarter-scam-t4060.html) for allowing theclearly copied campaign to launch on their platform:

“If Kickstarter did their research they would have seen that there is already anaccount with Indiegogo and that I am the owner of Pluck N’ File … That makesmy brand look bad when it isn’t even me … What protection do people like mehave then from poachers of crowdfunding campaigns if the platforms like KS arenot doing their due diligence. They dropped the ball big time and I am suingthem. 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 topatent 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 andbackers will still have a chance to purchase a Pluck N’ File, which should be available laterthis year through their website (http://plucknfile.com/).

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Page 3: Kickstarter scam crowdfunding pr article 1:5.15

Krystine Therriault is the community manager for CrowdCrux and has helped

creators with their crowdfunding projects on KickstarterForum.org. She loves

learning about new trending projects and dissecting them to bring new tips and

information to creators. You can find her on LinkedIn here

(https://www.linkedin.com/pub/krystine-therriault/4a/800/377) or Twitter here

(https://twitter.com/kryssstine).

Like Dawn Sole did, sometimes googling a company or product name that you want to backon a crowdfunding platform can help make sure you are putting your money into a realproject. If you see more than one similar project check the dates, creators, and backercomments to see whether a previously finished project came through or not. These kinds ofclues usually make it obvious which campaign is legitimate.

Backers and creators of crowdfunding campaigns need to protect themselves througheducation and knowing what warning signs to look for. Sometimes it can be difficult – somecrowdfunding scams go unnoticed at first. Just remember that crowdfunding is not aguarantee, you should be careful and be aware of your rights because crowdfundingplatforms can rarely be held accountable for hosting a crowdfunding scam unknowingly aslong as it is taken down once it is brought to their attention.

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