Family member copied my business idea!

[EnidsHoliday]

AIBU to be rather annoyed?

I started an online business venture about 8 weeks ago and have had better than expected success so far (made about £500 in the first full month and it's growing!). I won't go into too much detail as outing but think along the lines of social media/shopping/etc.

It's a relatively niche area of which I have some experience with the target audience etc. I started it to help subsidise my maternity pay.

An immediate family member has basically copied and pasted my entire idea and is now running a virtually identical business, competing for pretty much the same customers! They have a full time job and so have said it is just a hobby for them.

Not sure if I'm overreacting or how to handle? They kept it quiet for the first couple of weeks as they were scared I'd be upset(!).

Hi, if you give more detail I can point you in the right direction about the legal effect which you can use for moral pressure.
Copying and pasting implies copyright infringement - if you have written or designed information then they cannot substantially copy that. It does not necessarily need to be identical - it is enough they have copied.
If you have designed logos or patterns you may also have design rights.
If you have collated information, requiring effort, such as lists of suppliers or lists of products you probably have copyright and database rights to prevent copying.
As for copying the overall business idea, since you have only just launched it is unlikely you could claim passing off (unregistered trade mark) and you have not mentioned anything about registered trade marks.
Have they made hypertext links to your pages?
If you had told them anything in confidence they should not divulge the information but I presume they didn't sign anything (!); or they could argue the information is not confidential but in the public domain. If you showed them a business plan that would be confidential. If they took any documents you could claim theft or conversion.
You can't protect an idea, you can only protect how you carry out the idea. ie how you write about it and promote it.
In China it is considered flattery to copy someone's idea!
I bet in 6 months they get bored but how annoying.

Your DM!!!!

Omg. Your mother. Never in a million years did I expect that.

She's just incredible.... Does she have form for this sort of cf behaviour?

Pisses me off how some people just assume because a woman is doing work from home it's automatically an MLM. FFS.

Bloody Hell , say something to her

Just wow. That sucks

I'm sure as others have said she'll either find herself out of her depth or get bored soon enough

Good luck OP

But yes - I'd be SERIOUSLY angry over my own mother stealing my idea! That's just really, really low of her.

Your Mum? Fuck me, I’d assumed your sister or maybe cousin, but your Mum?! That’s incredibly hurtful. WTAF is she thinking? Has she always been like this?

Oh your DM you really are stuck. I could not trust my Mother either sadly so had to learn to filter information.

I’d be fucking fuming over this. I’d have to confront her and talk about infringement of copyright over the wording used.

I know you don't want to out your site understandably; but I bet if we compared your website and marketing with hers we would much prefer yours, and that might make you feel better.

It’s really beside the point if she’s crap at it or gets bored soon...the damage to the relationship has already been done, the trust has gone, along with the feeling she’s ‘on your side’ IN Life. It’s a horrible betrayal. Just awful.

Does she have reviews on her site? Can you get some MNers friends to say things like 'This is so similar to [your site] but [your site] is better, is this a rip-off of [your site's] ideas?'

Your Mum? wtf is she playing at? Has there been signs before in your relationship that she is envious of you for example?

Sorry -joining the astonished gobsmacked chorus of "your mom???" Is your DF around - could he not intercede and guide her in the direction of a new hobby that doesn't involve undermining her own child-

Ugh. My mother was like this too op - slavishly copied things I did because she had so little imagination/initiative of her own (plus she once freely admitted that she was jealous of me when I was a child because I got all the attention ).

My point is that these are the actions of an immature, needy, attention-seeking person. Do not engage, and quietly wait for her business to fail (work hard on your own though)!

This is just awful. I'd be willing to bet this is not the first time she had tried to steal your thunder?

Could you explain to her that if she wasn't your mother you would sue? (theoretically) that might focus her mind that she is behaving immorally.
How does she explain what she is doing?

Has she also lifted the pages of your website or made her own?

She can be quite selfish - I got married and divorced in my early twenties (no fault of my own - he cheated!!) and she wasn't there to support me because it was 'too upsetting for her' and then had a go at me for her sleepless nights, lol! That's a different story, but a great example of past behaviour! Her and her sisters are jealous of each other all the time!

When I dabbled in something similar to this a few years ago she tried to jump on the bandwagon and monumentally failed. Previously I was considered a 'social media influencer' (lol at the terminology sorry) and had a following for my blog of 5 figures. She tried to ride on my coattails a little and failed then too, which also ended up costing her money I'm sure as she had invested in stock to try and sell, using my blog as a spring/step up. (Sorry baby brain can't think of wording spring is as close as I could get lol).

She just doesn't have the business savvy, silly thing like the font she chooses etc. just aren't professional/don't fit in with the audience whatsoever!

Wow! Your own bloody mother!
Definitely block her from all forms of social media To start with then block her from your life
Who does that to their own daughter?

Your dm😮.

I would lose my shit with her.

She has made her own, using the same platform/host that I do. Her website has a different yet similarly themed name. The items are either identical are very similar. Her captioning on social media is the same, with the same emojis etc!
I posted something on Instagram about following FB for exclusive discounts and she posted the same thing (in a different font!).

She has a massive issue with you, and is acting in a way that a mother should never do to a child. Have you ever spoken to her about it? It must be so hurtful.

If you PM me a link I'll write you a review about how you are far superior in every way to BodgitBlogger or whatever your dms business goes by.