Need some advise. I have blatant evidence of a competitor plan stamping prototype drawings. I was asked to "just stamp" these prototype drawings for a client. I told them I could not do that and it would take a couple of weeks for me to recreate the design. He said that would be fine. 2 weeks later, I start asking questions on the project and am told that my competitor has already stamped the job (thanks for telling me guys) and that my services were not needed. I did a little investigating and have obtained a copy of his designs. They are exact copies of the prototype on a new titleblock. I have always operated such that doing this is at least unethical, if not dangerous. The only reference to stamping a prototype in the TN guidelines I can find relates to "state standard prototypes" which I think is referring to state projects (this is obviously not one). I can't find anything that says "DO NOT PLAN STAMP PROTOTYPES", but we all know it is a no-no. I have something of a relationship with my competitor and don't want to get him in trouble, but I do want to make him aware that I know what he has done and that it is wrong, not to mention the fact that it was my project he has stolen using less than ethical behavior. The hope is that it will keep us all on the same fair playing field and he won't be able to swoop in and "design" a project in less time than it takes for me to get started. Keep in mind, we also found that he copied some of our notes and details on another of his projects. We let him know we found that too.
Any suggestions?
Any suggestions?
