A highly regarded Agriculture Scientist specialising in Soil Microbials, Vihaan often worked with farmers on innovative ways to enhance crop production. Weeds were severely strangling one client’s crop of asparagus and, as an organic farmer, chemical spraying was out of the question. It was decided to try a radical solution – to burn the weeds with a gas fire rigged behind a row-cropping tractor. A local engineering company was enlisted to make the item.  The system worked brilliantly. The weeds died allowing the asparagus plants to thrive. Some months later, they saw the exact machine they had ‘invented’ being sold through a tractor franchise. Their machine had been copied by the engineering company they had used leaving them with nothing for the idea. The concept had been stolen.

David’s advertising agency has ideas stolen frequently. But one experience was a real trigger for change. After working with a big car parts retailer for several months, Dave presented a concept that would reduce the massive cost of reverse logistics by enabling mechanics, who order parts, to do so more accurately. While management informed David that they had the idea before, they clearly had not.  Only after Dave’s presentation was the concept introduced to Australia and then to their global network of retailers. It saved the group many hundreds of millions. When David asked for payment for the idea, he was informed he had better have deep pockets while the manager who had stolen the idea was promoted to the group’s overseas headquarters with a big raise in salary. Hi Jamie! This idea theft was one of the key acts of stealing that stimulated the formation of Ideas Union. (And it’s not over yet, Jamie!)

A renowned architect, John designs beautiful yet practical housing, hospitals and other major spaces. When his firm is commissioned in a competitive tender, he most often is requested to submit concept drawings for approval of the board. However, when his team is unsuccessful, it is not unusual for an adaptation of elements of his designs to be incorporated into the completed build with no compensation afforded to John and his team.  John has numerous examples - from ways to devise structural walls, to the means to construct floors over waterways, to roofs designed to let light through. John’s inventions are legendary. Theft of them by rival architects or builders has to stop. Whoever designs the concept deserves the recognition and some reward for their inventiveness.

A well-known Public Relations expert, Sophie has run her own successful business for some years. A client pitch is integral to doing business.  Clearly, it is imperative that the potential client needs to know how you would shine a positive light on their business and the strategies you would use. Additionally, Sophie likes to present an overriding ‘big idea’ to help land the account based on the costings also outlined in the pitch.  When an enthusiastic potential client takes a long time before making a 'decision', there is often something wrong.  It is common to find an interpretation of the pitch deck has been given to an internal team or sections used by the external team who won the business. Over the years, Sophie has become wiser and now requires a pitch fee prior to presentation.  Even so, it is small compensation for this all too regular deception. Ideas theft must stop - pay a decent sum for an idea or do not use it.

Dorothy works with a prestigious landscaping firm which designs gardens for government-operated botanical gardens, tourism locations, and large private residencies. These commissions are often executed as competitive tenders. Considering the huge varieties of plants and the myriad of options in the configuration of a design matrix, it is astounding how many times a prospective client has had others directly copy the design submitted in the competitive pitch. Staggeringly, almost always they say the same thing - ‘but you can’t own a garden design, it’s just an idea and we found someone cheaper to do it’.  Yet the idea for the garden certainly was stolen and the concept’s originator deserves to be paid for it.  

At the forefront of cyber security, Christina designs intricate ways to prevent data theft.  Her firm regularly is asked to submit tenders for the IT operations of government agencies and large companies. She has so many examples where the potential client has used part of her team’s planned approach, such as the translation of the combination of apps, the process used in data storage or where on which ‘cloud’ critical elements end up within ‘mirrored’ environments.  Sadly, it‘s a long list.  And as confidentiality agreements are signed prior to the pitch, the company will often present that document as ‘proof’ that Christina’s firm does not own its own ideas.  It is not surprising then that, of Ideas Union member types, IT firms have their ideas and concepts stolen most frequently.  This just needs to stop.

When advising senior management teams in diversity and inclusion, Roger has a unique approach. He presented his proven system to a major retail group. His services were greeted with enthusiasm; a contact was signed and his initial invoice sent.  When the invoice was not paid and the program’s start date was delayed, he was then told that he was too expensive at his per-person rate, and they’d found another company to do the same thing. Roger reminded the head of HR that he was an Ideas Union member (this was during our preliminary ‘beta’ testing phase) and, after she had checked with their legal team, they paid Roger for his pitch, paid him for using his concept and paid him to run the program with their various management teams. In fact, more staff members were included than he originally had anticipated.  Roger is a happy camper!