How it started
My templates were some of the first of their kind.
Search for them back then and the first listings that came up were mine. I had built something from scratch, found the gap before most people knew the gap existed, and it was working.
Then one day I found a website selling the exact same template. Same design. Same listing images. Everything.
I felt like my world was collapsing. This was my livelihood. Copyright laws for digital products are close to nonexistent. I didn’t even know where to start or who to report it to.
And that was just the beginning.
It started happening on Etsy too. Products getting copied, listing images lifted, designs repackaged and resold like nothing happened. I’d seen enough of it that it stopped feeling shocking and started feeling inevitable.
Then one seller took it a step further and reported ME for infringing on THEIR products.
Their products. That were mine.
So I did what any reasonable person would do. I stalked their profile, found what little information was available, traced the email ID they’d used back to a purchase they had made from my own shop, compiled everything into a full evidence package, quoted the relevant US copyright laws, and sent it all to Etsy support.
You don’t come for me and my babies.
That whole experience made one thing very clear: creators shouldn’t have to become amateur detectives just to protect work they built. The tools to do this should already exist. They should be built into the process from the beginning.
That’s Marked.
The idea
I didn’t want to design another loud, fear-based anti-piracy tool. That already feels exhausting.
Marked is quieter than that. A smart protection system that helps creators keep proof, trace ownership, and feel less exposed when they sell online. Not a padlock on your product. More like a fingerprint on it — invisible to honest buyers, undeniable when it matters.
The hard part isn’t technical. It’s emotional. Creators need to feel protected without making honest buyers feel punished for purchasing. That balance is the whole design challenge.
What I’m figuring out
How protection can feel calm instead of paranoid.
How creators can keep ownership proof without adding friction to every sale.
How digital delivery stays seamless for buyers while giving creators a safety net they can actually use.
How trust, evidence, and creator confidence get designed into the product from the beginning — not bolted on after the damage is done.