It happened. I don’t know how it was possible, but it happened. Friends, my work has been stolen and copied and I became a victim of copyright infringement (take a moment to enjoy to the tension of the muscles when saying this term aloud)!

It all started with my friend Kiwi, who recently sent me a link to this Kickstarter campaign. He has a talent for digging up weird shit on Crowdfunding platforms, but this made me gasp: Someone invented a self-brushing toothbrush!

(Immediate throwback to the days when we all had lose braces and were forced to wear them over night.)

This toothbrush is called Amabrush, and I am still not sure whether it’s a hoax or a real product. The device looks like choppers, and claims to brush your teeth within ten seconds. It connects via Bluetooth to your phone (obviously), were you can select a variety of vibration modes and timers. IN-SANE!

But if this wasn’t enough craziness built into one single device, the real deal is that they stole this idea. From me.

In 2010, I started a new sketchbook and had a creative phase—I was inventing a lot of useful everyday devices and made drawings and descriptions for them.

Non of them ever went into production, obviously, but they were sketched out thoroughly. One of these sketches now must have leaked to the people behind Amabrush—it was this one:

Isn’t that crazy! I drew this! Years ago!

These self self-proclaimed Kickstarter “inventors” must have given themselves access to my apartment, looked through my sketchbooks and photographed my invention—while I wasn’t at home! And now they are trying to make big money out of something I THOUGHT OF FIRST! Not okay.

But I assume I can’t do much about it right now. I can just recommend to always lock away your sketchbooks cautiously, or get your ideas patented as soon as they’re on paper. But on the other hand—who needs an automatic toothbrush?! It doesn’t really matter if you spent 10 or 120 seconds brushing your teeth. As long as you do it. So you better enjoy the artisanal experience of brushing your teeth by hand as long as you still can!