"Short version: Be flattered and move on!Longer version: I had somewhat a similar experience. Back in 2007 I designed a new unique "look" for a 2-wheel skateboard (caster board) as my graduation design project in my design school.That design school owned all the students' projects, unless officially released by the school. I released my design, and registered it via patent lawyers, as "design patent" (protects the shape/look) in China and USA (I don't live in either of those countries, but expected them to be the biggest markets if my design becomes commercial).I uploaded the design to my online Coroflot portfolio, and shortly after was contacted by design magazines (web based and "paper" based) asking to publish the design. I was flattered and agreed.Months have passed, and I found my skateboard design being sold on Alibaba...Flattered again of course, I bought one of the copies (which was not great, but not the worst either). I consulted my patent lawyer, which kept billing me for the various registrations of this design, just to find out that I can only try to stop them from manufacturing, through a costly process...I also heard that only above 10000 copies is considered a legal violation according to the Chinese government.I stopped paying my patent lawyer and moved on, deciding on the following "game-plans" for when I'll have the next great idea:1. Sell the idea to a big company and let them protect it or do whatever they want with it.2. Keep the idea:A) Never upload it to the internet unless the product is commercial.B) Do not invest in patent lawyers, since protecting from copies is very costly, and many times ineffective. C) Find a business partner to handle all the business side that as a designer you're not trained to do. D) Manufacture and sell the product as fast as possible, until the copies arrive. E) Decide if you want to compete with the copies, or move on to the next design.Just my opinion on this subject.. I haven't actually got to materialize my next great idea yet, so haven't tested any of the game-plans.Instead, unrelated to the skateboard design, I was hired by a company, where I got my dream-job :)"