I’ve never had it happen to me (or never found out), but stealing your creative fruit can and does happen. A recent feature article in Computer Arts magazine covered this disturbing trend.
The thought of someone stealing my work has always been centered around my photography, I never gave much thought to the fact that people also steal design work verbatim. Amazing, truly. The site, You Thought We Wouldn’t Notice, is an international blog dedicated to ratting out the pilferers. Some of the stuff posted on there is astonishing. Complete, pixel-for-pixel web design rip-offs, just with different text and logos. How do you live with yourself?
Of course, registering your work with the gov. can help if you wind up taking someone to court, but every original work is automatically copyrighted… that doesn’t deter anyone. The hard part is preventing and catching the theft.