It sounds as though the bubble has burst.
Lisa Beth, it very much sounds to me that you are being targeted. My feeling is that you need to take more action than just quitting Redbubble but I respect that only you can decide what you feel is best.
You have quite probably done it already but, if not, I urge you to write a strongly but politely worded letter to Redbubble's CEO explaining what is happening and asking what staff and processes they have in place to check the veracity of complaint claims before they take action.
At the very least, businesses who receive copyright or other infringement claims ought to only temporarily suspend a product until they determine whether that claim is legitimate.
In this latest incident, it seems clear that their is no veracity at all to the claim and that Redbubble have no obligation to remove your design. Indeed, it seems to me that the obligation is on them to put a stop to this harassment.
Copyright law is complex and has many provisions but rarely does it protect intellectual property rights for longer than 50 years and as for common phrases - I very much doubt that a complaint would succeed in court.
I'm sure that you don't want to be hassled with taking such measures and the time and effort required. However, if nothing else I would be letting them know the reason for your leaving.
No business or authority ought to take immediate action on an an anonymous or possibly anonymous report about anything without first ensuring that it is is legitimate.
Your situation is bad enough. I'll just add why I feel so strongly about this. A few years ago I was a teacher and was having an online conversation with an ex-student of mine halfway across the World. I was somewhat down at the time as I was being harassed at work. However, my language was coherent and I was not so distressed as to be making any outlandish statements. Indeed, everything was quiet, my wife was asleep and I had some gentle music playing in the background.
I heard cars outside and then there was hammering on the door which startled me and woke my wife - our bedroom being next to the front door.
To cut an involved story short, it was two detectives and two uniformed police officers. They had received a phone call from the ex-student who claimed that I was about to suicide. In spite of there being no evidence of this, no drugs, drink, disturbance, my wife's protestations, etc. I was dragged out to a police car and taken to the local mental hospital where Iwas involuntarily incarcerated after being man-handled by a police officer because I didn't walk fast enough. This despite them not having given me any time to organise myself before being taken away from home and, even though I asked, refusing to let me get my walking stick which I have to use because of post-polio syndrome.
Only through hunger strike and the support of my GP did I eventually gain release after several days deprived of my liberty or privacy. The Head of Psychiatry who signed my release said that there was nothing wrong with me and I should never have been there.
Sorry. I don't mean to steal the thunder of your circumstances but only to illustrate both how common & how ludicrous it is to act on an unconfirmed statement which could be from anyone.
In the West most people think that they are free and have 'freedom'. I suggest that they are wrong. We are free to do only what we are allowed to do and the power that some have over us is inordinately obscene.
There is much talk of democracy and freedom as opposed to autocracy and restriction. I often find myself wondering just how much difference really exists between the two.
:-)
