What are the consequences of having a design removed for being too similar?

It is our aim to educate artists, rather than punish them. We realize that there are many designs in the broader stationery marketplace that are very similar to one another, and we understand how easy it is to get mixed signals about what is and isn't acceptable in terms of drawing inspiration from other sources. It's also very common that in the creative process, artists end up unintentionally using aspects of other work they have seen.  

As a community, we want to help artists learn where the line is between inspiration and imitation and protect the work previously submitted. As a company, we want to only feature work that was created independently. We feel this process is the best way for us to achieve that.