Comments on: Protecting Your Designs (Intellectual Property)

By: Tara: Freelance Designer

Tara: Freelance Designer — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 16:48:35 +0000

Hi Yves, thanks for your comment, you might want to check out the intellectual property office (links in the post) or go over to http://acid.eu.com/ (Anti Copying in Design) to find more info

By: yves

yves — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 01:44:52 +0000

hi – can someone please tell me where does being inspired by a design stop and where does plagiarising it start, in brochure work for example ?

what is the actual part of the design that is protected ? is it the layout, the colour palette, the typeface combinations, or all of those put together ?

and isn’t there a risk that if someone designs something from scratch, almost exactly the same design would have already been created, perhaps because they are not very creative, or perhaps because they are subconciously influenced by others ?

are there specific examples where graphic design intellectual property rights have been defended in court ?

thanks for your help.

By: No win no fee solicitors

No win no fee solicitors — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:02:22 +0000

Intellectual property attorneys are normally very expensive. The best way for a small business to fight for their copyright infringements is to find a lawyer who is willing to take their case on a conditional fee basis also known as no win no fee claims.

By: Tara: Freelance Designer

Tara: Freelance Designer — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 09:32:43 +0000

HI Lauren

I was saying exactly the same thing to my boyfriend the other day, the honest people have to spend loads of money to try and stop the dishonest riping them off

By: LaurenMarie - Creative Curio

LaurenMarie - Creative Curio — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 09:32:06 +0000

This is one of those things we wish we didn’t have to deal with! If everyone could just be honest… but that’s a fantasy world. Thanks for these useful links, Tara (and thanks for looking into US protections, too!)

By: sazzelli

sazzelli — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 09:31:04 +0000

his was quite useful, its a shame ive only just read it.
It’s just happened to me today, some guy who’s client is eastpak, tricked me into making a font for him and now he is going to use it and there was no intentions of anything in return! and its going to be something thats used in europe so surely there would be enough money involved to give me a bit for my effort…. gez i hate some sneaky designers. but its my fault but i thought it was a friend

By: Graham :: Map Maker

Graham :: Map Maker — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 09:28:40 +0000

Photographers seem to be on the ball when it comes to copyright. I designed a national newspaper advert for a client that sells cruise holidays and he asked me to include a photograph from one of the cruise lines brochures. Now we both were under the assumption that if the cruise line published an image they must hold the copyright and as we were selling their cruises we could use it in the advert.
Lo and behold we had a phone call from a photographer the day after it was published claiming copyright in the image and demanding payment. After much discussion and research he proved that the image was his (even though it was cropped, reversed and in newsprint). We paid!
You can always resort to a solicitors letter and take companies to court but from experience if your copyright has been infringed:
1. Ask politely for payment with evidence that you were the creator of the original work.
2. Try a solicitors letter.
3. If you think its financially worth it take them to court.

On a separate note beware of including maps in your artwork because Ordnance Survey are VERY hot on copyright – get specialist advice.

By: Tara: Freelance Designer

Tara: Freelance Designer — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:51:24 +0000

HI David

Thanks, let me know when you publish it and I’ll add your link.

By: David Airey

David Airey — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:48:19 +0000

I’ve a draft article about trademarks, yet to go live as I hadn’t finished it.

I didn’t find it too easy finding the right info when searching online, so it’s no surprise to see you publish an article about this.

Nice work Tara.