The Essential Guide to Business for Artists and Designers by Alison Branagan;

Author:Alison Branagan;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781474250573
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK
Published: 2019-11-28T00:00:00+00:00

Stealing ideas

You simply must not take images, lyrics or designs from the web or from books – even with a number of alterations such as colour changes, removing parts, distortion, etc. – and then claim them as your own creative product. It’s important to gain permission from the creator or to pay a licensing fee, otherwise you could risk litigation. Unfortunately, artists and designers often only realise how damaging this activity is when it happens to them.

What to do if you have been ripped off

Do not communicate with the individual or business who you think may have copied your artwork, designs or products and passed them off as their own. Instead, quickly gather all your evidence of research and creation, sketchbooks, photographs of work in progress, catalogues, digital files and samples, together with a copy of the offending image (screenshot or print) or object (an actual purchase), and go straight to an IP lawyer to seek advice. Any delay can be fatal to your claim.

It can get messy if you try to be your own lawyer; I really wouldn’t recommend taking on businesses who are ‘passing off’ your products or artworks as their own unless you are fully conversant with the law. However, it is possible to represent yourself and have your case heard in an Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. Equally, a local IP lawyer and the IPO itself via the gov.uk website can offer guidance.

However, if a business or individual is just using your images on their website without your permission, as mentioned earlier photographers can now take legal action. A Google image search is a good way to start tracking down websites that are using your images. You can upload an image that you are trying to check, or locate the use of the same image elsewhere if already on Google images.

If you are a photographer, illustrator, artist or designer and you see your images being used by a blogger, for instance, just to make their page look more appealing, then you could phone or email the owner of the blog or website and politely remind them in a friendly way that they may have ‘forgotten’ or ‘overlooked’ securing a licence from you to use the image concerned, and what a fair usage fee would be.

Equally, in another scenario the blogger might actually be using the image to endorse you and encourage people to commission or purchase your artwork or designs. Nowadays most creatives welcome this and may overlook any illegitimate use of an image in this circumstance. It is really about how they have used the images, how influential they are and whether they have a significant following.

Some artists and designers have taken to news and social media to vent their fury and expose infringers or copyists. This is a high-risk strategy, but if you search on Google for ‘Tatty Devine vs Claire’s Accessories’ or ‘You Thought We Wouldn’t Notice’ you will find some examples of victorious campaigns. It’s best to seek advice from an IP lawyer when venturing down this route, especially when emotions are running high.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.