Studio and Entrepreneurship
The copyright overview podcast gave us an understanding of the dynamics in Intellectual Property laws for the design industry. Legal and IP frameworks are something we need to consider very seriously when writing contract agreements and get sign-off on work that could be infringing on other designs that may result in serious issues for the client and yourself. The UK IPO has many useful resources to help understand the legal requirements that are needed when you have to imply an issue that may raise upon the copyright infringement. If anyhow someone tries to take you to court and you heavily believe there is no wrongdoing, then you need to really gather evidence in contract agreements, email trails, file dates and documents that are relevant to the case. The most important piece of evidence that needs to be addressed and clear is a contract agreement with yourself and the client about the copyright of the design work that is given on the sign-off. Social media can be very tricky when sharing your work online as it’ll be available for everybody to access and have an opportunity to be inspired or copy your idea that you have completed with hours of labour to get your result. This can be seen globally and the possibility of someone stealing your work halfway across the world with not jurisdiction boundaries. They spoke about companies case studies that had a significant impact on designs that were clearly mimick the same ideas where conversation across the industry sparked outrage and discussion with big corporate companies which either accidentally came up with a similar solution.
It was very interesting as no true court settlement was spoken in public whether these cases were a problem for the designer to find the truth or it’s all a huge PR stunt to get recognition on the back of the bigger picture. These case studies were the Tokyo Logo and Belgium’s Théâtre de Liège emblem, F1 new logo design that had a conflict with 3M and Tuesday Bassen v Zara clothing over pin badges that was completely ripped off. These were great examples of David and Goliath case studies that determined what the conflicts consist of how these mistakes have happened and coursed issues between the companies big or small. As much companies bicker with each other over the legal issues that they’re either fighting in public or at a supreme court, it’s the audience that speaks out louder as they’re known as the ‘call-out culture’ who identify these issues that they fill should be in question why for example certain companies can take advantage of others that are either smaller or don’t have the platform to shout about it. The design community are truly the voice of the people when something is not truly original and inspiration is taken literally from another designer that they feel should have more credit to the issue. It truly does show togetherness and overall I think it’s an opportunity for a panel discussion for the design world to speak up and take place in conversation between each other through social media platforms.
This video was created for the World IP Day Summary 2021 by Acid, who outlines IP’s information to protect against copying infringement in the design industry. A very clear and precise video on the issue that brings an enlightenment of the issues that many people are not aware of this information at hand. Other resources such as IPO on youtube hold very helpful content to understand in more detail the law of the IP framework.
How bots are stealing artwork from artists on Twitter
Artists artwork is being stolen from social media and sold for profit online. They claim malicious individuals are finding their art, often with the aid of an automated system known as a bot, and uploading it onto a website where it can be sold on a T-shirt without the artist’s permission. This is becoming an issue that is out of the hands of the people to deal with as multiple sites are infringing on others artwork to use to sell on products of their own. I’ve seen this happen myself with friends illustrations being taken and used to sell on merchandise to make a profit. A very interesting article and is worrying for those illustrators and artists who need to be careful sharing their work online through social media channels.
#freemagenta
In this week’s challenge, I researched what design objects are or may infringe a copyright or require IP protection. I came across Adidas was looking to own the three stripes that are trying to be head and shoulder of its competitors and some code coping infringement that Oracle accused Google of using. These cases have some interesting overview of how these super brands will put their weight into something to take ownership in what they think is rightfully theirs. When looking at this research it came to my mind that there was one case that I remember back in 2011 which is associated with an agency I visited back in Amsterdam when I was studying for my BA. Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile has trademarked a Pantone pink, aka Magenta which is a single colour of the print process, which has driven some controversy in brands big or small not being able to use the colour as a primary choice for print as Deutsche Telekom is taking many companies to court over this. Lava Creative Agency in Amsterdam had begun to voice their opinion on this issue by driving the #freemagenta to call out Deutsche Telekom on this ridiculous trademarking. Deutsche Telekom isn’t the only brand that has done such a thing in trademarking a colour, such as Tiffany & Co robin’s egg blue and UPS brown that trademarking these colours to be unique to their brands.
Workshop Challenges
