Mynock
06-10-2005, 05:30 PM
Being artists copyrights and intellectual property are things we protect. Copyright is an important issue and can't be overemphasized, because without it we have no product. Our intellectual property is what we sell. It's not physical so it's a little bit harder to tell if someone has stole it. Especially in the digital age that we live in now, it is even harder to protect your ideas from others. I suppose I should get to the point of this thread and I why I came here to share my experience.
I have this crazy client which is a nice guy, who I think AADD or something. He's all over the place, and he lacks focus. Anyways, he is starting a new business, where he is development consultant. I have set him up with a logo, some business cards, and some "flyers." These flyers are used to promote projects he has worked on in order to get new clients. So he just picks and chooses which one or ones might pertain to current client he is trying to acquire. It's tough because all of his previous work was for his previous employer. I have started to do a few using pictures he had taken himself, and thought this was the best way to do it. Don't have to worry about any releases or any other rights.
I am doing one now about a water park he did and he brought in photos, but he also brought in a conceptual book that contains images beautifully rendered by an artist for his previous company. These are drawings of the different elements and such that were put into the final design. He wanted me to include them in his recent sheet, but I didn't want to for obvious reasons. I brought up the issue of copyright, and the fact I didn't fell comfortable putting them on. He then insisted that he designed and planned the objects therefore it was OK. He also pulled the, "I'm friends with this people" card which actually holds no weight whatsoever. Luckily, I was able to talk him out of it peacefully, and not butting heads with him. I told him to just use the photos and tease them, and then if they want to see more you can bring out the illustrations as they are originally presented. If he continues to push the idea, I'll have to turn him down or make him sign or get signed a copyright release. Which I don't think we have at this job. I will have to make clear how I feel about this, and how I want to protect the company from copyright issues.
His logic just floors me. That's like saying the person how created the haystacks at Chailly owns the rights to Claude Monet's paintings (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/monet/haystacks/). Hello!?!
This got me thinking about my previous employer. It was a quick printer, and the owner was something else. He didn't believe that photographers are artists. We would do graduation cards in the summer and always have to get copyright releases for those images stamped. But if were up to the owner we wouldn't have releases, and the only reason we have release is to protect his butt in case of someone taking legal action.
Let me know what you feel, and I'd like to hear you all weigh in on the issue. This also could be a good thread to post your own frustrations about copyright or just how important it is and how we must protect it. We must protect ours and more importantly others too. Stealing is stealing.
P.S. If you weren't familiar with the paintings I talked about, and had to click the link, you might be uncultured swine. Just maybe.:eek:
I have this crazy client which is a nice guy, who I think AADD or something. He's all over the place, and he lacks focus. Anyways, he is starting a new business, where he is development consultant. I have set him up with a logo, some business cards, and some "flyers." These flyers are used to promote projects he has worked on in order to get new clients. So he just picks and chooses which one or ones might pertain to current client he is trying to acquire. It's tough because all of his previous work was for his previous employer. I have started to do a few using pictures he had taken himself, and thought this was the best way to do it. Don't have to worry about any releases or any other rights.
I am doing one now about a water park he did and he brought in photos, but he also brought in a conceptual book that contains images beautifully rendered by an artist for his previous company. These are drawings of the different elements and such that were put into the final design. He wanted me to include them in his recent sheet, but I didn't want to for obvious reasons. I brought up the issue of copyright, and the fact I didn't fell comfortable putting them on. He then insisted that he designed and planned the objects therefore it was OK. He also pulled the, "I'm friends with this people" card which actually holds no weight whatsoever. Luckily, I was able to talk him out of it peacefully, and not butting heads with him. I told him to just use the photos and tease them, and then if they want to see more you can bring out the illustrations as they are originally presented. If he continues to push the idea, I'll have to turn him down or make him sign or get signed a copyright release. Which I don't think we have at this job. I will have to make clear how I feel about this, and how I want to protect the company from copyright issues.
His logic just floors me. That's like saying the person how created the haystacks at Chailly owns the rights to Claude Monet's paintings (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/monet/haystacks/). Hello!?!
This got me thinking about my previous employer. It was a quick printer, and the owner was something else. He didn't believe that photographers are artists. We would do graduation cards in the summer and always have to get copyright releases for those images stamped. But if were up to the owner we wouldn't have releases, and the only reason we have release is to protect his butt in case of someone taking legal action.
Let me know what you feel, and I'd like to hear you all weigh in on the issue. This also could be a good thread to post your own frustrations about copyright or just how important it is and how we must protect it. We must protect ours and more importantly others too. Stealing is stealing.
P.S. If you weren't familiar with the paintings I talked about, and had to click the link, you might be uncultured swine. Just maybe.:eek: