HELP! I think I'm screwed......

**morea** · 09-01-2006, 04:05 PM

yuck. I don't know what to tell you... have you checked out the AIGA or GAG sites? Or contacted them? It seems they would be able to give you the best advice, and maybe recommend a lawyer or two...

best wishes!

**Kool** · 09-01-2006, 04:11 PM

Eh, just chalk it up as your "I should have used a contract that spells all this out" lesson and move on.

Jackimalyn · 09-01-2006, 04:11 PM

check out GAG. The laws were changed a few years ago to protect us against this. As long as you can show that it is your design (the files on your comp etc.) and that you created them, you own the copyrights with or without the paper unless you sign away the copyrights. It's not theirs. Unfortunately, you will prob have to pay an arm and a leg to prove it but it is yours. good luck, keep us posted on how its going.

EC · 09-01-2006, 04:11 PM

I think the law is on your side, actually. Copyright isn't something you "do" -- you own something if you create it, and if somebody pays you for it, you can transfer those rights. Artists are protected by the law for such things as I understand it.

Not legal advice here, just what I understand. If you want to pursue this, I think you'll want to pay that $190 bucks.

EC · 09-01-2006, 04:14 PM

Originally posted by Kool

Eh, just chalk it up as your "I should have used a contract that spells all this out" lesson and move on.

Sadly, this is how it usually ends up anyway. I am lucky to have attorney friends that I've consulted with when somebody has ripped me off, and they basically say "some people are just a-holes, is it worth it for you to go after this person?" What is it that you want from the situation, payment? I guess you have to decide if they'll pay anyway even with all the trouble.

**morea** · 09-01-2006, 04:14 PM

didn't get to read the whole thing (busy, busy!) but check this out:

http://designforum.aiga.org/content....le&aid=1428410

HUNT · 09-01-2006, 04:16 PM

I believe anything you design is automatically copywritten and you own the rights until they are given by purchase. I could be wrong, but if you can show a intent to purchase trail from the client you should be good in a claims court.

Drorain · 09-01-2006, 04:17 PM

GAG might be able to hook you up with a free lawyer...they might simply ask that you join their club...check it out

sophiemt · 09-01-2006, 04:43 PM

The money is secondary to stopping him - this brewery produces 12 new beers a year, I don't want my work plagerized anymore

cornfed · 09-01-2006, 04:45 PM

Go to this forum and post in brush with the law thread. They have an attorney that regularly checks in and answers question. Be prepared for a lecture about copyrighting your work and he's gonna tell you to get an attorney, but he will probably have some good advice for you, too.

http://arttalk.theispot.com

You'll have to register, too. It's a private forum.

Navian · 09-01-2006, 05:38 PM

I was reading through the copyright law on wikipedia.

In the United States, copyright has relatively recently been made automatic (in the style of the Berne Convention), which has had the effect of making it appear to be more like a property right. Thus, as with property, a copyright need not be granted or obtained through official registration with any Government Office. Once an idea has been reduced to tangible form, for example by securing it in a fixed medium (such as a drawing, sheet music, photograph, a videotape or a letter), the copyright holder is entitled to enforce his or her exclusive rights. However, while a copyright need not be officially registered for the copyright owner to begin exercising his exclusive rights, registration of works (where the laws of that jurisdiction provide for registration) does have benefits; it serves as prima facie evidence of a valid copyright and enables the copyright holder to seek statutory damages and attorney's fees (whereas in the USA, for instance, registering after an infringement only enables one to receive actual damages and lost profits). The original holder of the copyright may be the employer of the actual author rather than the author himself if the work is a "work for hire". Again, this principle is widespread; in English law the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 provides that where a work in which copyright subsists is made by an employee in the course of that employment, the copyright is automatically assigned to the employer

What I get out of that is, that if you never signed the copyrights via the contract, you are still entitled to those rights, without registration. Unless you are a "work for hire", then you technically don't own it, but it too must be in the contract signed.

Don't quote me, but thats how I understood it.

Maybe go to another lawyer, get a 2nd opinion?

*edit* bolded what I thought was really important, and very well might be for your situation.

sophiemt · 09-01-2006, 05:43 PM

thanks - that helps a lot

patkennedy78 · 09-01-2006, 05:45 PM

Talk to them. Calmly and Rationally. Say "Hey I did the work, this is what I'd like in return" At least get the credit. Who's the B**ch at the brewery that changed or altered the labels? Marketing, Secretary, Line Worker? Just be upfront and professional with them.

I'd say if all else fails then you take the legal action.

sophiemt · 09-01-2006, 05:51 PM

the brewer's wife - looking for purpose, and a shortcut

HELP! I think I'm screwed......

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