Copyright of your work
Out of context: Reply #13
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- gramme0
Ownership is one thing, but self-promotional rights are another. For whatever reason, very few people in our industry have been very clear on this matter. Not even the AIGA is clear. It seems they've not yet introduced ethical guidelines that speak clearly about online portfolios.
It's always best to ask former employers for permission to show work done under their roof on your website; but I have found out—believe me when I say I've researched the matter thoroughly—that permission from said employers is not actually legally required. The reason is because the act of showing work in one's online portfolio is not a statement of ownership, but rather a display of skills for the sake of professional advancement. Most courts in the U.S. would rule in favor of a designer if a former employer sued them for displaying work online—that is, unless the designer signed a non-compete or some other contract where they made a legally binding agreement to forego their self-promotional rights to the work.
From a legal standpoint, most clients are actually the copyright owners. And I've yet to hear of a client outside of some secretive government group that gives a damn if some designer shows work done for said client on their website. Sure, designers own the intellectual property of concepts and keep copies of artwork in most cases, but for the vast majority of design work, the client gets a total buyout with the exception of work that isn't chosen. Such work remains the property of the firm.
It's amazing how many design firms and agencies do not have clauses in their contractual language which protects their self-promotional rights. Clients could actually have a field day in such cases if they ever had cause to sue.
- Petrula Vrontikis wrote an article a while back on Corofl*t that addressed this thoroughly.gramme
- Not much else out there in writing though.gramme
- the 'display of skills' is a cracking point. great find.airey
- I had to find it out for myself, because I was faced with a former employer who didn't want me to show work online.gramme
- The official legal advice I got was "forge ahead."gramme