ex-employer copyright
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- pixelherder
What's the deal (for you lawyer types out there) if you build a portfolio site while working for a company to then leave and be harrassed by said company to take their work off your site, even if you have a message that states it was done at said company? What power do you have? Also, what if you know some project agreements gave copyright to the client?
- rabattski&rabattski0
read your contract. in about 100% of the cases you as an employee hold no copyrights at all. if that company wants you to take it of your site you have to even if you credit them for it (wankers though). i don't know if you know the contracts which that company has with their clients regarding giving full copyright to the client. but in most cases there is a clause where they still can use it in their portfolio (to cover their asses if their client pulls the same trick which that company is doing with you). either way, officially you have to ask permission from your ex-employer to use it in your portfolio.
- abstrakt0
if you're talking about a website or brochure which is available to the public, I think you may be able to showcase screenshots or scans. I'm thinking it's like taking a photo in a public place. It's legal if it's not for commercial use.
- jevad0
unfortunately a lot of the time your ex-employer are well within their right to tell you to take it off - I am lucky in that every company I have ever worked for has been really cool about me putting stuff on my portfolio
- bcopeland0
sounds pretty unreasonable from your ex-employer. most contacts i've signed have stated copyright of any work undertaken for the emplyer is thier copyright, but none have ever had a problem with me saying i did the work whilst I was working for them....sounds like your lucky to not work for them anymore if that;'s the childish way they behave - maybe you should take it offline and use screenshots as suggested then say "i would have the actual site here for you to look at but X COMPANY who i was working for when i did the job we're childish idoits and told me to take it down even though I did the work and they got the big pay cheque" ... etc etc ... maybe a bit extreme I know but word it differently and it might make you look great and them look stupid?
- Mimio0
You have no rights to the work. Also, in most cases neither does your employer the end-client usually has total ownership of the delivered product.
- ribit0
It really depends entirely on your written contract with your employer.
I worked for General Motors Design, where product security is a big deal, and you are not even allowed to take copies of your work out of the building and not show anyone any of your work, ever. If you are lucky your design work gets shown to the public at some stage and you can use that (like 4 years after you did it).
Of course thats a pretty extreme example but in the end it all depends on your contract agreement with your employer.
- kbags0
bcopeland, great pic.
I wouldn't take that last bit of advice about smearing your ex-employer on a site where any prospective employers might see it...could be damaging to you in the same way.
- ldww0
password protect your portfolio. they do not have to know its there.
- Nashville90
Again as said before, it all depends upon the contract, both between you and said employer, and said employer and client. If there is no contract with your employer or if that is not specified then pull a fast one on them and register your original artwork with the US copyright office. Then you can have your lawyer draft a cease and desist letter to them having them remove it from their site. That's kind of extreme, you should probably just walk away and resist all association with said employer. It is unfair, but get a lawyer and just see.
- jpolk0
yeah, i recently lost 2 years of work in a similar situation... no fun, but better than a legal battle.
btw... i didn't remove anything until i received an official cease and desist- but that's just me. i'd hate to give bad advice ;)
- Mimio0
Umm.. ignore the previous advice, no lawyer in the universe will advise you to try and copyright design work you did for a client. Since it's basically impossible to copyright another companies logo, content and work they paid for. If you created software that's another story.
- Nashville90
Also:
if you know that the client was given full copyright, then you can ask the client for permission to use images etc. for portfolio. Typically once all bills/accounts have been paid in full the copyright will be transfered to the client. Usually they will like you to use it, as it is more advertising for them.Also:
A work is technically copywritten as soon as it is in tangible form by the artist/author. However until it is registered with the US copyright office http://www.loc.gov then it is not official and can still be stolen by another party. I am more farmiliar with this in songwriting or music, but it is pretty much the same. A work doesn't have as much legal protection until registered.
- Nashville90
This is where art and commerce just butt heads...bummer
- ribit0
You don't have to register to have copyright protection... Where are you getting this information from?
- Nashville90
maybe not in the UK, with trademarks and worksof art you should to legally protect them. It's expensive so many people don't here. Like I said I know more about songwriting copyrights and authorship that way. Design is similar to being a songwriter for a publishing company where the artist is under a contract with the publisher/design firm. It just depends on the contract that was signed between the artist(designer) and the firm(publisher). There's so much to intellectual properties that it can't be all said here.
- ribit0
But it's automatically copyright protected wherever you are. No need to register, anywhere.
- shant0
Take it off your portfolio if they want, but when applyig for jobs still send out all the URLs.
Fuck them
- rabattski&rabattski0
dito ribit. you don't have to register it in order to have copyright over it.
i mean this bit you wrote nashville: "However until it is registered with the US copyright office www.loc.gov then it is not official and can still be stolen by another party." is that really true? i've never heard that. but here is europe. so maybe it's an american thing.
- pixelherder0
Cheers chaps
It's all great advice. I've spoken to a few people locally and the default law only just about protects ex-employer. Even though the clients have eventual copyright, they still automatically retain just enough to use it in their portfolio. I need permission from them to use it in mine, which I dod have, but was they then changed their minds as my site got far more hits than theirs did. My plan is to move the work to another part of the site and put an IP block in the .htaccess file. I will probably password protect it too. My original plan was to create a typography resource anyway, but then escaping their evil clutches became more important. I just don't want to let them feel like they have won...
- Blofeldt0
How about burning your portfolio onto CD and sending your portfolio as a flash projector in the post, and don't have your work on the internet anywhere?
Although I guess password protection's a good idea too.