Copyright of your work
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- clearThoughts
What is your contract like? Does it say that the company you are employed with owns all the copyright of your designs, etc during the course of your employment?
- OSFA0
depends, freelance, in-house or agency?
- clearThoughts0
In-House.
- jerseyred0
if copyright is in name of the client I still try to retain authorship credit in the contract.
- OSFA0
I did in-house for about 1.5 years and never talked about it. I figure, if they don't mention anything, it's fair game. What they did give me, was an 'agreement' stating I couldn't work on their same field for 1 year or a competitor....
- < awesome grammar there!OSFA
- Biggest mistake I ever made was taking things for granted. Learn this lesson, learn as much as you can about contracts. NDA's aren't what we're talking about.Iggyboo
- contracts, and read any NDA before signing them, take it home if you have too bring it to a lawyer in your family.Iggyboo
- clearThoughts0
But if you invent something over the weekend - do they own that?
- on their machines and software in their office it'd be there's.airey
- clearThoughts0
I don't think you can invent much these days. But say you design a logo for somebody else - do they own that?
- baseline_shift0
If you design something that isnt for one of their clients, on your own time, its yours.
- unless you do it there. then it's gets murky. either a contract / agreement or at home is the best way.airey
- clearThoughts0
If it says "during the course of your employment...".
Does it mean during the week while you are working for them or during all your time while you are employed???
- clearThoughts0
Probably best to discuss this with a lawyer rather than at QBN!!
Just thought it would be interesting to hear the experience of other designers out there...- It helps other designers think about learning about the law and contracts in general.Iggyboo
- airey0
in australia at least, in-house or freelance in the studio is owned by the business not you. it's arguable but that's where it's sitting presently.
- Sure - what I am trying to find out is if it also includes your work while you are not there.clearThoughts
- no. if you're not there and it's not their client it's yours.airey
- clearThoughts0
Did some research and found out that technically your employer owns probably 50% of your Facebook profile if you update it at work. Let's not even mention your personal blog if you have one....
- 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