You asked your legal, copyright, and trademark questions, and Jean has answered! All questions are culled from the comments section attached to the original ‘Ask Jean’ post. We invite you to ask more questions.

Hi Jean,

I am a graphic designer, and I recently designed some stationery, cards, and invitations based on royalty-free artwork. It has come to my attention that other designers are also using the same royalty-free artwork. Some of our pieces are similar, though none are exactly the same. What can I do to protect my work? I can forsee a scenario in which five designers all use the same royalty- free piece of artwork, place the graphic at the center and top of a card, and set the invitation text near the bottom. If you place them side-by-side, they would look the same, but no one really copied anyone else. What do we as designers do in such a situation? How do we protect ourselves and our work?

Jennie

Dear Jennie,

If substantially similar work is created independently, there is no infringement. This is true according to the concept of independent origination. In the situation you describe, you’re not at risk,

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You asked your legal, copyright, and trademark questions, and Jean has answered! All questions are culled from the comments section attached to the original ‘Ask Jean’ post. We invite you to ask more questions.

Hello Jean,

I am a partner in a small market research company. We are currently developing a new website and that’s raised two legal questions: 1) Is it legal to use a client’s logo on our site if we’ve done business with them in the past? If permission is required, who grants that permission? 2) Can we legally put pictures taken inside a retail store on our site? There are no identifiable brands/labels in the photos, but it is obvious where the photo was taken.

Thanks!

Luke

Dear Luke,

You can always use a company’s trademark to identify that company. No permission is required. Just be careful about using someone else’s trademark to promote your own work. For example,

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You asked your legal, copyright, and trademark questions, and Jean has answered! All questions are culled from the comments section attached to the original ‘Ask Jean’ post. We invite you to ask more questions.

Hi Jean,

I have a client that publishes a directory. In the past, the client has sold franchises to private owners who then used me to design and layout the book. Recently, they sold a franchise to a large publisher who can produce the book on its own. My client wants me to give the original files to this franchisee so that it can use them as a template. I have a signed contract from my client stating that I own the rights to these files.

So, what is normally done in a situation like this? How would I go about licensing these files? What would be a reasonable fee?

Drew Taylor

Dear Drew,

You should have an IP lawyer familiar with copyright law prepare a copyright license agreement. The agreement should speak to many issues, including how long the template can used and whether or not it may be sub-licensed.

As for pricing, it’s more an art than a science.

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You asked your legal, copyright, and trademark questions, and Jean has answered! All questions are culled from the comments section attached to the original ‘Ask Jean’ post. We invite you to ask more questions.

Dear Jean,

I am a web designer. Recently, the brand/company I worked for was purchased by another company, and I was “sold” along with the brand. The new company treated me very poorly, and my new boss was verbally abusive. I was forced to quit for my own health and well-being. They were very upset when I quit and have threatened legal action. They recently sent me a letter saying they were going to sue me for using their logo in my portfolio on my personal website. To clarify, everything on my site was created long before the brand was sold. I have taken the images down to be safe.

So my question is this: is it legal to display examples of your own work on your personal website portfolio if you produced it for a company?

Thank you so much,
Mitch

Dear Mitch,

If you are an employee of a company, all the work you create while employed belong to the company. If the company is sold, the purchaser acquires all rights, including the rights to the work you created while working for the prior organization.

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You asked your legal, copyright, and trademark questions, and Jean has answered! All questions are culled from the comments section attached to the original ‘Ask Jean’ post. We invite you to ask more questions.

Hi Jean,

I am a freelance web and graphic designer. I do logos, photography, graphics, and web design. I have never protected any of my art pieces with a copyright, and I am not quite sure whether I need to or just should?

Do I have to register every single graphic I create? It seems like a very annoying and time consuming task.

Can I instead protect all my artwork by registering once and then submitting pictures of every piece? Or, is there some other process that will make the task easier and faster?

Thanks,
Susana E.

Dear Susana,

You don’t need to register a copyrighted work to own a copyrighted work. Once you create it you own it, and it’s always protected. Registration is useful in that it provides you with a lot of legal ammunition and qualifies you for such things as statutory damages the reimbursement of attorney’s fees. However, as you point out,

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You asked your legal, copyright and trademark questions, and Jean has answered! All questions are taken from comments posted on the original ‘Ask Jean’ post. We invite you to ask more questions.

Hi Jean,

I do a lot of PDF editing and on occasion have been asked to “unlock” a secured document.

Do you know of any existing legal forms that would require a prospective client who makes such a request to a) state that she is the owner/creator of such document or b) state that she has permission from the owner/creator, granting permission to extract, copy, or reuse information from the specified document.

Any information or insight you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
David

Dear David,

I don’t know of any “forms” that fit the bill, but there are definitely legal issues raised by such requests. I would not agree to unlock a secured document without some kind of release, which should not only set forth what you have stated above but also indemnify you or your firm. That should release you from any claims, in the event that your actions create a legal problem. This is a legal risk you should not be asked to take without some protection. Have an attorney draft a release for you that includes a lot of legal protection.

Best,
Jean

You asked your legal, copyright and trademark questions, and Jean has answered! All questions are taken from comments posted on the original ‘Ask Jean’ post. We invite you to ask more questions.

Hi Jean,

Thanks for educating us on the copyrights we hold as designers. Could you point me in the direction of a good template for designer/client agreements (both for keeping and transferring copyright)? Thanks so much.

Sincerely,
Noah Bunn

Dear Noah,

There really is no such thing as a standard designer/client agreement. I’ve produced lots of them, and no two have ever been the same. The Graphic Artist Guild Handbook has some good ones, but it’s a worthwhile investment to have a template specific to YOUR business drafted by a lawyer. It’s not that expensive, and you’ll have everything you need if there’s a problem.

Best,
Jean

You asked your legal, copyright and trademark questions, and Jean has answered! All questions are taken from comments posted on the original ‘Ask Jean’ post. We invite you to ask more questions.

Hello Jean,

I am a certified HTML CSS Developer, and own and operate a registered company. I have an entrepreneurial idea. The problem is this, when I publish the idea as a completed idea, it would be very easy to reproduce. Is there any way to prevent or make unlawful the activity of duplication of my concept? It is, I am quite certain a situation of information ownership, but might I be able to get a patent for a constructed product that would limit (or reduce completely) the copying of it by others as well?

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You asked your legal, copyright and trademark questions, and Jean has answered! All questions are taken from comments posted on the original ‘Ask Jean’ post. We invite you to ask more questions.

Dear Jean,

This is regarding architect’s sketched design solutions that are produced after a request from a client, but without prior fee or professional appointment agreement.

How can I protect my copyright of the sketch design solutions that I have labored over? Do I simply show and discuss the scheme to the client, but not release or handover copies of the work? Or, do I go about formally copyrighting all sketches legally and get my fee proposal signed before issuing copies? After the agreement is made for my services, presumably the copyright of the work is still retained by me?

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You asked your legal, copyright and trademark questions, and Jean has answered! All questions are taken from comments posted on the original ‘Ask Jean’ post. We invite you to ask more questions.

Dear Jean,

I was asked to make some copies of Grandma’s old picture. It is a probably a 40-year old picture, but it has been copyrighted by a photographer. What is the best way to make copies?

From,
Hiromi

Dear Hiromi,

The best way is to get permission from the photograph copyright owner if you can. It’s also possible that the photograph has entered the public domain. If the photograph was taken in 1967, the copyright term at that time was 28 years. But the copyright law was revised in 1976 and may have affected the copyright term of the photograph so it is difficult to determine its copyright status.

Best,
Jean

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DISCLAIMER:
Ask Jean responses consist of general legal information and do not constitute specific legal advice or create an attorney client privilege. Please consult your own attorney about your specific legal issues.