Putting pen to paper, fingers on the keyboard, or using tools to make a sound, you’ve actually made something out of nothing. You are the legal owner of the work or sound, and laws exist to ensure that your intellectual property rights are properly protected.
How does it happen?
Copyright infringement is enforced more closely than ever, through cross-border laws and treaties. However, infringement of intellectual property rights continues to increase. Products that are passed down, or pirated by commercial companies, or distributed widely without the consent of the owner, appear everywhere.
Copyright infringement has been very rare in the past. Designers need to advertise their skills online, which means they should work online. Whether your product is stolen, used by someone for profit, or your ideas are copied, the results are the same. Your rights have been violated and more importantly the creation of your work and your work will not be recognized.
Von Glitschka is an American illustrator with many years of experience in the profession, he said: “I think piracy happens because many people cannot paint.” Although Von has a great voice in the design world, he has also spoken in public and conference many times, but Von himself is also the victim of piracy.
“The lawsuit will cost a lot of money,” Von added. If the money is not enough, you could lose all of it. And sometimes, that is the only choice”. An example of the Von case is that of LogoGarden.com, a website that sells pre-made logos. Von said that the website sold his 35 logo templates and instead of removing them, they changed a few details and continued to sell them. It took Von 3 months to resolve this and LogoGarden.com threatened to sue Von for posting the products on its blog.
The solution
Clarifying copyright infringement is likely to create a new perspective for the designer community. Von’s influence and reputation in the design world helped him tell his story. However, pointing to the side that infringes your intellectual property rights is also a double-edged sword, because if you do not have enough evidence or lack resources for litigation, the violating party may reverse action. back to you with slanderous charges. And the pitiful person in the story is none other than you.
However, Von’s incident took place in a more positive direction. “I refuse to remove my blog posts. I have also copyrighted all 35 of my designs and if they don’t remove it, we will track them down for piracy. In the end, LogoGarden.com had to ditch all of the aforementioned designs.
Von emphasizes the importance of registering your design products, especially if you intend to go public online. There are a number of services and legal bodies available to help you do this today, including the Bristish Copyright Council, United States Patents and Trademarks office). In the legal battle above, Von had to expect the help of the professional design organization – AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts). This organization provides documents to people who believe their creative rights have been violated.
Von Glitschka and other designers affirm that the support of legal and design organizations is essential in order to properly protect their authority, as well as enhance their understanding. of the people about piracy laws. Hopefully in the near future, human creativity will create new developments in all activities of life and piracy will no longer continue.