Copyright Law Essentials For Every Graphic Designer

With today’s internet, it has become effortless and easier to copy, pirate or steal from others work. Plagiarizing something has been a lot easier and that is why copyright laws are more necessary for everyone to understand. As a graphic designer, what surrounds you is all an inspiration. Getting inspired from the things you see, people around you or from other person's work but there’s always a line between being inspired by others work and plagiarizing it.

Once your work is out on the internet, the chances of others claiming your work as their own and copying it without your authorization nor proper credits can easily soar with today’s technology. And, since every designer work entirely lies in creating original work, it’s very important to increase their knowledge about Copyright Law and to defend themselves from copyright infringement. But how will you protect your work from such fraud? Let us now discuss some terms that are useful to understand what copyright is, how important it is for graphic designers and the benefits of copyright registration.

What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual Property is anything that’s created originally and is protected by the law. It also involves demonstration, expressions and innovations. Every creation you make whether composing a song, drawing a picture and designing is your intellectual property unless you sell your ownership rights to others or to a client. It also means you have the exclusive right to alter, use and profit from it. You also have the privilege to license your work to others depending on your preferences.

What is Copyright?

Copyright is the law protecting the exclusive rights of a person’s original work whether it’s registered or not. It is protecting original creations from unauthorized altering, copying, redesigning and publishing. It also protects the rightful creator to distribute, display, duplicate and publish their work at their discretion. It’s always advisable for every graphic designer to register their work but if you weren’t able to do so, keeping detailed records of your work will protect you against any claim from others. It also provides evidence that you are the original creator which can form a solid legal defense should you need it.

Trademarks are different from copyright. Trademark possession arises from use in the marketplace while copyright arises from authorship and original creation. So with trademark, the one that is protected is not the originality but the prominent identity of a brand. When registering a trademark, it requires a clearance search to ensure that you’re not registering a mark that has existed already. The protection on trademarks originates from how the mark performs as an identifier of business goods or services.

Fair use of a copyright means copying of any copyrighted design, material or work for a limited time and for life-changing, transformative or educational purposes. An example of these are comments, criticizes or parodies of copyrighted work. Fair use can be applied without the permission from the owner and without considering it as an infringement.

Exclusive rights are the products or works kept by the copyright owner. It is restricted for use for official state or constitutional powers and can be established by law or by contractual obligation. If the copyright owner provides someone with exclusive rights of their work, then that person can use that design at their discretion but this may be for just specific time duration.

Copyright ownership. Basically, it’s the one who makes the original work is the copyright owner. But if you’re a designer who is hired by someone or a company, creating designs for them, then the copyright ownership belongs to that person or company. Some clients would want full rights to a designer to work for them to have full control of the material. That’s why, as a graphic designer it’s important to have sufficient knowledge on when your work should be under a copyright protection or whether you reserve the rights to your work.

Copyright Infringement means someone copies your design or violates your copyright without your permission. Before sending a demand letter to the party copying your work, make sure you did a thorough research. It might be frustrating that someone has copied your work but be sure enough that there are no other prior designs out there that precede your own or might be a fair use. So before taking any action like posting your frustration on social media or causing havoc that might damage your reputation, it might be best to seek out advice from a qualified intellectual property attorney.

Copyright Registration. It’s not really necessary to register your work but doing so will protect you from copyright infringement. If you register your work it would be easier for you to prove from infringement and it will establish a public record of the copyright holder’s ownership.

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