Intellectual Property

Thanks for those very useful links. I have a contract that I get signed by the client before I start any work. It has served me well so far without any issues. My terms and conditions stipulates such things as IP, which by signing my contract, they officially agree upon. 'Go ahead' type emails from clients also support such agreements.

....I have a funny feeling I may of misunderstood your question? lol. Are you actually asking about protecting your own 'non-client' private work with patents for example?
 
Thanks for those very useful links. I have a contract that I get signed by the client before I start any work. It has served me well so far without any issues. My terms and conditions stipulates such things as IP, which by signing my contract, they officially agree upon. 'Go ahead' type emails from clients also support such agreements.

....I have a funny feeling I may of misunderstood your question? lol. Are you actually asking about protecting your own 'non-client' private work with patents for example?

hi, :)
no, I mean client work. I also have to admit that I sometimes take part in competitions (for fun and quick turnover) sites and the 'designer ripping off another designer' is very common. Another thing is that in my 8 years I had 2 clients disappear on me and never got paid. What I have been noticing is that some clients are taking off with designs and use it without permission, or they take a piece from your portfolio and have another designer 'recreate' it. the list is pretty endless.
 
Edit. you posted before I did but still...

It's a funny area since we started putting our work out there on the internet for all to see.

I've had some of my illustrations copied and put out as other peoples 'original' work but I could never be bothered to pursue it.
Everything you create is automatically copyrighted to yourself as long as it's original.
I've had a couple of clients register logos I've made for them as trademarks.

Not all identities can be registered however.
You have to send them a copy and they have to judge if it falls into the criteria of a unique logo or whatever.
I'm not sure what they assess it on though.
 
hi, :)
no, I mean client work. I also have to admit that I sometimes take part in competitions (for fun and quick turnover) sites and the 'designer ripping off another designer' is very common. Another thing is that in my 8 years I had 2 clients disappear on me and never got paid. What I have been noticing is that some clients are taking off with designs and use it without permission, or they take a piece from your portfolio and have another designer 'recreate' it. the list is pretty endless.

I can imagine, our work is so out in the open for everyone to see, you just never know who may be ripping you off, and there isn't really a way to find out unless you just so happen to come across a piece of your work somewhere it shouldn't be. This is the very reason it took me years to pluck up the courage to create an online portfolio. What I would advise is:
1/ Use low res images of your work, watermarked if you are really worried about certain designs, although low res images should be safe enough. (Watermarks can be off putting).
2/ Always watermark any work you send to clients, until you have received full payment.
3/ Never, ever, ever, work without receiving a deposit upfront first. When I first started out I was 'requesting' 1/3 now I 'demand' 1/2 before starting any work.
Lastly, if you do find someone has stolen your work, it shouldn't be too hard to prove it was yours, and you can sue.
 
and there isn't really a way to find out unless you just so happen to come across a piece of your work somewhere it shouldn't be.

You can do a Google 'search by image'.
You upload your image or give it the url of the image on your site and it searches the net and finds if the same image is posted elsewhere.
 
I know of 2 of 3 of the links listed, never used any of them though.
1 - never heard of
2 - heard of it but never seen it used anywhere or used it myself, if I'm honest I've seen the creative commons 'copyright' more often
3 - my view on this one is more focused towards my line of work (industrial/product design) and people like inventors who come up with crazy ideas. Think of it as a 'free' patent system. I've had no need to use this even with some of my own personal work going off to larger companies without my initial knowledge (long story)

As to work that I put online, well I have a very simple view on this... if I don't want someone to 'borrow it' I don't put it online, I keep it for the client meetings etc (obviously can't show nda stuff anyway). Keeping something back also gives something to talk over in initial meetings to get a feel for a clients requirements.

You also have to be VERY careful with posting your work on sites like instagram, twitter, facebook etc but in some t&c's you give away the right for them to sell your work in various different ways etc.

In regards to client work
50% upfront (or first payment depending on length of contract) unless under a certain value where it's all requested upfront (very rare).
Work is completed under an NDA (non disclosure) on my part and I only deal with listed representatives of the client/company.
No high res imagery is sent until it's finished and 'signed off''
No editable files are sent until the end and ONLY if they were part of the contract, if not they remain my property but can only be used for the client they've been contracted for.
Final payment is requested at the end with defined payment dates - no payment by due date gets a friendly email asking for confirmation of payment because I haven't received it which normally gets it paid.

@scotty Google image search doesn't work with all sites, you can/could block your images showing in it via robots.txt
 
It's not perfect @Levi but it's the best I know of.
I guess however that if it's the type of person that can't be bothered to create their own work and rips others off then I'd doubt they'd go to the effort
of covering their tracks especially if it's for promoting themselves.
 
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