Intellectual Property – Your Protection For All Things Creative
Reading time: 2 minutes 30 seconds
Who doesn’t love a beautiful photograph, well-crafted logo, clear tagline, or company name that precisely captures its purpose? It’s inspiring, captivating, and inevitably…duplicated.
This post will not be about the legal jargon, because let’s be honest, that’s not my specialty. However, I do want to provide tools that will help navigate the design process and owning the rights to your art, thereby guarding against infringement.
To download a full-resolution copy of this infographic, click here.
I had the pleasure of debuting this infographic at a Women’s Business Council event and was surprised to see how many business owners were unaware that they might not own the works created for them. It’s understandable; you pay for a service, content is delivered, now it should be yours. It’s the standard business model for goods; you buy a product, and then it is yours to do with as you please…But that simply is not the case with creative work. The originator of the work explicitly owns the copyright unless that ownership is transferred (preferably in writing) to the purchaser.
So, if there is only one takeaway from this blog post, let it be to purchase all copyrights of art you want full creative control over. This should be particularly true with your logo, and any marketing materials you may wish to make alterations to, mainly if you are using a different designer.
Thank you for reading our article, and don’t forget to subscribe to the Marfield Guide to receive future blog posts directly in your email. Next month we’ll discuss various finishing options that are available and trending in 2019.
Do you have a question about this article, a horror story of a job gone awry, or a topic you want to learn more about? Comment below and let your voice be heard!
Tiffany Waggoner is the Creative Director for Marfield, Inc. In 2003, Tiffany graduated from The University of North Texas with a B.A. in Art, specializing in Digital Media. After a quick moment of panic...wondering what to do with an Arts Degree...she soon found her home and career in Print and never looked back!
Ten years ago, Marfield, Inc. took a chance on a young prepress professional and hired Tiffany to run their Prepress Department. During this tenure, Marfield's customers could trust her as their brand identity expert, and she honed her craft as a graphic designer. In 2018 Marfield took another venture and moved Tiffany into the role of Creative Director. In this position, Tiffany has been able to combine her knowledge of content creation, social media, brand identity design, and creative print to engage and educate Marfield's audience on all things print.
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